The main event of GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM was a rematch five years in the making and between two fighters with a long-running bitter public rivalry: welterweight champion Nieky 'The Natural' Holzken (88-11-0) and title challenger Murthel 'The Predator' Groenhart (58-19-3).
Holzken was under the spotlight as never before in his career. Of late he has become a pop-culture figure in his native Holland thanks to being the star of his own popular reality TV show; the general public now know him well.
âThe last six months have been crazy. It is very strange when I go out or I go to eat something. Everyone comes up to say hello or say some nice things. I don't want to compare myself to Justin Bieber but I think I can understand now a little bit what it feels like to be him,â he says.
In addition to his new mainstream fame, Holzken also had the pressure of his first GLORY title defense, with hundreds of his friends and family in attendance. He occupied the highest-profile slot on a very high-profile card. It took a year of work to obtain a license for the event from the Amsterdam mayor's office and it was important that the show went well in all aspects.
On top of all of that, opposite him stood Groenhart. They fought once before, back in 2010, and the fight ended with a controversial decision in Holzken's favor. Bad blood sprang up between them at that point and in August, when Groenhart returned to welterweight from lightweight, the beef reignited.
Trash talk went back and forth. Holzken pretended to be under the impression Groenhart had retired, a jibe which struck deep. Groenhart was furious. After winning the Welterweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 25 MILAN last month, he said in a post-fight interview that he would be coming to âtake Nieky's head offâ in Amsterdam, specifically for that insult.
Holzken had a great year in 2015 and came in as the favorite. In contrast, Groenhart's GLORY career has been marked by mixed results, including a loss to Chad Sugden at GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS in his return to welterweight. Despite his winning the tournament in Milan, the consensus opinion was that Holzken was almost certain to win the fight.
That only added fuel to Groenhart's fire. He came into the arena determined to show people who he is and what he is about. It resulted in a career-best performance. Groenhart took his game to another level for this fight: angles, footwork, head movement, timing. He used every trick in his book as he set out to prove that he is indeed worthy of wearing the GLORY title belt.
Holzken is a notoriously slow starter and also likes to let opponents burn themselves out in the first round or two before he starts to step things up himself. So, when Groenhart went to work over the first two rounds and Holzken's output was limited in comparison, his fans were not unduly worried. They saw him use the same tactics against Raymond Daniels in Las Vegas earlier this year and expected to see him step things up in round three.
That did happen, but Groenhart maintained his own pace, a surprise for Holzken supporters who had expected to see him start experiencing cardio issues. Groenhart had fought in a tournament just four weeks prior and brought some injuries into his short camp for this Amsterdam bout yet somehow had more gas in the tank than in fights he had full camps for.
Holzken's fans started to worry a bit. Their man needed to step things up for the fourth and fifth round and he knew it. Having success with the low kick, he went after Groenhart's right leg like a man possessed, looking to hammer it until he could score a TKO stoppage. It was the most trouble Groenhart had in the fight. Holzken's boxing skills are high level but Groenhart suffered no issues, and in fact had plenty of success with his own punches, landing jabs and crosses on numerous occasions.
Holzken fell short on a couple of spectacular efforts which could well have ended the fight had they landed, and he looked to have rocked Groenhart once in the middle of the fight, but he also had plenty of issues to contend with as Groenhart maintained a rate of output which exceeded anything from any of his previous GLORY fights.
Overall, it looked like Groenhart had massively outlanded Holzken in volume of strikes landed but that Holzken had outlanded Groenhart in terms of power shots landed. The fight went to the judges and there was high tension on all sides, plus a lot of people glad that they weren't the ones who had to judge such a close fight.
A split-decision came back from the three-man judging panel. Two had it for Holzken, one for Groenhart. The ring erupted â celebrations from the Holzken team, dismay and disbelief from Groenhart's. The reactions were mirrored online as social media platforms and chatrooms exploded into furious debate.
Post-fight statistics showed that Groenhart had indeed outlanded Holzken, particularly in the punching. But no separation was made between power shots and non-power shots. Under GLORY rules, priority is given to damage, and that means power shots are favored. Two of the judges clearly determined that Holzken had won in this area, with the other judge dissenting in favor of Groenhart.
Some controversy attaches to the decision but it was by no means a robbery. Both sides have an argument, and it was suggested by reporters at the post-fight press conference that an immediate rematch might be in order, though Holzken doesn't think so. Groenhart's comments were not obtained; he left the arena immediately after the fight.
Holzken did say that he expects to meet Groenhart again at some point. He also said that Groenhart's trash talk had gotten into his head and that he felt a little frozen up (âstuckâ, he termed it) at times during the fight.
In the ring after the fight, both said their beef was over, but if Groenhart can maintain the form he brought to this fight, it will not be long before he meets Holzken again. This rivalry looks set to run on through 2016. Groenhart is now 0-2 against Holzken but disputes both decisions. In their inevitable third encounter, the winner will need to find a way to stop his opponent if he wants to end the argument convincingly.
