GLORY have announced their first international event for 2015, which will take the promotion out of North American, into the Middle East. Alongside EMD Promotions, GLORY 20: DUBDAI will take place place on Friday, April 3 from the Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
GLORY CEO, Jon Franklin said: “We pride ourselves on being a global brand. This event is a major step in expanding our footprint in the Middle East, a market that continues to grow exponentially in regard to development and consumption of combat sports.”
GLORY 20 will be headlined by the winner of the GLORY 17 featherweight contender tournament, as #3 ranked Gabriel Varga (25-2-0, 8 KOs) faces Morocco’s master technician Mosab “Jaguar” Amrani (51-8-4, 15 KOs) for the vacant GLORY featherweight world championship. This marks the last vacant belt in the promotion.
Canadian Varga, defeated Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai and Shane Oblonsky back in June of 2014. Whereas, number one ranked Amrani, has won three of his last four GLORY bouts, the latest a unanimous decision over Yuta Kubo in December 2013.
In the co-headline bout, UFC-veteran Pat “HD” Barry (16-6-1, 10 KOs) returns to the promotion; after his KO loss to Zack Mwekassa, to face Tunisian veteran Mourad “The Silent Power” Bouzidi (76-22-2, 34 KOs).
GLORY 20 will also host a one-night, four-man middleweight contender tournament, for a future shot at the GLORY middleweight title. Dutch technician Jason “Tyson” Wilnis (23-4-1, 6 KOs) faces Brazil’s top kickboxing prospect Alex “Po Atan” Pereira (14-2-0, 9 KO) in the first semi-final.
The second semifinal match-up at GLORY 20 will see a dream match for many North American kickboxing fans, as New York’s Wayne Barrett (5-2-0, 4 KOs) tries to rebound from his loss to Wilnis against Canadian muay thai world champion Simon “Bad Bwoy” Marcus (39-1-1, 24 KOs), who suffered his first career loss to Joe Schilling at Last Man Standing.
Eisa Aldah, Founder of EMD Promotions, said “EMD Promotions is proud to be able to help in bringing GLORY’s exciting brand of kickboxing and world class talent to Dubai. We hope this is the first of many trips to the Middle East for the promotion.”
In addition to this, “Arabian Warrior” Aldah will compete in a six round boxing match against Kevin Hanks of the United Kingdom during the GLORY 20 SuperFight Series portion of the Dubai card.
