“He wants to take the belt from me but it's not going to happen,” says middleweight champion Jason 'Psycho' Wilnis (29-6-1, 8 KO's) of his GLORY 37 LOS ANGELES challenger Israel Adesanya (65-3, 27 KO's).
The two are headlining Friday night's card at The Novo Theater in the LA LIVE entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles. The card will air live in the US on ESPN and on multiple networks worldwide.
Adesanya earned his title shot by winning the Middleweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 34 DENVER in October last year. His performance earned him a lot of new fans, although Wilnis apparently hasn't paid him much attention.
“I don't know much about him. He can kick, punch, knee and probably run away. But I want to hurt this guy, this is what I am here for. I am going to pressure him and land my shots. When I start landing on him, that's when it's going to be all over for him,” he says.
“It's going to be hard action. Everything hard, a real fight. I like to let my actions speak. I am not much of a talker. When the bell goes, that's what matters. He wants to take the belt from me, it's not going to happen.”
The fight will be Wilnis' first defense of the middleweight title he won at GLORY 33 NEW JERSEY in September. He took the belt by stopping defending champion Simon Marcus in their third round. Since then, Wilnis has become the target of the division's contenders.
“When you become champion the hard work starts because everybody wants your spot and everyone wants to take the belt from you. You have to work harder, it's not easy. My mentality is that you must give 100% all the time in training,” he says.
Does having a belt to defend bring added pressure or added confidence? Wilnis says it's a little of both.
“Being champion gives you more confidence when you fight. But for me it's just like my other fights. I am champion but I am the same guy as normal. It brings a little bit of pressure but I don't think about too much,” he explains.
This fight is interesting because of the starkly contrasting styles of the two protagonists. Wilnis is a product of the classic Dutch school of kickboxing, which favors constant forward pressure and heavy punches followed by kicks. Adesanya is unorthodox, mobile and varied, which makes him unpredictable.
Their approaches are reflected in their nicknames. Wilnis carries the moniker 'Psycho' due to his aggressiveness in the ring, while Adesanya calls himself 'The Style Bender', which is a reference to a comic-book character with a wide range of unexpected skills.
Wilnis explains the provenance of his own nickname: “When I hear the bell the psycho comes out. You can talk before the fight and say this and that, but I want to see the guy in front of me, see his eyes, that's when the psycho comes out.
“When the fight starts I am a little bit of a beast. [In day-to-day life] I am always kind of quiet but my coaches said I get like a psycho look in my eyes during a fight, so that's where it came from.”
Adesanya and Wilnis headline GLORY 37 LOS ANGELES on Friday, January 20. The card airs live on ESPN 3 (re-airs Sunday on ESPN 2) and is preceded by the GLORY 37 SUPERFIGHT SERIES card, which airs live worldwide on UFC FIGHT PASS.
