Glory 54 Prelims Feature Five Fights

(PRESS RELEASE) -- GLORY, the world’s premier stand-up combat league, today announced the finalized five-fight preliminary card slated to precede GLORY 54 Birmingham and GLORY 54 SuperFight Series on Saturday, June 2.

In the evening's most anticipated preliminary bout, ISKA European titleholder Nicola "Canelita" Kaye (14-2-2, 4 KO, fighting out of England), ranked No. 1 in the UK at 52.5 kg, journeys up in weight for a superfight showdown against 25-year-old Christi "Blonde Boom" Brereton (19-6-1, 7 KO, fighting out of England), also ranked No. 1 in her respective weightclass of 55 kg.

Plus, Liverpool's Kevin Ward (41-10-1, 13 KO, fighting out of England) and Portugal's Wilker "The Black Panther" Barros (15-5-2, 6 KO, fighting out of England), ranked No. 1 and No 2 respectively in the UK at 70 kg, meet in a clash of Muay Thai styles. This fight is a tournament reserve bout, meaning the winner will join the GLORY 54 SuperFight Series welterweight qualifying tournament should any participants be unable to compete.

The five-fight GLORY 54 preliminary card can be found below:

GLORY 54 Prelims
Welterweight Tournament Reserve Bout: Kevin Ward vs. Wilker Barros
Catchweight (55 kg) Bout: Christi Brereton vs. Nicola Kaye
Lightweight Bout: Vinny Church vs. Ben Woolliss
Catchweight (68 kg) Bout: Brad Stanton vs. Joe Himsworth
Lightweight Bout: Dean Pattinson vs. Ciaran Smith

The top three GLORY 54 prelim bouts will stream live on the GLORY YouTube channel, as well as the GLORY Facebook page, and Pluto TV channel 215 on Saturday, June 2, with an expected start time of 12:45 p.m. ET / 9:45 a.m. PT.

Then, Congolese light heavyweight Danyo "Dibuba" Ilunga (58-13, 45 KO, fighting out of Germany) and GLORY newcomer Fraser Weightman (21-1, 15 KO, fighting out of England) headline GLORY 54 SuperFight Series, a seven-fight card showcasing some of the UK's top talent.

The seven-fight card for GLORY 54 SuperFight Series can be found below:

GLORY 54 SuperFight Series
Light Heavyweight Headline Bout: Danyo Ilunga vs. Fraser Weightman
Lightweight Co-Headline Bout: Christian Baya vs. Josh Jauncey
Welterweight Bout: Richard Abraham vs. Adam Hadfield
Lightweight Bout: Marat Grigorian vs. Liu Xu
Lightweight Bout: Elvis Gashi vs. William Goldie-Galloway
Welterweight Tournament Semifinal Bout 2: Mark Timms vs. Dawid Blaszke
Welterweight Tournament Semifinal Bout 1: Jamie Bates vs. Tommie King

GLORY 54 SuperFight Series will stream live and exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT on Saturday, June 2.

Finally, GLORY heavyweight champion Rico "The King of Kickboxing" Verhoeven (53-10, 16 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) seeks his seventh title defense against No. 7-ranked Mladen "The Scorpion Sting" Brestovac (56-12-1, 35 KO, fighting out of Croatia).

The four-fight card for GLORY 54 Birmingham can be found below:

GLORY 54 Birmingham
Heavyweight Title Headline Bout: Rico Verhoeven vs. Mladen Brestovac
Welterweight Title Co-Headline Bout: Harut Grigorian vs. Alim Nabiyev
Featherweight Bout: Bailey Sugden vs. Aleksei Ulianov
Featherweight Bout: Adrian Maxim vs. Chenglong Zhang

GLORY 54 Birmingham will be carried:
Saturday, June 2 at 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT – Live on ESPN3
Tuesday, June 5 at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT – ESPN2 Replay
Sunday, July 1 at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT – ESPN Deportes (Spanish-language broadcast)