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GLORY 22

GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven successfully defended his title at GLORY 22: Lille, after a dominating performance over Benjamin Adegbuyi which capped off a fantastic night of kickboxing in Lille, France.

Adegbuyi came out the aggressor in round one, landing his jab with great ease. He continued to use his jab to keep Verhoeven on the back foot, whilst landing some really nice, head, body hook combinations.

However, Verhoeven fought back in the second, using his push kick to keep Adegbuyi out of range, and avoiding the jab unlike in the first. It seemed like a pivotal wake-up for “The Prince of Kickboxing” who again in the third, controlled proceedings, landing some flush kicks to the legs of Adegbuyi, which seemed to visibly hurt the Romanian fighter.

In the fourth and fifth rounds it never looked like Adegbuyi had enough fight to get back into the match-up, as Verhoeven continued his supremacy on course for a unanimous decision win.

In the GLORY 22 lightweight contender tournament finals it was a dominating performance from Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong in the finals, who cut Josh Jauncey early on over his right eye. The Thai fighter looked in complete control throughout the three rounds, landing leg kicks at will. Jauncey fought back well but he never really looked like he was able to overcome the volume of Sitthichai’s strikes.

Sitthichai advanced to the final after an extremely impressive KO victory over Davit Kiria. The thai scored with a left body shot, followed by a knee which crumbled Kiria at the start of the second for the win.

In the opposing bracket, Jauncey put on a leg kicking clinic against Djimè Coulibaly to cruise through thanks to the GLORY tournament two knockdown rule.

Sitthichai now receives a title shot against Robin van Roosmalen and it’s a very intriguing match-up, after the Thai showcased how well he can adapt under kickboxing rules.

Also in the GLORY 22 co-main event, Zack Mwekassa predicted ‘bombs and drama’ and that’s exactly what he gave the fans in Lille, France. After wobbling Brooks early on with a left hook, yet again Mwekassa landed a devastating left ‘bomb’ which sent Brooks crashing straight to the canvas.