Wilnis faces Belgaroui in title shot eliminator at GLORY 45 

When Jason “Psycho” Wilnis (30-7-1, 8 KO’s) stopped Simon Marcus at GLORY 33 NEW JERSEY last year and won the middleweight title, he did so in such ferocious fashion that it seemed he would be holding the belt for the forseeable future.    A successful defense against Israel Adesanya followed, but then Marcus proved his own championship caliber by taking the belt back from Wilnis at GLORY 40 COPENHAGEN earlier this year, albeit by split-decision.   On the same card, Amsterdam’s Yousri Belgaroui (22-3, 10 KO’s) beat Agron Preteni and Alex Pereira in back-to-back fights to win the Middleweight Contender Tournament and place his name into the title mix.    Now, Wilnis and Belgaroui are set to clash at GLORY 45 HOLLAND in a title shot eliminator bout. The winner will walk away with the right to challenge for the middleweight belt in his next fight.    The two are on similar form: the loss to Marcus snapped a four-fight win streak for Wilnis, while Belgaroui is 3-1 in his last four and 2-0 in his last two. They are also next to each other in the rankings, with Wilnis at #1 and Belgaroui at #2.   A derby element also underpins the fight, with Belgaroui coming from Amsterdam and Wilnis fighting out of the nearby city of Utrecht. Fighters from outside Amsterdam always take a special pleasure in beating fighters from the Netherlands’ largest city.   Wilnis fights out of the Collosseum Gym, home to his brother Jahfar Wilnis and legendary veteran Peter Aerts as well as rising stars like Tyjani Beztati, who will also fight at GLORY 45.   Belgaroui fights out of Mike’s Gym, where his team mates include current welterweight champion Murthel Groenhart and former featherweight champion Serhiy Adamchuk, who challenges Robin van Roosmalen for the belt in the GLORY 45 main event.   The winner of the fight will have to wait until the next event to find out who he will be facing: Simon Marcus is defending the belt against Alex Pereira at GLORY 46 CHINA on October 14.