Spike TV, Glory Kickboxing End Partnership After 2-Year Run
Spike TV will no longer televise Glory kickboxing events.
Sources close to Spike TV confirmed the news to Sherdog.com on Tuesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. The kickboxing promotion debuted on the network with Glory 11, which took place in Chicago on Oct. 12, 2013 and saw Rico Verhoeven win a four-man heavyweight championship tournament.
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The promotion’s final event on the Viacom-owned station, Glory 24, drew a reported audience of 283,000 viewers on Oct. 9, the second-lowest rated card of its tenure on Spike. Bellator MMA on Sept. 19 held an event titled “Dynamite,” which featured both mixed martial arts fights and Glory kickboxing bouts. A Bellator official told Sherdog.com that Glory's participation on such a card was not likely to be contingent upon a TV deal with Spike. Plans for a future "Dynamite" event have yet to made, although the promotion is still open to the idea.
According to MMAFighting.com, negotiations between Spike and Glory were ongoing, but the two parties could not reach a new agreement before the current contract expired. The organization’s next event, Glory 25, takes place on Nov. 6 in Milan, Italy.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at approximately 3:15 p.m. ET to include information provided by Bellator MMA.
