Verhoeven Dominates Brestovac to Retain Heavyweight Title in Glory 28 Main Event
Rico Verhoeven has become a riddle that no current heavyweights can solve as Croatian Mladen Brestovac was the latest challenger who was perplexed from start to finish. Verhoeven dominated the larger, more powerful man in the main event of Glory 28 inside the Accor Hotels Arena in Paris, France, winning a lopsided unanimous decision to retain his Glory heavyweight championship.
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Verhoeven (48-10, 12 KOs) wasn’t overly enthusiastic about his dominant victory afterward, but he was happy that he retained his title with the win. The three ringside judges favored him heavily via tallies of 49-46 and 50-45 (twice), capping off a solid night of kickboxing action.
Sittichai Wins Lightweight Contenders Tournament
Robin Van Roosmalen now knows who he will next defend his Glory lightweight title against and it’s a man he already conquered last year. Thai superstar Sittichai Sitsongpeenong was the winner of the Glory 28 four-man lightweight contender tournament Saturday night, edging Belgian veteran Marat Grigorian via unanimous decision in the finals.Sittichai (108-29-5, 29 KOs) had his hands full against Grigorian, who was extremely aggressive throughout as he routinely got on the inside and dug shots to the head and body. But the Thai fighter was cool throughout the trench war and was able to unleash his patented knees and kicks from all angles.
Grigorian (45-9-2, 26 KOs), who toppled Anatoly Moiseev (16-1, 4 KOs) in the opening round, kept every round close during the main event as he did everything he could to land a rematch with the champ. However, Sitsongpeenong was too quick and too accurate with his shots and was awarded a unanimous decision via tallies of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27.
While the official date is not set in stone, Sittichai, who dominated Davit Kiria (24-10, 13 KOs) in the opening round, will take on van Roosmalen later this year for the Glory lightweight championship. Sittichai promised after his conquest that he will knock the champ out when they meet again.