A combination of Semmy Schilt’s inactivity and a crushing KO of Errol Zimmerman at GLORY 13 TOKYO has propelled Daniel Ghita to the #1 ranking spot in the heavyweight division. It is the first time he has occupied the top spot in his weight class.
In order to reward active fighters and make for accurate rankings, GLORY ranking points have a limited lifetime, with a percentage expiring after 12 months. Schilt’s inactivity over the past year means that he now drops to #4.
Zimmerman drops one place to #8.
Rico Verhoeven beat Peter Aerts at GLORY 13 TOKYO but, with Aerts being lower-ranked at the time, the victory did little for Verhoeven’s tally. The fight was Aerts’ retirement bout and he now exits the rankings altogether.
Verhoeven, who won the GLORY 11 CHICAGO Heavyweight Championship Tournament, rises two spots to #2, just behind is Gokhan Saki at #3 with 898 points.
Rising three places to #5 is Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva of Brazil. Fighting out of Team Nogueira, his win over Remy Bonjasky sees him crack the Top 5 for the first time. Bonjasky, who was fighting his Japanese retirement match, drops four places to #10.
Big gains were made by Ben Edwards of Australia and Hesdy Gerges, fighting under the Egyptian flag. Edwards is up four places to #6 following his KO of Jamal Ben Saddik at GLORY 12 NEW YORK while Gerges climbs six places to #9 after beating Ewerton Teixeira at GLORY 13 TOKYO.
Also rising four places is Sergey Kharitonov, to #7. The Russian bear beat the legendary Jerome Le Banner at GLORY 13 TOKYO, dominating him for most of the fight. Le Banner now falls outside the Top Ten, dropping two spots to sit at #11.
At light-heavyweight, Japan’s Makoto Uehara rises two places for taking a decision win over the higher-ranked American fighter Dustin Jacoby at GLORY 13 TOKYO. He now sits at #15 in the rankings while Jacoby has elected to move to middleweight and thus exits the light-heavyweight list.
Jacoby enters the middleweight rankings at #7. He has already set his sights on fellow American fighter Joe Schilling, who sits at #2 in the division. Also in the frame is Wayne Barrett, occupying the #3 spot.
The GLORY 13 TOKYO Welterweight Championship Tournament didn’t change the welterweight picture much, as #1 Nieky Holzken won it and retained pole position. However the tournament reserve match saw Alexander Stecurenko beat Karim Ghajji to climb two places to #3.
New in the welterweight rankings is Artur Kyshenko. He debuted at GLORY 13 TOKYO with a win and slides in at #6.
In the lightweight division, former #1 Giorgio Petrosyan is now down at #4 following a KO loss to Andy Ristie in the GLORY 12 NEW YORK Lightweight Championship Tournament. Ristie, who also KO’d #2 Robin Van Roosmalen, is at #1.
Davit Kiria is at #3 and Ky Hollenbeck comes in at #5 for his win over Warren Stevelmans. Japanese fighter Hinata climbs five places to occupy the #6 slot.
And finally, the top of the featherweight division changes hands as Mosab Amrani ascends to #1 following his victory over Yuta Kubo in a GLORY Superfight Series bout at GLORY 13 TOKYO. Kubo drops to #2.
GLORY’s next event takes place on Saturday, March 8 in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb.
GLORY 14 ZAGREB is headlined by Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic in a rematch with Dutch rival Remy Bonjasky. The card will also see a GLORY Lightweight Champion crowned as Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie faces Ky Hollenbeck.
