It has been confirmed by GLORY head of talent operations and matchmaker Cor Hemmers that Robin van Roosmalen will defend his lightweight world title against Andy Ristie at GLORY 20: Dubai on April 3 from the Dubai World Trade Center.
MMAmania initially reported the announcement made by Hemmers at the GLORY 19 post-fight presser. It followed an emphatic performance from Ristie who defeated Steve Moxon on the SuperFight Series undercard of GLORY 19.
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The No.1 ranked GLORY lightweight will now face ‘RvR’ in a rematch of their GLORY 12: New York encounter, which saw the Surinamese fighter knockout the van Roosmalen in the final of the lightweight world championship tournament.
After beating Giorgio Petrosyan and ‘RvR’, 32 year-old Ristie would move on to face Georgia’s Davit Kiria for the lightweight world title at GLORY 14: Zagreb. However, despite a dominating performance for four rounds, Kiria would mount a historic comeback in the fifth, winning via technical knockout to claim the belt.
Ristie rebounded hungrier than ever since his loss, firstly at GLORY 17, knocking out Ky Hollenbeck in 35 seconds. Alongside his recent referee’s stoppage of Moxon in Hampton, Virginia, Ristie has shown why he holds a huge threat to van Roosmalen’s gold in Dubai.
His opponent, van Roosmalen picked up the title from Kiria at GLORY 18: Oklahoma. In the five round majority decision for ‘RvR’ the Dutch clinched the fight mainly due to his active style.
As well as the lightweight title fight, GLORY 20: Dubai hosts a one-night, four-man middleweight tournament with: Simon Marcus, Wayne Barrett, Jason Wilnis and Alex Pereira.
Also at GLORY 20, Pat Barry returns at LHW against Mourad Bouzidi and the first GLORY featherweight champion will be crown between current tournament champion, Canada’s Gabriel Varga and Mosab Amrani.
The GLORY 20 SuperFight Series undercard will also a ‘fight of the night’ potential, when Andrei Stoica faces a huge 2015 prospect in Artem Vakhitov.
Photo Credit: GLORY Sports Internaitonal
