A global leader will meet an emerging superpower in the quarter-final stage of GLORY: LAST MAN STANDING on Saturday June 21 as Russia’s Artem Levin (47-4-1, 33 KO’s) faces Alex Pereira (13-1, 9 KO’s) of Brazil.
Levin is ranked #1 in the world at middleweight and will seek to underline that status by capturing the GLORY World Middleweight Championship belt in this eight-man tournament.
Pereira burst into the rankings by winning the four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 14 ZAGREB in March of this year.
Pereira beat UFC veteran Dustin Jacoby and former Its Showtime champion Sahak Parparyan in Zagreb and now finds himself with a chance to win the GLORY Middleweight World Title.
“This is one of the key fights of the tournament. Levin is the favorite to win the belt but Pereira has proven himself to be dangerous and he could cause a huge upset,” says Cor Hemmers, GLORY matchmaker and head of talent operations.
“It’s an interesting match-up because these two are both unorthodox and very creative but they also have the power to really hurt their opponents and end the fight on a stoppage.
“Levin is well known for his unorthodox movement and his style of showboating and laying traps for his opponent while Pereira has a style which mixes professional boxing with the kind of crazy kicks you see in sports such as Tae Kwon Do.
“Pereira is quite new to the world stage but he is very dangerous and Levin has a really tough fight on his hands here. This match could have a very big impact on how the tournament plays out.”
Levin comes from the Kuzbass district of Siberia, a region deep in the Russian hinterland which depends on heavy industry such as coal-mining for its economy.
After taking up Muay Thai as a youngster for self-defense purposes, Levin found he was a natural and soon dominated the Russian circuit before moving on to international opposition.
He is the current World Muay Thai Council (WMC) Intercontinental champion and also holds the European Muay Thai Federation title.
As well as the 2014 Glory Middleweight Contender Tournament Championship trophy, Pereira also holds the 2013 WAKO Pro Pan-American Middleweight Championship and a Brazilian national title.
GLORY: LAST MAN STANDING takes place Saturday June 21 airs on PPV priced at $34.95 in the USA.
As well as the Middleweight Championship Tournament it features a World Heavyweight Championship fight between Daniel Ghita and Rico Verhoeven plus Marc De Bonte defending the World Welterweight Championship against Canadian contender ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini.