RICO VERHOEVEN AND BADR HARI FACE OFF AT THE OFFICIAL COLLISION 2 PRE-FI...

Rico Verhoeven and Badr Hari stared down at the official GLORY: COLLISION 2 weigh-ins today, one day out from their headline bout at the sold-out GelreDome Arena in Arnhem, Netherlands.

It will be the second time that Verhoeven and Hari are meeting in the ring. Their COLLISION 1 encounter in December 2016 ended with a TKO win for Verhoeven in the second round following an injury to Hari’s arm and fans have called for a rematch ever since.

The rematch is by far the biggest individual fight in kickboxing history and has attracted huge media attention. The world heavyweight championship is on the line tomorrow night, but both fighters are also keenly aware that they are laying their legacies on the line as well.

Forever a controversial figure, Hari confounded expectations again today when he took a calm, sportsmanlike tone with Verhoeven during the staredown instead of displaying the raw aggression he previously has in other similar situations.

The most tense moment of today’s weigh-ins was provided by middleweight champion Alex Pereira, who missed weight at his first attempt, narrowly missed at his second and eventually made weight on his third attempt, just inside the allotted time limit. 

His opponent, Dutch-Turkish middleweight Ertugul Bayrak, was watching proceedings closely and may take some extra confidence from knowing that the dominant Brazilian champion has had a harder weight-cut than usual. 

GLORY: COLLISION 2 takes place tomorrow, Saturday, December 21 at the GelreDome, Arnhem, Netherlands and is preceded by GLORY 74 ARNHEM and GLORY 74 SUPERFIGHT SERIES. 

The official weigh-in results are as follows:

GLORY: COLLISION 2

Rico Verhoeven (260.6 lbs / 118.2 kg) vs. Badr Hari  (244.5 lbs / 110.9 kg)
World Heavyweight Title Bout

Luis Tavares (207.9 lbs / 94.3 kg) vs. Stéphane Susperregui (206.6 lbs / 93.7 kg)
Light Heavyweight Bout

Mohammed Jaraya (153.4 lbs / 69.6 kg) vs. Massaro Glunder (153.9 lbs / 69.8 kg) 
Lightweight Bout

Zakaria Zouggary (142.4 lbs / 64.6 kg) vs. Asa Ten Pow (142.9 lbs / 64.8 kg)
Featherweight Bout


GLORY 74 ARNHEM

Alex Pereira (187.0 lbs / 84.8 kg) vs. Ertugrul Bayrak  (187.4 lbs / 85.0 kg)
Middleweight Bout

Serhii Adamchuk (142.2 lbs / 64.5 kg) vs. Aleksei Ulianov (207.5 lbs / 94.1 kg) 
Featherweight Bout

Michael Duut (209.0 lbs / 94.8 kg) vs. Ariel Machado (207.5 lbs / 94.1 kg) 
Light Heavyweight Bout

Itay Gershon (153.4 lbs / 69.6 kg) vs. Zhaoyang Li  (152.6 lbs / 69.2 kg)
Lightweight Bout 


GLORY 74 SUPERFIGHT SERIES

Jahfarr Wilnis (247.6 lbs / 112.3 kg) vs. Antonio Plazibat (237.4 lbs / 107.7 kg)
Heavyweight Bout

Donovan Wisse (186.7 lbs / 84.7 kg) vs. Cesar Almeida  (187.0 lbs / 84.8 kg) 
Middleweight Bout

Cihad Kepenek (246.9 lbs / 112.0 kg) vs. Nordine Mahieddine (232.4 lbs / 105.4 kg)
Heavyweight Bout

Kevin van Heeckeren (185.2 lbs / 84.0 kg) vs. Ulric Bokeme  (186.5 lbs / 84.6 kg) 
Middleweight Bout

Yi Xu (120.8 lbs / 54.8 kg) vs. Rebekah Irwin (120.2 lbs / 54.5 kg)
Super-Bantamweight Bout