This weekend we are in Copenhagen, Denmark for GLORY 29 COPENHAGEN and GLORY SUPERFIGHT SERIES 29. Two cards, one arena, one night. As always we're going to take a look at the matchmaking process behind the card.
Let's start here with the Superfight Series card. This one airs exclusively worldwide on UFC Fight Pass, the UFC's online broadcast platform. The live broadcast begins at 1.30PM ET and also you can watch on-demand afterwards. Heavyweights, light-heavyweights, contenders, debutants - there's going to be some real action on this one. Don't blink.
Zack Mwekassa (13-3, 12 KO's) vs. Zinedine Hameur-Lain (54-12, 33 KO's)
Light-heavyweight (209lbs/95kg)
South Africa's Zack Mwekassa is one of GLORY's real knockout specialist, he has really heavy hands. He's a professional boxer as well as kickboxer, former heavyweight champion of Africa and he's also held a minor world title in boxing.
His finish of Pat Barry at GLORY 16 DENVER was one of the most stunning knockouts we've ever seen in the GLORY ring, Barry was out for a long time. That was some way for Mwekassa to announce himself to the world.
Since then he's fought his way to a title shot, though he was unsuccessful against Saulo Cavalari for the vacant title last year. Cavalari has since lost the belt to Artem Vakhitov and now Mwekassa is looking to earn himself another title shot and try to take that belt back to Africa.
Hameur-Lain is French but debuted at GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM in December. He fought Fred Sikking, a veteran kickboxer and a local guy. I think he did a great job. Sikking is experienced and he always comes forward, he is a tough guy to fight, but Hameur-Lain was able to handle him.
So here we will see where he is in the rankings. Mwekassa is used to the big platform now so it would be impressive for Hameur-Lain to beat him. Style-wise, he's the most complete kickboxer of the two and he has a reach advantage due to being taller, but the power advantage is with Mwekassa.
Cihad Kepenek (69-21, 34 KO's) vs Tomas Mozny (32-6, 13 KO's)
Heavyweight
New heavyweights are always interesting. These two aren't well known but I think they will put an action-packed fight on, for as long as it lasts. I'd like to see some new blood enter the heavyweight division so I am curious to see what this fight will look like. Kepenek gets a little wild, Mozny is the more technical of the two I think, but they are both coming to fight. They are both in their early 20's, nowhere near peaked yet, so this is kind of a scouting fight. We will see how they do and if they show potential then we can see how they develop over the next year or two and whether they have any contender potential.
Jonathan “Maloqueiro” Oliveira (20-6, 11 KO's) vs Meran “Mr KO” Zangana (42-12, 16 KO's)
Welterweight (170lbs/77kg)
Oliveira was supposed to fight Alex Harris, he's a Swedish-American living in Sweden, but then Harris got injured and we had to find a short-notice replacement. I tried several options, it wasn't easy. Djime Coulibaly wasn't available, neither was Murthel Groenhart.
So then we turned to Meran “Mr. KO” Zangana. He's from Kurdistan but resident in Sweden. He has a lot of followers. He's good with his knees, dangrous with them. He's a southpaw and he's knocking people out with those knee strikes. He reminds me a little of Atakan Arslan who Oliveira fought at GLORY 15 in Istanbul.
Oliveira has had some good fights in GLORY and also some losses, he needs to find consistency. He's a tough guy, he's from the favela slums of Brazil. His nickname Malaquiero means like “street villain” and he brings that kind of mentality to his fights. He needs to get himself back into a win streak and climb back in the rankings towards a contender tournament.
Rhassan Muhareb (69-21, 34 KO's) vs. Abdou Karim Chorr (32-6, 13 KO's)
Lightweight (154lbs/70 kg)
The lightweights Rhassan Muhareb and Abdou Karim Chorr were recommended by our local scout, I took a look at them and they showed some potential. They are both based in Scandinavia so they have some local following with them and should give us a good fight. They're looking to make an impression and secure a spot for themselves in GLORY.
Harut Grigorian (41-9, 30 KO's) vs. Maximo Suarez (38-3, 21 KO's)
Lightweight (154lbs/70 kg)
We have been waiting for Harut to make his debut for some time but he had some passport issues until now, because he is Armenian he wasn't free to work and travel in Europe until he got his status resolved. Everything is in place now so now he can make his debut at last. He's a great fighter, he fought a lot of big names already: Murthel Groenhart, Andy Souwer, Mootje Khamal.
Everyone thinks he is related to Marat Grigorian but he isn't, it's just a common name in Armenia. He is also very different to Marat in style. Marat is a more technical fighter, Harut is a guy who starts kicking and punching from the opening bell and doesn't stop until either he knocks someone out or he gets knocked out. He's got a great style for GLORY fans to watch.
Originally he was to fight Hynsi Beqiri, the brother of Shemsi Beqiiri. These days Shemsi is basically retired and he proposed his brother to replace him in the lightweight division and we liked the look of him. So then we looked for a replacement and we came up with Maximo Suarez. He's a guy many fans will know from the days of It's Showtime and he is also experienced in fights with big names.
Spain has some really good fighters and is producing some increasingly good fighters so Suarez could be the first of many. He has a similar style to Harut, they are going to meet in the middle and bang it out. This could be the fight of the night and it's the very first fight of the evening!
