GLORY 23 was a successful Las Vegas debut for kickboxing premier, topped off by Nieky Holzken, who captured the vacant GLORY Welterweight title over a resilient Raymond Daniels.
Daniels looked comfortable in the first stanza, despite the fact Holzken closed the space, ‘Real Deal’ still managed to land in volume.
The American may have stole the second as well, although showed a visible grimace when Holzken landed a flush left body hook, one of his go-to moves.
Nevertheless, Holzken showed great resolve to continue pushing the pace, and a vicious knee created a severe cut on the left eyelid of Daniels, which forced referee John McCarthy to stop the fight.
It was a very promising fight, and Daniels looked better than he did in their first bout. A trilogy fight definitely isn’t out of the question.
As for Holzken, he finally captures the long illusive GLORY gold.
In the co-main event, it was a fairly easy win for Xavier Vigney, who controlled the ring against Daniel Sam on his way to a decision win. Although Sam managed to land a huge overhand right in the first round, ‘The Warrior’ looked pretty flat for the majority of the fight.
The ‘X-Man’ outlanded Sam emphatically, with a high amount of flurries which the Brit never really managed to combat. Sam started to utilise the right low kick in the final round, but it wasn’t enough, with Vigney being awarded the point victory.
With another win under his belt, expect Vigney to face much tougher opposition in his next fight, a potential top ten challenge could await him if he is put into the next Heavyweight Contender Tournament.
As for Sam, this may be the last time we see him in GLORY, slipping to 4-1 within the promotion.
Dustin Jacoby and Casey Greene fought in the Middleweight Qualification Tournament Final. Both men advanced through very different routes.
Jacoby advanced to the final after a brutal knockout over Ariel Sepulveda. The fight seemed like a stalemate early on, but in the dying seconds of the first, Jacoby landed a big left to wobble the New Yorker.
He immediately followed up with a couple of sharp jumping knees, and a glancing right hand to knock Sepulveda out cold.
In the opposing Semi-Final, ‘Irish Pride’ Greene put on a one sided showing over O’Brien, for a unanimous decision. It was a one way street for the majority of the fight, Greene consistently landed unanswered strikes, almost double the amount, and found great success with his high kick and right hand.
However, it was Jacoby who really showed fantastic strikes in the final. He picked up the second round TKO over Greene. In the first, Jacoby looked unfazed, and controlled the pace, before a final minute onslaught which dropped Greene.
Referee Mark Smith was forced to intervene in the second round when Jacoby landed several unanswered left and right blows to Greene.
It was also announced on the GLORY 23 broadcast, that Gabriel Varga will make the first defence of his Featherweight title against Sergey Adamchuk at GLORY DYNAMITE on September 19. Ukraine’s Adamchuk shocked fans when he defeated Marat Grigorian at GLORY 22: Lille in June.
Meanwhile, GLORY 24 was announced for October 9 in Denver, Colorado.
Photo – GLORY Sports International
