Tickets on sale for GLORY 4 TOKYO

TICKETS ON SALE FOR GLORY 4 TOKYO HEAVYWEIGHT GRAND SLAM KICKBOXING MEGA-EVENT AT MAKUHARI MESSE ON SUNDAY, DEC. 2

Heavyweight superstars Semmy Schilt, Peter Aerts and Remy Bonjasky joined by GLORY officials, GLORY commentator Musashi and Japanese pop music sensation Rino Sashihara 

at kick-off press conference in Tokyo

TOKYO, Japan (Sept. 24, 2012) – Makuhari Messe, formerly Nippon Convention Center, in Tokyo, will host the GLORY 4 Tokyo Heavyweight Grand Slam kickboxing extravaganza, headlined by a 16-man single-elimination tournament on Sunday, Dec. 2, GLORY officials announced on Thursday, Sept. 20 during a kick-off press conference at Tokyo's AiiA Theater.

Tickets for the highly-anticipated event featuring an unprecedented collection of world-class heavyweight stand-up fighting talent, can be purchased by phone at 03-5919-0591 as well as online at G-Entertainment’s official website, ePlus, Ticket PIA and Lawson Ticket.   GLORY Sports International is producing the event in collaboration with Japan-based partner G-Entertainment.

World No. 1 ranked Semmy Schilt of Netherlands was joined at the media event by fellow decorated heavyweight champions and GLORY 4 Tokyo Heavyweight Grand Slam tournament competitors Peter ‘The Dutch Lumberjack’ Aerts and Remy ‘The Flying Gentleman’ Bonjasky as well as GLORY Managing Director Marcus Luer and GLORY Chairman and award-winning hedge fund investor Pierre Andurand.

The group of GLORY competitors and executives was welcomed on stage by former heavyweight kickboxing champion Musashi, who will serve as a commentator on the Japanese telecast of the GLORY event, and Japanese pop music sensation Rino Sashihara.

"Japan is the spiritual home of the martial arts and has a special place in the sport of kickboxing and in the vision of our organisation," said Luer. "And so it was only natural that we chose Tokyo to host GLORY 4 Tokyo Heavyweight Grand Slam."

In addition to Schilt, Aerts and Bonjasky, the following stars have been confirmed to participate in the historic tournament: Jerome LeBanner of France, Errol Zimmerman of Curacao, Gokhan Saki of Turkey, Sergei Kharitonov of Russia, Filip Verlinden of Belgium, Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva of Brazil, Brice Guidon of France and Jamal Ben Saddik of Morocco.    The remaining five tournament competitors will be announced soon.

GLORY’s first-ever event in Japan will mark the introduction of a ground-breaking new tournament format and set of rules created by GLORY ambassador and renowned fight trainer Cor Hemmers.

The matchups for the opening stage of the tournament will be determined by a combination of seeding and random draw, which will take place on a date to be determined.

The bouts contested during the first stage of the tournament as well as during the quarterfinal and semifinal stages will utilize the ‘Best of Three’ rule, whereby a fighter who wins the first two rounds of a bout is declared the winner of the fight and advances to the next stage of the tournament without the bout’s third round being contested, thereby reducing the risk of injury.

The fights during each of the first three stages of the tournament will also utilize two-minute rounds.

“We are expecting shorter fights to translate into even more explosive and spectacular action than fans are accustomed to seeing in what is already recognized as a high-impact, electrifying sport,” said Andurand.  “There will be a lot of surprises in the ring and it will be very interesting to see how fighters adjust their strategies in order to achieve success under this new tournament format.”

The tournament’s championship bout will consist of the traditional three rounds, each of which will be three-minutes long.

Also on hand in Tokyo for the press conference were GLORY heavyweight stars Fabiano ‘Cyclone’ Aoki and Koichi Pettas, who will each see action in GLORY’s event in Brussels, Belgium on Oct. 6 as well as Yoshihiro Sato, who will do battle at the GLORY ‘Final 8’ event in Rome, Italy on Nov. 3.

For more information, please visit GLORY’s official website, www.gloryworldseries.com. 

About GLORY:

The GLORY World Series (www.gloryworldseries.com) is the world’s premier stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe and offering up to $1,000,000 in prize money to successful fighters in 16-man grand prix tournaments which are open to only the very best fighters in each weight class.

With television deals spanning every continent plus a groundbreaking online video streaming system, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely-broadcast sporting organizations already.
Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in Holland, the UK, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel include prominent hedge-fund investors, the pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia and several executives from the Golden Glory and It’s Showtime team.

About G-Entertainment:

G Entertainment Inc is a newly formed sports event producer specialized in hosting and operating Fighting events. Although, it is a newly formed company, all the key management and staff are industry veterans involved in various fighting sports and tournaments in the past in Japan.

Contact:

Mike Afromowitz, Gala Klyuchkina and Bert van der Ryd - press@gloryworldseries.com