Wilnis ready to do his talking in the ring at GLORY 20 DUBAI

Jason ‘Psycho’ Wilnis (23-4-1, 6 KO’s) is one of four fighters taking part in the GLORY 20 DUBAI Middleweight Contender Tournament appearance next month. The others are his semi-final opponent Alex Pereira (17-2, 10 KO’s), New York’s Wayne Barrett (5-2, KO’s) and Canada’s Simon Marcus (40-2-1, 24 KO’s).

Given that he his record includes wins over Pereira and Barrett, Wilnis has found himself being singled out as the tournament favorite. But the Dutch fighter isn’t one for paying attention to his own hype.

“I beat Wayne Barrett and Alex Pereira before, so people might say that I am the favorite, but I don’t want to say that about myself. I don’t really pay too much attention when people say things like that,” he shrugs. “I just train my hardest and do my thing.”

The win over Barrett was in November and was both fighters’ last outing. It was a dominating performance from Wilnis and snapped a two-fight losing streak which had started to prey on his mind a little.

“After those two losses I thought, “I can’t lose again” and I started to train harder and harder. I also said to myself, ‘Barrett is a talented fighter but I am going to really, really smash him.’ So I think it was both mental and physical, the difference [from the previous fights],” he says.

“[With the fight being in November] maybe some people might say it is too soon for him to get back in the ring but I wouldn’t. He’s a fighter and a fighter needs a chance to prove what he is made of. But [at the same time] I wouldn’t say that he is going to win if he faces me a second time, you know?”

Artem Levin (50-4-1, 33 KO's), the GLORY World Middleweight Champion, will be fighting the winner of the tournament so he is taking a close interest in it. He says Pereira is his favorite to win it. He has faced both Pereira and Wilnis in the past and feels Pereira’s boxing ability and punching power will give him the edge.

Wilnis and Pereira fought in Brazil in 2012 and Wilnis was able to stop him with leg kicks, hammering his lead thigh over and over until it was agony for Pereira even to put any weight on it. He was forced to retire on his stool between rounds.

“I don’t think I can use the same tactics again. The first fight was over five rounds so the tactic was to keep working on his legs so he could no longer stand. But with this fight being three rounds I don’t feel like I have the time to use that tactic,” says Wilnis.

“Plus he knows it from our first fight, so he will be preparing to block the low kicks. And when you get your low kick blocked, you can injure yourself. So we have a different tactic for him this time.

“Tactics depend on the fighter… against a guy like Wayne Barrett don’t just run up on him. Against Pereira, try and stay inside because he is very tall and he has the reach advantage.”

Of his three fights in GLORY, Pereira has lost only one. Levin out pointed him in their quarter-final fight in the LAST MAN STANDING tournament in June last year. His other two fights both took place as part of the GLORY 14 ZAGREB Middleweight Contender Tournament, which he won.

 “I have watched all three of those fights. The one against Levin he was able to do some things but Levin is another level of fighter and doesn’t give you the chance to do a lot,” says Wilnis.

“Against Sahak [Parparyan] he had a good fight and gave him an eight-count. I think that was his best performance. Dustin Jacoby is a good fighter but really he is an MMA guy so I don’t put too much weight on that win for Pereira.”

As for the other fighter in the GLORY 20 tournament, Simon ‘Bad Bwoy’ Marcus, Wilnis thinks the Canadian-Jamaican might be struggling with the transition to kickboxing rules from his base art of Muay Thai.

“He was number one in Muay Thai rules with elbows and clinching, five rounds and a bigger ring. But we have different rules here and maybe it’s just that he is a Muay Thai fighter, not so much a kickboxer. It is much more about the striking game here,” he says.

“But for his fight against Wayne Barrett I don’t know. I don’t want to make any prediction because everybody is good at this level.”

Whoever wins the tournament in Dubai will go forward to challenge Levin for his belt at GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO in May. The Russian has been on Wilnis’ mind since their fight at GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES and he thinks a rematch would look different.

“At GLORY 10 I lost my head when he caught me with that first knee. I wasn’t myself,” he says. “But that was then and this is now. I am at a different level now. I was strong back then but now I am stronger… I don’t think he could do it again if we had another fight.”

GLORY Superfight Series 20 and GLORY 20 DUBAI take place Friday, April 3 at the Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. GLORY 20 DUBAI is headlined by Robin van Roosmalen defending the World Lightweight Championship against Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie.