Yurk: “Tournament is double challenge but victory will be twice as sweet”

Maykol Yurk (7-3, 5 KO’s) will become the latest Brazilian to join the GLORY roster when he enters the ring at GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM next month to take part in the Featherweight Contender Tournament.

Like many fellow Brazilians competing in kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts he comes from Curitiba, one of the world’s capital cities when it comes to full-contact fighting sports.

Anderson Silva, ‘Shogun’ Rua and Wanderlei Silva put Curitiba on the map with their exploits in PRIDE FC while the likes of Saulo ‘Cassius Clay’ Cavalari have done the same in GLORY.

“Actually I met Wanderlei about a month ago when I was coming back into Curitiba. He was coming through the airport at the same time as me. We talked a bit, he was really cool, he wished me luck for my upcoming GLORY fight,” says the 24-year-old.

“All of those guys [from Curitiba] are guys I looked up to when I was coming up, because my gym Thai Boxe was a partner gym with Chute Boxe. But my main fighting icons are Ramon Dekkers and Mike Tyson.”

Dekkers and Tyson both became legends through their relentlessly aggressive forward-pressure fighting style. Yurk tries to take the same approach, which again fits with what might be termed the Curitiba ‘house style’.

Earlier this week Yurk arrived in the Netherlands to complete the final stages of his training camp under the eye of Nick Hemmers, brother of the late Ramon Dekkers. Yurk’s head coach in Brazil, Julio Borges, trained and fought under Dekkers several times during his own extended visits to the Netherlands.

“In the Netherlands as in Brazil, our training is very hard. We require a lot of dedication and serious focus. The first session of the day takes place at midday and comprises of professionals and amateurs from around the world,” he reveals.

“Later there is another session, at 7:30pm. Lots of heavy sparring, lots of combination work or sharpening of technique. Some afternoons I do my weight-lifting program as laid out by my Brazilian conditioning coach.”

Yurk has fought in one tournament previously, but that was an amateur. He fully recognizes the challenge that is involved in his GLORY debut being immediate entry into a Featherweight Contender Tournament, but he frames it as an opportunity.

“Kickboxers all over the world dream of fighting for GLORY, it is the #1 in the world. All my work and experience so far has led me to this opportunity and I will not the chance escape. Two fights in one night, two wins, then I can have the chance to fight for the title. That is my dream,” he says.

“Two fights in one night is a double challenge but it means that the victory will be twice as sweet.”

GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM takes place Friday December 4 at the RAI Amsterdam in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Yurk faces Shane Oblonsky (10-4, 3 KO’s) in the semi-finals with the other bracket featuring Mosab Amrani (53-10-4, 16 KO’s) against Chi Bin Lim (69-17, 40 KO’s) of South Korea.

The card is headlined by two title fights. Rico Verhoeven defends the World Heavyweight Championship in a rematch with Benjamin Adegbuyi while Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken defends the World Welterweight Championship against Murthel ‘The Predator’ Groenhart.