Marcus, Barrett, Pereira, Wilnis confirmed for GLORY 20 Contender Tourna...

A four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament forms the center of the GLORY 20: DUBAI main card on Friday, April 3 at the Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"We pride ourselves on being a global brand," said Jon Franklin, CEO of GLORY. "This event is a major step in expanding our footprint in the Middle East, a market that continues to grow exponentially in regard to development and consumption of combat sports."

New York man Wayne Barrett (5-2-0, 4 KOs) faces off against Muay Thai champion Simon “Bad Bwoy” Marcus (39-1-1, 24 KOs) in one of the semi-final brackets. The match has a dual derby element: both are of Jamaican heritage and both are based in North America.

Europe and South America have a presence in the other semi-final as Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira (14-2-0, 9 KO) faces off with Jason ‘Tyson’ Wilnis (23-4-1, 6 KOs). Pereira, winner of the 2014 Middleweight Contender Tournament, is out to avenge a 2012 stoppage loss to Wilnis, who is on peak form of late.

The winner of the GLORY 20 Middleweight Contender Tournament will go forward to a shot at the World Middleweight Championship later this year. The title is currently held by Russia’s Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin, winner of the eight-man LAST MAN STANDING tournament in June last year.

GLORY’s next event is GLORY 19. It takes place Friday, February 6 and features a World Heavyweight Championship main event as Rico Verhoeven defends his title against bitter rival Errol ‘The Bonecrusher’ Zimmerman.

Also on the card is a four-man Welterweight Contender Tournament with Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken, Alexander Stetcurenko, Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels and Jonathan Oliveira battling it out for a shot at Canadian welterweight champion ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini.

The GLORY 19 co-main event sees top-ranked middleweight Joe ‘Stitch ‘Em’ Schilling return to the ring to face young Muay Thai specialist Robert ‘The White Dragon’ Thomas of Canada. Victory may also lever Schilling into title contention alongside the GLORY 20 tournament winner.

GLORY 19 airs live on Spike TV on Friday, February 6 and also airs live in Canada on The Fight Network and in the UK on BT Sport.