Tiffany van Soest (15-2-1, 5 KO's) flew from her base in Bali, Indonesia to Oberhausen, Germany this week with the goal of becoming the first-ever female champion in GLORY history.
She started the year as one of eight fighters taking part in the Women's Super-Bantamweight Grand Prix.
Over the course of several events, that eight was whittled down to four and now, this Saturday, December 10, those four will fight in a one-night tournament to determine which of them will be the first to wear the crown.
Van Soest faces Jessica Gladstone (6-6, 2 KO's) in her semi-final match. The Canadian came in to the quarter-finals on short notice and was the heavy underdog against Daniela Graf, but managed to upset the odds and take the win.
Gladstone is a lot more talented than her record suggests. For example, in 2009 she took UFC champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk the distance in a Muay Thai fight in Bangkok before losing a decision. Gladstone treats fighting a sideline to her regular job of sports massage and many of her losses are to full-time professionals.
“I am expecting this to be a tough test. My opponent in the semi finals is very solid, very strong,” says Van Soest.
The other semi-final features the undefeated Amel Dehby (28-0, 11 KO's) of France and Isis Verbeek (9-3, 5 KO's) of the Netherlands. At just 21 years old Verbeek is very new to the elite ranks and faces a real challenge in Dehby, who along with Van Soest can lay claim to being the tournament favorite.
“The girls in the other bracket are very good as well,” nods Van Soest. “Stylistically they are all a bit different, but I have prepared a gameplan for three different scenarios and I am expecting to come out on top.”
“Being the first women's champion would solidify my destiny. I started karate when I was eight. Kickboxing, striking, Muay Thai... I just love punching and kicking things. Winning this title would be extremely fulfilling and would be all my hard work since eight years old coming to fruition.”
The women's tournament finale plays out in full this Saturday night at GLORY: COLLISION. The two semi-finals take place on the SUPERFIGHT SERIES card before the finalists then move forward to face off on the GLORY: COLLISION pay-per-view card, which is priced at $29.95 and headlined by the long-awaited showdown between Rico Verhoeven and Badr Hari.
The GLORY: COLLISION event takes place in three segments. First, GLORY 36 GERMANY (ESPN in the US/various networks worldwide), headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Sittichai Sitsongpeenong and challenger Marat Grigorian.
Then, the GLORY 36 SUPERFIGHT SERIES, airing live on UFC FIGHT PASS as the 'GLORY: COLLISION Prelims'. The UFC FIGHT PASS broadcast is unlocked so that anyone can watch it – you do not need a subscription. Visit UFCFightPass.com for details and tune-in times.
At the conclusion of that card the action switches to pay-per-view (DISH and UFC.tv) for the GLORY: COLLISION card itself. Rico Verhoeven and Badr Hari headline and the card also features a welterweight title fight between Nieky Holzken and Cedric Doumbé and a heavyweight clash between Ismael Londt and Jamal Ben Saddik.
