Spoiler: Vakhitov and Ilunga stage Fight of the Night contender on Super...

In the run-up to GLORY 25 several pundits singled this match out as a potential Fight of the Night. They weren’t wrong: with the fight having serious implications for the light-heavyweight world title picture, Vakhitov and Ilunga were not getting in their to mess around.

Massive blows were exchanged from the off. It quickly became clear that Ilunga had the range advantage but Vakhitov had the far superior boxing, with his hands looking especially sharp and dangerous.

In pre-fight interviews Ilunga had talked of being “very, very angry” that he was no longer the division’s de facto champion. He felt displaced and overlooked and intended to use this fight to prove his point.

At the same time Vakhitov, bringing a 3-1 GLORY record into the fight, knew that a win would probably put him into title contention in 2016, and so neither man was willing to take a backwards step in this encounter.

The heat underlying the fight played to Vakhitov’s advantage, as Ilunga eschewed distance work in favor of getting up close and personal. Vakhitov’s superb boxing work was evident as he landed over and over, especially with his right uppercut up the middle.

At the end of the first round Vakhitov looked close to scoring a knockdown and llunga was possibly saved by the bell. His work continued in the second round and he demonstrated his versatility with a stunningly hard spin-kick to the body which Ilunga somehow just absorbed and shrugged off.

Right as it looked like Vakhitov might run away with the fight, Ilunga started finding success of his own. His cornerman Remy Bonjasky had him tighten up his defense and relax a little, so in the third he was able to execute combination work and land leg- and head-kicks.

The third round was very close; Vakhitov was a little faded compared to his output in the first round and Ilunga was on the rise. They alternated successes over the course of the three minutes but by the end it was Ilunga who looked like the winner of the round.

Would it be enough? It would not. Some might argue that round two could have been scored a draw but most saw it for Vakhitov and the judges agreed. The two battered each other for nine minutes before the officials returned a unanimous decision for Vakhitov. Two had it 29-28 for the Russian with the other judge having all three rounds for him.

Artem Vakhitov def. Danyo Ilunga, Unanimous Decision, R3 (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)