GLORY 22 FRANCE takes place Friday in Lille, France and features a World Heavyweight Championship fight plus a four-man Lightweight Contender Tournament and an explosive co-main event between two hard-hitting light-heavyweights.
Let’s take a look at the thoughts behind the matchmaking and what kind of fights we can expect to see.
GLORY 22 FRANCE airs in the US on Spike TV live at 4pm ET
Lightweight Contender Tournament (155lbs/70kgs)
1. Davit Kiria (GEO) vs. Sittichai (THA)
2. Josh Jauncey (CAN) vs. Djime Coulibaly(FRA)
This Lightweight Contender Tournament is very interesting as we have the former champion Davit Kiria participating. Kiria is well known for his aggressive fighting style, great physical condition and well-rounded skills. In the semi-finals he is fighting Sittichai, at this moment one of the best fighters from Thailand.
Sittichai fought several times in France and against French fighters so he is well known in France and a great attraction. Both fighters like to move forwards so this will be a tough fight and I think there will be some injuries carried forward to the second round.
In the other semi-final we have Josh Jauncey from Canada. The Canadians are doing very well in GLORY and we have already had two Canadian world champions. Jauncey is a talented young fighter with great looks to match his skills.
Here he was to face Crice Boussoukou, a local fighter, but Boussoukou was removed from the card at the last minute by the French athletic commission and so now he will face a replacement opponent Djime Coulibaly (50-11-4, 18 KO’s), who was to face Marat Grigorian on the undercard.
Coulibaly is French, a Muay Thai fighter, a lot of experience. He is very mobile, good set of skills, moves a lot and throws good combinations. This is a big chance for Coulibaly to find his level in kickboxing.
Zack Mwekassa (SA) vs. Carlos Brooks (USA)
Light-Heavyweight (209lbs/95kgs)
Zack had a great performance in his GLORY debut when he knocked out Pat Barry. He had a good performance in the GLORY 18 Light-Heavyweight Contender tournament also, knocking out Brian Collette and having a good fight with Saulo Cavalari in the final.
He got knocked out by a Saulo head kick in the end but you have to remember that he isn’t so experienced in the top level of kickboxing. He’s a professional boxer primarily. He has massive power though, really compact puncher. Everything is potentially a KO punch, his whole body goes into each punch. He has a great look and a great style. People really like him and he has a lot of star potential. He told me that he is not satisfied when he wins by decision. He only considers it a real win when he stops his opponent.
Brooks has a karate background similar to Raymond Daniels, he has spin kicks, flexible high kicks and side kicks and stuff. He is good with his hands but his kicks are the real danger. He can land head kicks even at close distance so that could be dangerous for Zack. I think we will see Brooks trying to keep distance and move around and Zack trying to close him down and make pressure. Zack has the advantage in close combat I think.
Rico Verhoeven (NL) vs. Benjamin Adegbuyi (ROM)
Heavyweight (+209lbs/95kgs)
Verhoeven is the World Heavyweight Champion and has really proved his quality with wins over Peter Aerts, Gokhan Saki, Daniel Ghita, Errol Zimmerman and more. What is more, he is young and is still growing as a fighter. His skills grow from fight to fight with all the experience he gains.
Adegbuyi is the challenger. He is 3-0 in GLORY with two stoppages and is very hungry and aggressive to win. He is from Romania and is ranked one place below his countryman Daniel Ghita, who has two losses to Verhoeven.
Ghita is much more experienced but Benjamin has that no-fear, all-risk attitude. Rico has the higher skills and the more experience but Adegbuyi has an aggressive style and is also a big guy with heavy knockout power.
Personally I think that Verhoeven takes this over five rounds and remains champion unless Adegbuyi can find a knockout. The longer the fight goes, the more advantage passes to Verhoeven because of his incredible fitness and conditioning. This guy is a real superb athlete and very well trained.
Speaking of knockouts, let me address the criticism which is often leveled at Verhoeven. His detractors say he does not KO enough of his opponents, they imply he does not have enough power to do so. For me, the KO victories are the final thing Rico needs to elevate himself to the next level.
I believe that it is coming and that soon Rico will be one of those heavyweights who scores big knockouts in his fights. I see the development in him and the confidence. Finding the KO is not about power anyway, it is about speed and timing and confidence.
Back when I was a trainer I saw this myself, both with Alistair Overeem and Gokhan Saki. They were not KO fighters at the start but in both cases it was one or two little things which happened in fights which gave them confidence and suddenly they were finishing everybody. I see this happening with Rico, if not in this fight then this year you will start to see that come out. I think we saw the start of it in his last fight, with Errol Zimmerman.
