Wilnis on Schilling: “Give him war, that’s the gameplan”

Jason ‘Psycho’ Wilnis is a man on a mission.

The Dutch fighter was a finalist in the recent GLORY 20 DUBAI Middleweight Contender Tournament but lost out to Simon Marcus.

This Friday he faces Joe ‘Stitch Em Up’ Schilling (19-6, 11 KO’s) at GLORY 24 DENVER. If he wins, he has a strong argument for a title shot. But before he takes a title shot, Wilnis (25-5-1, 7 KO’s) has a score to settle. The Utrecht, Netherlands man says that he his main priority is a rematch with Marcus. Their fight ended in a split-decision for Marcus and Wilnis feels that in a non-tournament setting things would be very different.

“I had a tough fight with Alex Pereira in the semi-final before I fought Simon in the final. No excuses but I want to see how we match up in a straight fight, not a tournament final, because he had an easy fight with Wayne Barrett in the semi-finals to be honest.” he says.

“It was a soft fight, really, I don’t know how they can call that ‘fighting’ That is not the way we [kickboxers] fight, that is not the kind of fight we like to see. It was boring. So I want that Simon Marcus rematch, maybe on the [GLORY 26] Amsterdam card, if it‘s possible”

But first Wilnis must face and beat Schilling. That is no small task. Schilling was supposed to be facing Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin this Friday for the World Middleweight Championship, but the Russian champion was forced to pull out with an elbow injury.

“He is a good opponent, in my opinion the best American kickboxer, but I think that I am better than him, of course,” says Wilnis. “He has good knees, his reach is long and can be a problem. He is also good with the spinning back-fist. I think his knee is his most dangerous weapon and also his right hand. They are his two best weapons.”

Dutch kickboxing is renowned for its aggressiveness and, listening to Wilnis, it seems Schilling will be faced with a classic demonstration of its philosophy.

“Just to give him war, that’s the gameplan. Don’t wait on him. Go at him, go forwards and make the fight. He has taken an eight-count in almost every fight he has had [in GLORY] so he is there to be hit. I think that making the fight into a war is the most dangerous thing I can do for him,” he says.

This Friday’s event airs live in the US on Spike TV at 11pm ET/9pm MT and has Schilling vs. Wilnis in the headline slot plus a four-man Heavyweight Contender Tournament featuring Jahfarr Wilnis, Benjamin Adegbuyi, Ben Edwards and Mladen Brestovac.

According to Cor Hemmers, matchmaker and Head of Talent Operations, the winner of the middleweight headline fight likely moves forward to a title shot while the winner of the heavyweight tournament definitely does, facing world champion Rico Verhoeven at GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM on Friday, December 6.