The official pre-fight press conference for GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES and GLORY LAST MAN STANDING were staged at The Forum in Los Angeles, California on Thursday afternoon.
In attendance were all eight Middleweight Championship Tournament fighters plus the four fighters - Daniel Ghita, Rico Verhoeven, Marc de Bonte and Joe Valtellini - who will be fighting title matches on Saturday night during the LAST MAN STANDING pay-per-view broadcast.
Here’s what the four title fighters had to say two days out from their career-defining bouts:
DANIEL GHITA
#1 Ranked Heavyweight
On this rematch with Verhoeven:
“Now it is going to be different. I said in a lot of interviews that I didn’t focus on Verhoeven for the last tournament, all my preparation was for Saki. So that was a mistake.
“And also, I thought I won that fight with Rico anyway. Now on 21 June we will see who wins the title.”
On what rubs him up the wrong way about Verhoeven:
“I have seen a lot of fighters in my life and I had a lot of fights in my life. I never saw a fighter who did what Rico does, after three fights is the face of kickboxing, he’s the image of kickboxing.
“I see Peter Aerts, Jerome Le Banner, Semmy Schilt, they don’t act like this. Three fights, just luck [in his wins]. I don’t know, its not so nice for kickboxing that after three fights he acts like the champion.”
On his relaxed, humorous nature in the run-up to this fight:
“Yeah, why not? It’s something new no?”
(laughter from Ghita and the audience)
RICO ‘THE PRINCE ‘VERHOEVEN
#2 Ranked Heavyweight
On this being a rematch following their 2013 meeting:
“I am happy to do it again. I love this game. If it is Ghita or Saki or whoever, I don’t care. For me, I became champion last year and if he wants to come and take it then he can try.”
“I had three rounds with Saki and Daniel finished his fight in like two minutes, so I think he was like 95% fresh. For me the three rounds was a good warmup and then I did another three rounds [with Ghita]. Now for this fight he gets a 100% fresh Rico so we will see what happens.”
On Ghita’s trash-talking via Twitter:
“I don’t know where it came from! Talking like that, ‘Hey Princey, the king is here’ - I don’t know what movie he was watching that made him come over all confident but he should watch it a couple times more before Saturday.”
On Ghita’s claim that his four big wins have all been ‘luck’:
“What he is saying is crazy. That would be like winning the lottery four times in a row. What he is actually doing is putting Errol Zimmerman down, putting himself down, putting Saki down, putting Peter Aerts down.”
MARC DE BONTE
Welterweight Champion
On the quick turnaround from his last fight:
“For me it’s no problem, I used to fight every week. I got six weeks training camp for this one so it’s fine.
“I just like to fight and in Holland they have the opportunity to fight weekly; I never said no. I just like the feeling. So that’s why I got that record. Now, every two or three months would be good for me. I don’t like too long a break, I like to keep ring rust to a minimum.”
On changes in his life since winning the title at GLORY 16 DENVER on May 3.
“There has been a lot more media, I have been on chat shows and stuff in Belgium, which you don’t normally get for this sport.
“The media attention has been high and I have been lots of times on national television, which has been extraordinary. But in my personal life my friends and family treat me just the same.”
On whether he now replaces Jean-Claude Van Damme as Belgium’s top martial artist
“We could say that I am the only real one…”
‘BAZOOKA’ JOE VALTELLINI
Welterweight Contender
On how the GLORY 13 TOKYO welterweight tournament benefited him:
“This is a huge opportunity and so was the tournament in December. It showed me that being a martial artist is what I really want and there is no stopping me.
“I feel I am the best fighter in the welterweight division. In a tournament anything can happen. In this fight you’re getting a fresh Valtellini and it is going to be a great fight on Saturday night.”
On mental strength:
“I think one of the biggest advantages I have is that I am very strong mentally. This is only my 14th professional fight so mentally I have to be strong, that’s the most important thing.
“I also have a great team and family around me. They believe in me and give me that confidence to go into the ring.
“I ask my coach before every fight, ‘what do you think?’ and if he is confident that is all I need. For this fight I am here to show my talent and skill. That last fight showed me that I am only going to keep getting better and more people are going to be in trouble.”
GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES and GLORY LAST MAN STANDING take place this Saturday June 21 at The Forum in Los Angeles, CA.
GLORY 17 airs live on Spike TV while Last Man Standing airs on pay-per-view priced at $34.95 in the US.
