***Spoiler Alert***
Six fights in the GLORY Superfight Series opened Saturday nightâs event at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
A mixture of established names, new talents and GLORY debutants took to the ring to fight for the victories which would move them up the rankings and closer towards title contention and placement in the prestigious GLORY Championship Tournaments.
The results of the fights are detailed below. If you donât want to know the results then donât read on. These fights will be made available to watch for free via GloryWorldSeries.com soon. Register an account to watch free video content and past events.
Brian âThe Lionâ Collette vs. Warren Thompson
Light-heavyweight
Both these fighters have a reputation for being able to bang. It took just over one minute for that to be proved correct. They engaged early and at the one minute mark Thompson was attempting to do some damage in the clinch.
Collette broke away and as he did so he leaned down sharply to his left and brought his right shin up at an incredibly right angle. The connection was clean and hard; Thompson went down. As he tried to regain his feet he staggered and the referee waved the fight off to give Collette the win by KO at 1:03.
Artem Vakhitov vs. Nenad Pagonis
Middleweight
GLORY debutant Pagonis has a lot of experience from competition around his Eastern European homeland, so he was able to use his range to create some problems for the slightly shorter Russian.
Vakhitov likes to hit body shots, so keeping him at distance is a good idea. As the fight went on he started finding his way in more and more often, landing the liver and stomach shots which are his trademark.
After three rounds were done the judges felt that Vakhitov had controlled the fight more and had done more damage with his body shots and knee strikes. They gave him two rounds to Pagonisâ one, taking Vakhitov to 2-0 in GLORY.
Eddie Walker vs. Francois Ambang
Welterweight
Walker couldnât have had a tougher welterweight debut, facing a the man who earned his GLORY contract by knocking out three opponents in one night to win a âRoad to Gloryâ tournament earlier this year.
A runner-up in the middleweight âRoad to Gloryâ tournament, Walker found himself outsized and outgunned when he debuted at GLORY 5 LONDON against world-ranked #2 Steve Wakeling. That fight ended in TKO via leg-kicks, as Walkerâs âRoad to Gloryâ tournament final had against Mike Lemaire.
Tonightâs fight with Ambang went the same way. Walkerâs leg-kick defense looked improved but he still took a lot of damage to the lead leg. Ambang threw hard hand combinations and finished on leg kicks a lot. Often Walker would check the kick but Ambang would power through the shin-on-shin contact like it was nothing.
Walker had some good moments, at one point almost KOâoing Ambang with a hard right hand. But his lead leg took so much damage that towards the end of the fight even light kicks from Ambang were making him fall down. Two low-blows from Ambang did nothing to make Walkerâs night any better.
The fight didnât make it to the end. Just past the midpoint of the third frame Walkerâs leg took one too many kicks.
Jhonata Diniz vs. Igor Jurkovic
Heavyweight
Diniz is only 22 years old and has had a hard road in GLORY, fighting some of the biggest names of the sport in his first few fights for the organization. A war with Daniel Ghita at GLORY 4 showed us what he was capable of, though he lost the decision in that one.
Tonight he had no intention of leaving it to the judges - he went after Jurkovic hard and scored his first knockdown early on with a big right hand. A second knockdown came almost immediately on the restart. Jurkovic looked wobbly but held on, firing back with some hard straight punches when they got back into it.
Diniz knew a finish was close and he went for it. Jurkovic found himself under ceaseless pressure, Diniz throwing punches and head kicks as he chased the knockdown which would end the fight. He found it by pressuring Jurkovic into a corner and letting rip. As Jurkovic tried to get out he took a punch and went down again.
Under GLORY rules a fight ends if a fighter is knocked down three times in one round. Diniz jumped on the ropes straight away and roared in triumph, celebrating his first KO win in GLORY. âIn 2014 you will see the new Jhonata Dinizh,â he said. âNext year I want a rematch with Daniel Ghita. Thatâs the fight I want.â
Saulo Cavalari vs. Mourad Bouzidi
Light-heavyweight
In only his second outing for GLORY, Cavalari put the light-heavyweight divisioon on notice the best way that any fighter can - with a crushing first-round knockout of an established name who has fought and beaten some of the best in the world over the course of more than one hundred fights.
Bouzidi was a heavyweight until recently. He was always small for that division and dropped to light-heavyweight when GLORY made that a viable weight class. He is used to fighting big, powerful guys without being KOâd, which makes Cavalariâs win incredible.
From the opening bell Cavalari was going in on Bouzidi with power-shots and forcing him backwards under pressure. Bouzidi did get his own offense going and landed some nice shots of his own but the power hits were all Cavalari.
An overhand right over Bouzidiâs jab put the Tunisian down - he was out before he hit the floor and he stayed down a long time. Bouzidi dropped so fast that Cavalariâs follow-on left-hook missed him completely.
He stayed down so long that Cavalari had completely cooled off by the time the official result was read out. âIâm coming for the belt,â he said afterwards. âIâm telling all the light-heavyweights, next year I am going to be number one and the belt is going to Brazil.â
Paul Marfort vs. Thiago Michel
Lightweight
A strong start for Marfort won him the first round. He landed the cleaner shots and got inside Michelâs looser punches to land hard counters. He was particularly successful with his right cross in the first and second round but seemed to fade as the second round went on.
Marfort started covering up more as Thiago hit him with a variety of shots. Such was Michelâs confidence in the third round that he was able to hit a 720-kick, which the crowd appreciated. Marfort had clearly won the first round with his harder pucnehs,
Michel clearly won the third. Round two was more mixed but as Michel won the latter half of it, the judges awarded it to him. Michel took a unanimous decision, 29-28 on every judgeâs card.
GLORY Superfight Series 12: Full Results
Brian âThe Lionâ Collette defeats Warren Thompson by KO, R1, 1:03
Light-heavyweight
Artem Vakhitov defeats Nenad Pagonis by unanimous decision (29-28 on all three cards)
Middleweight
Francois Ambang defeats Eddie Walker by TKO, R3, leg kicks
Welterweight
Jhonata Diniz defeats Igor Jurkovic by TKO, R1
Heavyweight
Saulo Cavalari defeats Mourad Bouzidi by KO, R1, 2:10
Light-heavyweight
Thiago Michel defeats Paul Marfort by unanimous decision (29-28 on all three cards).
Lightweight
