Artem Vakhitov Unifies Glory Light Heavyweight Title with TKO of Zack Mwekassa
With Glory returning to France on Saturday, a pivotal matchup
between the promotion’s two light heavyweight titlists sat atop the
marquee. Glory’s champion at 209 pounds, Artem Vakhitov, finally
returned to action to face “interim” belt holder Zack Mwekassa in
the main event of Glory 35: Nice and when it was all said and done,
it wasn’t even close.
Vakhitov dominated his foe from the start as he unloaded an endless stream of leg kicks and punches to the body. The attacks slowed Mwekassa down toward the end of the first and while the Congolese veteran continued to return the fire, Vakhitov was nearly unstoppable. A loopy right to the jaw, followed by a perfect counter left jab dropped Mwekassa about 90 ticks into the second and when he climbed back to his feet, he was on unsteady legs. The Russian pounced when the fight resumed and clipped his woozy foe again, forcing Mwekassa to fall face first as he missed a desperate left hook. The fight was called off moments later when Mwekassa plummeted to the canvas when he badly missed a spinning back kick, his equilibrium frazzled. The official time of the TKO came at 2:23 of the frame, allowing Vakhitov to unify the light heavyweight crown.
Benjamin Adegbuyi dominated Hesdy Gerges in the opening round of the Glory 35 Heavyweight Contender Tournament and won a lopsided unanimous decision, only to continue his impressive run in the finals when he replicated the feat against Mladen Brestovac. Adegbuyi was nearly flawless throughout the six full rounds he competed in as he picked both opponents apart with brilliant punching to the body, nasty low kicks and timely counters up top. Adegbuyi is now next in line to get a crack at the Glory heavyweight title, currently held by Rico Verhoeven. Brestovac knocked out Jahfarr Wilnis at 2:06 of the opening round in his semifinal matchup.
Pavel Zhuravlev electrified the capacity crowd inside Hotel Campanile Nice Aeroport as he torched Zinedine Hameur Lain with a blitzkrieg of punches. Zhuravlev was relentless and took out his foe with an assortment of punches, officially getting the TKO at 1:58 of the opening stanza.
In the Glory 35 SuperFight Series undercard, Nicolas Wamba defeated Nordine Mahieddine via unanimous decision; Karim Benmansour edged Eyevan Danenberg via split decision; Amel Dehby unanimously outpointed Jiwaen Lee; Christian Baya did the same thing to Josh Jauncey; Petpanomrung Kiatmookao bested Stanislav Renita on all five official scorecards; and Cedric Castaigna toppled Vang Moua with a unanimous verdict.
Vakhitov dominated his foe from the start as he unloaded an endless stream of leg kicks and punches to the body. The attacks slowed Mwekassa down toward the end of the first and while the Congolese veteran continued to return the fire, Vakhitov was nearly unstoppable. A loopy right to the jaw, followed by a perfect counter left jab dropped Mwekassa about 90 ticks into the second and when he climbed back to his feet, he was on unsteady legs. The Russian pounced when the fight resumed and clipped his woozy foe again, forcing Mwekassa to fall face first as he missed a desperate left hook. The fight was called off moments later when Mwekassa plummeted to the canvas when he badly missed a spinning back kick, his equilibrium frazzled. The official time of the TKO came at 2:23 of the frame, allowing Vakhitov to unify the light heavyweight crown.
Benjamin Adegbuyi dominated Hesdy Gerges in the opening round of the Glory 35 Heavyweight Contender Tournament and won a lopsided unanimous decision, only to continue his impressive run in the finals when he replicated the feat against Mladen Brestovac. Adegbuyi was nearly flawless throughout the six full rounds he competed in as he picked both opponents apart with brilliant punching to the body, nasty low kicks and timely counters up top. Adegbuyi is now next in line to get a crack at the Glory heavyweight title, currently held by Rico Verhoeven. Brestovac knocked out Jahfarr Wilnis at 2:06 of the opening round in his semifinal matchup.
Pavel Zhuravlev electrified the capacity crowd inside Hotel Campanile Nice Aeroport as he torched Zinedine Hameur Lain with a blitzkrieg of punches. Zhuravlev was relentless and took out his foe with an assortment of punches, officially getting the TKO at 1:58 of the opening stanza.
In the Glory 35 SuperFight Series undercard, Nicolas Wamba defeated Nordine Mahieddine via unanimous decision; Karim Benmansour edged Eyevan Danenberg via split decision; Amel Dehby unanimously outpointed Jiwaen Lee; Christian Baya did the same thing to Josh Jauncey; Petpanomrung Kiatmookao bested Stanislav Renita on all five official scorecards; and Cedric Castaigna toppled Vang Moua with a unanimous verdict.
