Kickboxing historically has been defined by tournaments, now GLORY will redefine tournaments with the introduction of ‘Last Heavyweight Standing’, the biggest heavyweight tournament in the history of combat sports.
This year-long multi-event tournament will kick-off April 5 at ‘GLORY 99: Last Heavyweight Standing’ at the Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands featuring thirty-two heavyweights from around the world competing in sixteen bouts in a mega all-heavyweight card.
A completely random draw was held recently in Amsterdam to decide the opening round of matchups.
Among the most notable fights of the opening round; ‘The Goliath’ Jamal Ben Saddik (36-9, 29 KO) collides with ‘The Gladiator’ Christian Ristea (44-25, 13 KO), top five in the world ranked Rade Opačić (21-6, 16 KO) faces a tough challenge in Nico ‘Big Sexy’ Horta (23-10, 3 KO), Nabil Khachab (29-5-1, 4 KO) meets Miloš Cvjetićanin (11-3, 8 KO) in a battle between size versus agility, Dutch veteran Brian Douwes (42-26-1, 31 KO) takes on the wild & unpredictable Bahram Rajabzadeh (70-4, 61 KO), and former interim champ Tariq Osaro (26-4-1, 13 KO) goes up against ‘Mr. Tournament’ himself Benjamin Adegbuyi (35-8, 20 KO).
Winners from each bout will qualify for the next stage of the Last Heavyweight Standing tournament – four separate four-man one-night tournaments, which will take place over the summer.
GLORY 99: Last Heavyweight Standing Fight Card
Jamal Ben Saddik (36-9, 29 KO) vs. Christian Ristea (44-25, 13 KO)
Brian Douwes (42-26-1, 31 KO) vs. Bahram Rajabzadeh (70-4, 61 KO)
Tariq Osaro (26-4-1, 13 KO) vs. Benjamin Adegbuyi (35-8, 20 KO)
Rade Opačić (21-6, 16 KO) vs. Nico Horta (23-10, 3 KO)
Nabil Khachab (29-5-1, 4 KO) vs. Miloš Cvjetićanin (11-3, 8 KO)
Sofian Laïdouni (37-4-1, 18 KO) vs. Oleh Pryimachov (16-5, 5 KO)
Asadulla Nasipov (10-1, 5 KO) vs. Murat Aygün (32-4, 8 KO)
Nicolas Wamba (75-7, 24 KO) vs. Mory Kromah (31-3-1, 18 KO)
Sina Karimian (16-4, 8 KO) vs. Tomáš Možný (21-10, 7 KO)
Alin Nechita (16-1, 7 KO) vs. Ahmed Krnjić (14-3-1, 4 KO)
Ionut Iancu (30-10, 12 KO) vs. Cihad Kepenek (23-7, 16 KO)
Preliminary Card
Yuri Farcas (13-3-1, 6 KO) vs. Iraj Azizipour (69-7, 27 KO)
Asdren Gashi (18-4-1, 9 KO) vs. Nidal Bchiri (19-4-1, 4 KO)
Miroslav Vujovic (11-7, 8 KO) vs. Colin George (23-12, 21 KO)
Nathan Cook (7-2, 6 KO) vs. Anis Bouzid (45-4, 36 KO)
Petr Romankevich (29-9, 10 KO) vs. Luigi Gashi (15-4, 4 KO)