Kickboxing: Joe Schilling Stops Jason Wilnis at Glory 24; Adegbuyi Wins Heavyweight Tourney

American kickboxer Joe Schilling was expected to fight rival Artem Levin on Friday night in the main event of Glory 24. When defending middleweight champ Levin had to withdraw several weeks ago due to an elbow injury, Schilling was instead paired with replacement Jason Wilnis.

Schilling (20-6, 12 KOs) and Wilnis (25-6-1, 7 KOs) tore into each other from the start, but “Stitch ‘Em Up” was the sharper and quicker of the two. After a dominant opening round, Schilling looked to be on his way to a stoppage when he dropped his foe with a left hook early in the second. Wilnis showed grit and stormed back into the fight, rocking Schilling with a sweeping overhand right.

Schilling’s legs buckled, and when Wilnis chased after him, he landed another right to the face. Schilling was ready to go, but the veteran wisely tied up the Dutch fighter. Schilling was able to clear his head enough to survive the round, but not before the two engaged in another wild exchange.

Just as the fight seemed ready to kick into overdrive, Wilnis had to have the towel thrown in because of a badly broken toe he suffered in the second. The fight was unfortunately brought an anticlimactic end, allowing Schilling to prevail via technical knockout and rise to No. 1 in the Glory middleweight rankings.

Wilnis’ bigger brother, Jahfarr Wilnis, didn’t fair much better in the evening’s four-man heavyweight tournament, although he did make it to the finals. The larger Wilnis waged an all-out war with Romanian Benjamin Adegbuyi, but Wilnis came up just short as he was edged out via split decision.

With the tournament title on the line, both heavyweights fought through the Denver altitude, ignored exhaustion and ripped furious barrages of punches and kicks into one another from beginning to end. When all was said and done, two of the three ringside judges favored Adegbuyi (22-3, 15 KOs) with his higher strikes output. He won 29-28 on two of the three scorecards, with the other judge scoring it 29-28 for Wilnis (28-6-1, 8 KOs).

Wilnis opened the bracket by taking out Aussie Ben Edwards via low kicks and hooks to the body 90 seconds into round two. That was followed by Adegbuyi doing the same to Mladen Brestovac, though it took him until the 1:47 of the third to get the job done.

In a featured middleweight attraction, local fighter Dustin Jacoby, who won the company’s middleweight tournament in Las Vegas earlier in the year, continued his hot streak by stopping Wayne Barrett in the third. Jacoby (7-6, 6 KOs) ripped into his foe with punches and kicks to the head and body, leading to Barrett succumbing to exhaustion. Finally, when he was felled by two left hooks, Barrett (5-4, 4 KOs) stayed on his gloves and knees until he was counted out at the 1:40 mark of the final frame.