Inocente: “A win over Gerges puts me in the top five at heavyweight”

One of the most unorthodox fighters on the GLORY roster, Guto Inocente (31-7, 17 KO's) is looking to use his creative kicking arsenal to blast his way to the top of the heavyweight division.

The former UFC fighter debuted earlier this year at GLORY 27 CHICAGO with a stunning spinning heel kick knockout of Demoreo Dennis. He followed that up with a win over the Dutch veteran Brian Douwes. Next, on September 9 he will face Hesdy 'Fighterheart' Gerges at GLORY 33 NEW JERSEY.

Gerges (49-15-1, 23 KO's) is the former champion of It's Showtime, Europe's leading organization before it was acquired by GLORY in 2012. Currently at #5 in the heavyweight rankings, Gerges has designs on becoming champion himself. In 2015 he had a very successful run but at GLORY 31 AMSTERDAM this year he lost a controversial decision to Ismael Londt and now needs to get back in the win column to keep his title shot dream alive.

“For sure Hesdy Gerges is a big name in the kickboxing, but I don't think he's the highest level fighter I have faced, to be honest,” says Inocente.

“This is the right time for me to prove I'm the number one. A victory over Gerges will put me in the top five of the division. That could be enough to get me a title shot but if it doesn't, I don't care. Maybe I will need another win, maybe I won't. Either way, the belt is my destiny and I will get it sooner or later.”

In recent interviews Gerges has expressed the opinion that Inocente's kick-based game won't stand up to his own “old school” Dutch kickboxing style of constantly pressing forwards and forcing the opponent onto the back foot. He has also noted that he is taller and heavier than Inocente and said that the Brazilian is really a light-heavyweight.

Inocente just shrugs when this is put to him. He doesn't have any worries about being able to reach Gerges in the key places with his kicks. “I can kick him in the head, absolutely, or I can knock him out with some punches. But we will see which it is when the fight starts, which openings are presented to me.”

GLORY 33 NEW JERSEY takes place Friday, September 9 at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ. Gerges and Inocente hold the co-headline spot on the ESPN card, which airs live on ESPN 2 and ESPN 3 from 11pm ET / 8pm PT. The card is headlined by heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven defending his belt against Anderson “Braddock” Silva.