Van Roosmalen: "It was a close fight, but the right decision"

Robin van Roosmalen (35-6, 19 KO’s) has had enough of being the underdog.

The GLORY World Lightweight Champion is sick of going into his fights with analysts and fans predicting that he will lose. At 9-2 in GLORY since his debut at GLORY 1 STOCKHOLM back in 2012, the Den Bosch, Netherlands fighter feels he has earned the right to be considered the favorite.

On Friday he took a decision win over Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (103-29-5, 28 KO’s) in the main event of GLORY 25 MILAN to retain the belt he won from Davit Kiria at GLORY 18 OKLAHOMA and first defended successfully in a rematch with Andy Ristie at GLORY 20 DUBAI earlier this year.

Asked whether he now has anything left to prove after two title defenses and all but cleaning out the division, Van Roosmalen surprised media attending his post-fight interview with his answer.

“I think I have a lot to prove, because I am still the underdog. Every time, people doubt me,” he said, shrugging and sounding more than a little sad. “I think I did it a couple of years ago but people keep doubting me, I don’t know why.

“Everybody they want me to beat, I will beat, no problem. If they want to me fight Giorgio [Petrosyan] next, I will fight Giorgio. If they want me to fight some Top 20 guy it makes no difference, I will still be the underdog.”

Van Roosmalen got more heated when asked how it felt to be constantly considered the underdog despite his stellar record in GLORY.

“Yeah it pisses me off, really. Every time I beat the guys, I am still the underdog. Against Ristie [at GLORY 20] I was the underdog, against Kiria they were saying I couldn’t fight under pressure, against Sittichai they were saying he was going to knock me out… I won them all. What more do I have to say?”

Unfortunately for Van Roosmalen, controversy has dogged his win over Sittichai at the weekend. The judges’ decision was unanimous for ‘Pokerface’ but a sizeable contingent of fans - in the arena and around the world - felt Sittichai should have been declared the winner.

“It was a close fight, it was a hard fight, but with two fighters at this level what do you expect? But I think they made the right decision with me as the winner. I scored more clean punches and kicks so, that’s it,” he said when asked for his thoughts on the judges’ decision.

Regarding Sittichai’s repeated middle kicks? “I blocked them,” he said. And in fact the day after the fight, Van Roosmalen posted a picture of his torso on social media with an accompanying message pointing out that there wasn’t a single mark on him.

“I thought he would be better. He had a really big hype on him - of course he is good, I just thought he would be better. I thought he would surprise me with some things but he didn’t, I think I blocked everything he threw, he didn’t surprise me at all,” he reflected.

“The first two rounds we started relaxed, put the pressure on, waited to see what he would do, then the last three rounds we put more pressure on him and did our thing.”

Some fans are calling for GLORY to make an immediate rematch, but others want to see a rematch with Giorgio Petrosyan (82-2-1, 35 KO’s), who beat Van Roosmalen in the final of the GLORY 3 ROME tournament and who returned to GLORY on Friday night with a win over Josh Jauncey (23-6, 12 KO’s).

“I didn’t see his fight with Jauncey because I was preparing for my own fight. But I would say yes to that fight, right now,” he says.

“I have a lot of respect for Giorgio, he is a great fighter, but he is the only loss I didn’t get revenge for. I got revenge for my loss to Ristie, there is only Giorgio left.”

GLORY’s next event takes place at the RAI Amsterdam on Friday, December 4 as GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM brings kickboxing back to its spiritual home with two world title fights atop a staced card.

Rico 'The Prince' Verhoeven defends the heavyweight belt against Romanian contender Benjamin Adegbuyi in the headline slot while Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken defends the welterweight title against Murthel ‘The Predator’ Groenhart. The card also features Errol Zimmerman, Mosab Amrani and Mourad Bouzidi among others.

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.nl