Rico Verhoeven continues 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 mild heavyweight champion Artem Vakhitov by way of unanimous determination after 5 rounds to prolonged a historic reign at Glory’s a centesimal present in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Vakhitov was coming again to kickboxing after experimenting MMA, passing on a proposal 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 mixtures, attacking the physique and largely the legs, to comfortably win a unanimous determination (50-45×5).
“That was like a cherry on the cake,” Verhoeven mentioned of profitable 5 rounds in all scorecards. “I knew this man was superb, 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 very 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 mild heavyweight champion once more, 100%.”
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 by which Khbabez first grew to become 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 toes 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 an in depth 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 robust 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 seemed upset after the choice was learn and followers within the area booed the end result. Wisse, who broke Alex Pereira’s document 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 at present, and possibly we run it again a 3rd time.”
Petpanomrung Kiatmuu9,, a.okay.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 break up determination over Trindade within the ultimate of a one-night grand prix in December, landed the tougher pictures all through 5 rounds, together with a pair of knockdowns in Spherical 2, to stroll away victorious by way of unanimous determination.
Glory 100 additionally featured 4 one-night tournaments to find out who would advance to be a part of an enormous Final Heavyweight Standing grand prix later this yr.
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 match, defeating Iraj Azizpour and Asadulla Nasipov.
The fourth title to make it was Mory Kromah, and he needed to make it by means of 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 unimaginable flying knee to cease Rajabzadeh.
