An All-American Middleweight Qualification Tournament is set to form the centerpiece of GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS as four fighters battle it out for a chance to win a spot in the division’s next Contender Tournament.
GLORY veteran and 2013 ‘Road to Glory’ Light-Heavyweight Tournament winner Dustin ‘The Hayak’ Jacoby (4-6, 3 KO’s) of Denver, Colorado faces newcomer Ariel Sepulveda (4-1, 1 KO) of New York in the first of the semi-final matches.
Casey Greene (2-4, 1 KO’s) of Los Angeles, California, last seen at GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO, also faces a debutant as he takes on Quinton O’Brien (2-0) of St. Louis, Missouri.
“Winning a Qualification Tournament earns the winner a spot in the next Contender Tournament in his division, and those tournaments carry a world title shot as their mine prize. That means any fighter in the GLORY 23 Qualification Tournament is potentially just four fights from a title shot,” says Cor Hemmers, GLORY Matchmaker and Head of Talent Operations.
“Jacoby is well known of course. He won his contract by stopping three fighters in one night in a ‘Road to Glory’ tournament but then has had a hard road, he was thrown right in at the deep end with world-class opponents.
“He’s never backed down from anyone but we’ve never really given him the chance to develop via more evenly-matched fights. He’s been a very loyal servant for GLORY and I think he deserves some fights where he isn’t coming in as a huge underdog. He has a lot of heart and potential.
“Sepulveda has a background in MMA, where he has fought for the likes of Bellator and M-1, but he is predominantly a striker. He started fighting under professional Muay Thai rules in 2014; we took a look at him and liked what we saw. He has a good style for GLORY, plus some heavy hands, and the fans will like him.
“O’Brien has been on the radar for a while now. He has a background in Muay Thai and a tight, technical style. He’s one of those middleweights who moves like a lighter weight and he has plenty of experience on the US circuit. He took a split-decision win over Sepulveda in 2014 under Muay Thai rules so it will be interesting if they meet in the tournament final.
“Finally there is Casey Greene. He fought in one of the early ‘Road to Glory’ tournaments but was eliminated early on. But we liked what we saw from him so we brought him back. He’s gone 1-1 in GLORY now with the win by KO. He lost to Lemaire at GLORY 21 but took the fight on short notice and it was very, very close, so he’s got good momentum going into this tournament.”
GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS takes place at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and features Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken vs. Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels in the main event as they compete for the World Welterweight Championship.
The event airs live in the US on Spike TV at 11pm ET/10pm CT
