Rade Opačić and GLORY seems to have been destiny.
Entering the ‘Last Heavyweight Standing’ tournament, which kicks-off at GLORY 99 on April 5 at the Rotterdam Ahoy, the Serbian native & top five ranked heavyweight in the world is looking to make a huge splash in his GLORY debut.
He is taking on Nico ‘Big Sexy’ Horta in what is the opening round of the biggest heavyweight tournament in this history of combat sports.
Speaking to GLORYKickboxing.com, Opačić spoke about his upcoming fight at GLORY 99: Last Heavyweight Standing, his signing with GLORY, his opponent, and much more.
Well-traveled, Rade Opačić started kickboxing at a young age. Upon moving to Canada, he found a home in the sport of kickboxing. Having dabbled in other striking sports, like taekwondo, it wasn’t until he found kickboxing that he became addicted.
“I first found the sport of kickboxing at the age of 14 in Canada as I was living there for a couple years. I started at a very good standup gym with a good coach,” said Opačić. “I started there and the first day when I went to the gym, I knew this was for me. I instantly liked the training. Before that, I training in other sports like soccer and basketball. Also, some taekwondo, where I learned some moves. That was all before kickboxing.”
It may have been fortunate that Opačić found such a perfect home. He found himself rubbing elbows with legends of kickboxing like “Shaolin” Shane Campbell and Gabriel Varga.
“At age 14 I moved to Canada and I started training there and it was serious from day one. I was learning fast, developing fast. After a couple of months sparring with some really good professionals. It was a lot of professional MMA fighters fighting at Bellator, Muay Thai champions, a lot of Muay Thai champions. so like I can name some like for example, like Shane Campbell, he was a Muay Thai champion, Gabriel Varga, the former GLORY fighter was there, also lot of MMA fighters. It was really a quality gym.”
Rade Opačić feels he has found his home in GLORY. Unable to get consistent fights in other kickboxing promotions, the Last Heavyweight Standing tournament has come around at the perfect time for the 27-year-old.
“The main reason for signing with GLORY is lack of fights,” Opačić says. “It's not what I'm what I'm about - fighting once a year now when I'm in my prime. So, GLORY is giving me a very good opportunity. I'm very satisfied that I'm going to be fighting more than three or four times a year. That's what I need at this time. It is also home to the best heavyweight division on the planet.”
GLORY 99: Last Heavyweight Standing is one of the biggest kickboxing cards in history, literally. Opaćić thinks that something this massive is bound to break through the static as kickboxing fans see how big of a deal this tournament is.
