Dustin Jacoby’s last appearance in the ring was almost a year ago and saw him fight a perfect first round against then-champion Simon Marcus before being forced to retire from the bout due to sustaining a broken forearm while defending a kick.
In fact, such was the force of Marcus’ kick that Jacoby (9-8, 7 KO’s) is now no longer a fighter of mere flesh and bone. Surgeons had to open his right forearm up, move the muscle aside and join the various separate piece of bone back together with a titanium plate.
The agony of defeat was made even more bitter for Jacoby by dint of his performance being, in that first round, the best of his entire professional kickboxing career to date.
With Jacoby having been a regular fixture in the GLORY ranks since the organization’s earliest days - he debuted at GLORY 5 LONDON with a loss to Michael Duut - it is easy to forget that he had no background in kickboxing prior.
A high school and college football player, Jacoby got into MMA after his college ball days were over. His natural athleticism and heavy hands carried him all the way to the UFC and it was only after leaving that league that he accepted a late-notice call to enter an eight-man ‘Road to GLORY’ tournament to replace a drop-out.
After driving all night from his Denver home and cutting weight as he did so, Jacoby arrived in Oklahoma as the lowest of underdogs but totally upset the oddsmakers by stopping three opponents in a row to win both the tournament and a GLORY contract.
The fairly tale went sour quickly though; once he entered the ranks of GLORY proper he found himself facing lifelong kickboxers who were able to both match his power and bring much more technique and experience into the ring with them.
Jacoby went an unenviable 1-6 in his first seven fights and was only saved from the axe due to the gameness he brought to every fight; fans enjoyed his fights, even when he lost them. But even as this slide was ongoing, Jacoby was putting in hour upon hour at the gym, working on his kickboxing game from the fundamentals upward.
The hard work paid off. He ended a five-fight losing streak and promptly went on a five-fight winning streak. Something had clicked into place; he now looked like he had never done anything in his life besides kickbox. When he was matched with Simon Marcus, the world #1 at the time, it did not seem like the mismatch it would have been even a year prior.
As it turned out, Marcus did dominate their first fight, at GLORY 30 LOS ANGELES. But they rematched just five months later and Jacoby looked like he had reached a different level again, markedly superior to the Jacoby who had fought in LA. Sharp and polished, he scored well and defended strongly at GLORY 34, appearing to take the first round on points.
But in the interval it became clear something was wrong. Jacoby attempted to return to the fray when the bell sounded to start the second round but the doctor intervened and stopped the fight. Jacoby’s left forearm was broken clean through. Yet had the doctor not jumped in, he would still have attempted to fight on.
Now, ten months on, he is set to climb between the ropes once more. Such disruption to competition schedule is never welcomed by any athlete but, judging by past examples, Jacoby is likely to have used to interval to study the art and sharpen his technique still further.
Standing opposite Jacoby will be Sean Price (6-2) of California. His record carries a better win percentage than Jacoby’s and includes premium international-caliber opposition such as Duoli Chen, who he dropped a decision to in California in June.
Price has done much of his training at Kings MMA in Huntington Beach, home of GLORY featherweight contender Giga Chikadze. Head coach Rafael Cordeiro is a legend in the martial arts world and the trainer of multiple UFC champions, including Anderson Silva, Fabricio Werdum and Cris Cyborg.
Ordinarily the pressure is on the debuting fighter when they have their first fight in kickboxing’s premier league but this one is a little different; Jacoby well remembers how closely competitive he was with Marcus last year and he is anxious to regain that level.
Price comes in looking to shatter that daydream for him and has the added benefit of being in competition rhythm. A win over Jacoby would be a big scalp for him to take on his debut.
GLORY 44 SuperFight Series streams live and exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Friday, Aug. 25.
Tickets for GLORY 44 Chicago and GLORY 44 SuperFight Series are on sale now, available for online purchase at searscentre.com and at the Sears Centre Arena box office.
