Errol Zimmerman (101-11-1, 42 KO’s) sees himself as the favorite going into the four-man Heavyweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 16 DENVER next week.
He faces Australian power-puncher Ben Edwards (36-9-3, 31 KO’s) in the semi-final stage of the Saturday May 3 event, while the other bracket has Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva (37-10-1, 24 KO’s) against Sergey Kharitonov (5-3, 3 KO’s).
The two winners will then meet in the final, with the ultimate victor receiving a spot in the next Heavyweight Championship Tournament plus a trophy, which has a unique story behind it.
“Everybody in this tournament is really a boxer so I think that this is really an advantage for me, because I am also a good kicker,” Zimmerman muses.
“Low kicks, high kicks, it is no problem. It depends what happens in the fight. I am a more complete fighter, more well-rounded. They are all more boxing guys [who rely on their hands]. But they are all really tough.”
That assessment may be accurate in the cases of Kharitonov and Edwards, but Silva certainly has a more complete game than Zimmerman credits him with.
Regardless, Zimmerman is going all-out to score a quick win against Edwards so that he can be in good condition for whatever the final throws at him.
“If you finish quick then you have an easy final. What you don’t want is to go nine minutes in your first fight because you are going to get some pains and some injuries for sure,” he says.
“I like this four-man tournament actually, because usually I would have to fight three times in one night. So I am going to bring the action.”
He has an added motivation. Edwards made his debut at GLORY 12 NEW YORK by knocking out Jamal Ben Saddik in the last seconds of the final round of their Superfight Series fight.
Zimmerman is a friend and training partner of Ben Saddik, and he is out for revenge. “You hurt my friend Jamal in New York, so now I am going to hurt you in Denver,” he warns the Australian former rugby player.
As we speak, Zimmerman is on the ground in Denver. He arrived ten days ahead of the fight in order to acclimate himself. Denver is known as The Mile-High City because it sits one mile above sea level and has thinner oxygen levels as a result. That can affect athletic performance.
“Yeah I know all about the high altitude in Denver. I’ve been doing some things to work on that, I was training with a mask on so that it limits my oxygen intake,” Zimmerman says. “I also did something with my sleeping arrangements.”
Kharitonov, a Russian heavyweight best-known for his MMA fights in the STRIKEFORCE and PRIDE FC organizations, is also a friend and sometime-training partner of Zimmerman’s, but apparently that won’t be any barrier to a war blowing up should they meet in the ring.
“Kharitonov really started his career as a stand-up fighter by training at my gym in the Netherlands,“ Zimmerman says of the Russian’s switch to kickboxing several years ago.
“I have trained a lot with him here in this gym, in the old gym and in Thailand also. We know each other really well so it will be a really good fight if we meet each other in the finals.”
That gym was also once the home of Ramon Dekkers, the Muay Thai and kickboxing legend who stormed the rings of Thailand two decades ago and showed that European fighters were capable of beating the Thais at their own game.
Others have followed in his wake but at the time Dekkers’ exploits were incredible; the Thais could not believe what he did to their champions under their own rules. One fight resulted in Dekkers being presented with a special trophy to recognize the significance of his achievements.
Dekkers passed away last year, but his memory lives on: the trophy awarded to the winners of GLORY Contender Tournaments is a replica of the one he was awarded in Thailand. It comes with a certificate that expresses hopes that the winner can achieve success similar to Dekkers’.
“I train at the same gym Ramon trained at, and I train with his brother, so I need to win this trophy. It will be a homecoming. That trophy belongs here,” says Zimmerman, clearly emotional when discussing this topic.
“Other than the trophy, I know that I get a spot in the World Championship Tournament if I win. I don’t even know what the prize money for the tournament is and I don’t care. GLORY tell me when to fight and who against and that’s it, I turn up and I fight.”
GLORY 16 DENVER takes place Saturday May 3 and airs LIVE on SPIKE TV across the USA.
The event also features the GLORY debut of Pat ‘HD’ Barry, returning to kickboxing years as an MMA fighter, and a Welterweight Championship Title Fight between Karapet Karapetyan and Marc De Bonte.
