Osaro vs Horta : Fight Preview by Unibet

The preview of GLORY 95's co-main event is powered by Unibet.

This saturday night, September 21, will see the return of GLORY to Croatia as GLORY 95 takes place in the Arena Zagreb in the heart of the land of a thousand islands. This event will feature 12 incredible bouts headlined by a five round title eliminator fight between Levi Rigters (18-2, 8 KO) and Bahram Rajabzadeh (69-3, 61 KO). The evening will be packed with heavyweight action including a very exciting co-main event between Tariq Osaro (25-4-1, 13 KO) and Nico Horta (23-9, 3 KO). 

Tariq Osaro will make his first appearance in the GLORY ring since the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix in March where he fell short in the Quarterfinals. He is looking at this fight as an opportunity to bounce back and get back in the mix for the heavyweight title. On the other hand, Nico Horta accepted this fight on short notice just three weeks after his win at GLORY 94 against Sofian Laidouni (36-4-1, 18 KO). 

Former interim-GLORY heavyweight champion, Tariq Osaro is no stranger to the biggest stages. The Nigerian powerhouse has main-evented both COLLISION 5 and COLLISION 6 in superfights and his shortcoming against Bahram Rajabzadeh in the Grand Prix came as a surprise to many. Eager to prove that March 9 was simply a bad night for him, he wants to put on a stellar performance in Zagreb to get back to title contention. 

It’s the second time this year that Nico Horta agrees to save the day on short notice ! Back at GLORY 92, he made his debut against Levi Rigters, replacing Jahfarr Wilnis (33-14-1, 8 KO) and despite a decision loss, he won the crowd over with his incredible resilience, big heart and likable personality. He was then given an opportunity to showcase what he had in store with an entire training camp last month in Antwerp and he delivered in a big way. 

Not only did he win as an underdog but he also demonstrated his capacity to keep a steady pace for 15 minutes and to force his opponent into tough inside range fights. Nico doesn’t throw with the most power of the division however, his capacity to withstand blows while maintaining a big pressure and high volume make him a nightmare matchup for a lot of heavyweights. 

It will be very interesting to see who is going to take the control of the ring as Tariq Osaro likes to pressure his opponent as well. A very elusive fighter despite his stature, he is a very hard fighter to frame absorbing less than 5 strikes per minute, less than half his GLORY 95 opponent’s numbers. 

More importantly, Nico Horta doesn’t want to underestimate Osaro’s power as his chin will likely get tested this week-end. With all of his GLORY wins coming by way of knockouts, Tariq is as lethal as they come and for all his cleverness and swift movements in the ring, he is not one to back down from a brawl if needed. He will have to use those movements to try and prevent Nico from establishing a pace he is comfortable in and land big shots on the cap verdien. 

Ultimately, this fight will likely be decided by the fighter who is able to take and maintain the pressure. Both men will need to start strong so as to not fall in the other’s rhythm. Tariq Osaro is the favorite of this fight not only because he is the most experienced of the two at the high level but also because of the fact Nico Horta’s coming on a couple of day’s notice. However, Big Sexy has shown back in may than short notice or not, he is able to offer a good fight to absolutely anyone and he will be hunting for the most significant win of his career.