Rico Verhoeven remains to be the king of the kickboxing world.
The Dutch star, who has dominated the heavyweight division for 13 years, now has 13 title defenses after beating two-time gentle heavyweight champion Artem Vakhitov through unanimous determination after 5 rounds to prolonged a historic reign at Glory’s one hundredth present in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Vakhitov was coming again to kickboxing after experimenting MMA, passing on a suggestion from the UFC to return go the ring and problem Verhoeven and had his moments within the match, particularly with a spinning again kick to the physique in Spherical 2. Apart from that, Verhoeven out-struck his a lot smaller opponent with combos, attacking the physique and principally the legs, to comfortably win a unanimous determination (50-45×5).
“That was like a cherry on the cake,” Verhoeven mentioned of successful 5 rounds in all scorecards. “I knew this man was wonderful, additionally technically, conditionally, so I knew this was gonna be an enormous problem. Sorry guys if it wasn’t the struggle you hoped for otherwise you anticipated, however this was a chess match on the best degree. This man is so freaking good, it’s so onerous. He goes downstairs, upstairs, to the physique, to the top, so it’ so freaking onerous, however imagine me, this man goes to be the following gentle heavyweight champion once more, one hundred pc.”
To regain the sunshine heavyweight belt, Vakhitov should beat Sergej Maslobojev, who gained it within the co-main occasion of Glory 100. He challenged Tarik Khbabez in a rematch of a 2022 conflict wherein Khbabez first turned champion, and this time placed on a masterclass to regain the gold. After three shut rounds, Maslobojev merely chopped down Khbabez’s legs for a knockdown in Spherical 4. Khbabez went again to the ft and ate a vicious left hook the physique for a standing rely. Khbabez was clearly damage, however nonetheless went again to the struggle to eat extra punches to the physique and leg kicks to go down a 3rd time, crowning Maslobojev champion at 38 years of age.
Within the middleweight division, it was all the way down to the ultimate spherical in a detailed championship battle between Donovan Wisse and Michael Boapeah. With a ton of unhealthy blood stemming from a title bout in 2023 that was gained by Wisse, Boapeah got here in sturdy with leg kick assaults earlier than coming into the championship rounds. With scores in every single place going into the fifth stanza, 4 judges felt Wisse did sufficient within the ultimate three minutes to retain the belt.
Boapeah regarded upset after the choice was learn and followers within the enviornment booed the end result. Wisse, who broke Alex Pereira’s report for many consecutive middleweight title defenses in Glory, mentioned he’s open to a trilogy sooner or later.
“I do know the followers are disenchanted within the determination, however I can do nothing about it,” Wisse mentioned after the match. “I’m the winner in the present day, and possibly we run it again a 3rd time.”
Petpanomrung Kiatmuu9,, a.ok.a. Petch, efficiently defended his featherweight belt for the ninth time in a rematch with Miguel Trindade within the first title bout of the cardboard. Petch, who gained a cut up determination over Trindade within the ultimate of a one-night grand prix in December, landed the more durable pictures all through 5 rounds, together with a pair of knockdowns in Spherical 2, to stroll away victorious through unanimous determination.
Glory 100 additionally featured 4 one-night tournaments to find out who would advance to be a part of a large Final Heavyweight Standing grand prix later this 12 months.
Tariq Osaro was one of many stars of tournaments portion of the cardboard, scoring knockouts over Sofian Laidouni and Luigi Gashi to advance. Nico Horta earned his spot with determination victories over Colin George and Milos Cvjeticanin. Anis Bouzid additionally went the gap twice tonight to make it to the primary event, defeating Iraj Azizpour and Asadulla Nasipov.
The fourth identify to make it was Mory Kromah, and he needed to make it by an insane ultimate match with Bahram Rajabzadeh. Kromah, who gained a choice over Alin Nechita within the semifinal earlier on the cardboard, stayed calm and composed after two unlawful knees thrown by his opponent to then land an unbelievable flying knee to cease Rajabzadeh.
Click on right here for the entire Glory 100 outcomes.
