GLORY 23: ‘The Smash’ Sepulveda promises “People will see what I am about”

Ariel ‘The Smash’ Sepulveda will debut for GLORY next week when he takes part in the four-man Middleweight Qualification Tournament at GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS on Friday, August 7.

Fighting out of New York, USA but originally from the Dominican Republic - his family relocated when he was young - Sepulveda has a reputation as a power-punching brawler. He lives in The Bronx but trains in downtown Manhattan at Anderson’s Martial Arts.

Officially his style is Muay Thai but he himself says his approach is “more Dutch-style, I press forward and engage, that’s my kind of style. I bring that forward pressure to the fight.”

“I started out with MMA and as part of that I was training Muay Thai. I really liked it and I found out that I am more of a striker than a ground guy, so I thought ‘OK, let me try this Muay Thai thing and see where I get’. And look where I am now,” he adds.

“I fight to represent my friends, team mates and family, but mostly I do it because I love it. I enjoy the hard work that you need to put in to get the win. You put all the hard work in and then they raise your hand and you’re the winner - that’s the best feeling in the world man.”

The winner of the GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS tournament will move forward to the next Middleweight Contender Tournament, another four-man affair which will see the winner emerge with a title shot. Sepulveda is therefore theoretically only a short step away from mixing it with the big names.

“Of course I am ready for that!” he laughs. “That’s what I am training for, to get higher and higher. So if it happens it will be a blessing man. That’s everything I am working for.”

He meets Dustin Jacoby - a UFC, Bellator and GLORY veteran - in the semi-final stage of the GLORY 23 tournament, while the other bracket has Casey ‘Go’ Greene against Quinton O’Brien, himself a GLORY debutant like Sepulveda.

By coincidence,  Sepulveda and O’Brien have already fought once before. They competed under Muay Thai rules in September last year and O’Brien took a split-decision win after a very close fight. As for Jacoby and Greene having GLORY experience under their belts, Sepulveda is not particularly concerned.

“The only one of these guys that I know is Quinton O’Brien, I fought him in my first Muay Thai fight, I don’t consider him ‘strong’ though. But anyway, I don’t really think about these guys being strong at this or that, I am just going to go out there and do what I need to do to win,” he says.

“This is an amazing opportunity for me. I have been working so hard to get towards fighting in a big organization and GLORY is the biggest out there. It’s an honor for me to called up for this card.”

Every day, Sepulveda travels down from The Bronx onto Manhattan island and to his training center. As he cuts through the swarms of central New York’s city streets, his mind is focused on his mission out in Nevada.

“I am just an ordinary guy trying to gain respect. I want people to watch me and say ‘yeah, this guy deserves to be here’,” he says. “People may not know me right now, but on August 7 they will find out what I am all about.”

GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS takes place on Friday, August 7 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The headline bout sees Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken take on Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels for the vacant World Welterweight Championship, live on Spike TV at 11pm ET/10pm CT.