Cedric Doumbe (66-4-1) retained the GLORY welterweight title at GLORY 39 on Saturday, defeating Yoann Kongolo (64-9) via unanimous decision inside Forest National in Brussels, Belgium.
Four of the judges scored the bout 50-45, and the fifth judge scored it 48-47, all in favor of Doumbe, who successfully defended his title for the first time since winning it after defeating Nieky Holzken at GLORY: COLLISION this past December.
Doumbe continuously frustrated Kongolo throughout the five-round contest. He was showboating, taunting, sticking out his tongue and smiling, all while putting on a commanding performance over the No.1-ranked contender, who had defeated him two times prior in his career. Kongolo got so frustrated at one point, he gave Doumbe the Bras d’honneur gesture because of the Cameroon native’s fight tactics.
Doumbe, 24, landed low kicks early on and was a step faster than the Swiss contender, mixing up low kicks with punches and creating unique angles for his attacks. Kongolo caught the champion late in the round with a big right hand, but couldn’t capitalize. In the second, Doumbe clipped Kongolo with a head kick and poured it on, but Kongolo survived and recovered. Doumbe began taunting him right before the end of the round.
The taunting continued on in the third round, which was another solid stanza for the champion. Doumbe had Kongolo in trouble for a second time after landing a huge knee to the jaw. He landed several punches afterward, but couldn’t score the knockdown. In the fourth, Kongolo landed a right hand after Doumbe missed a jumping knee, but the champion took it in stride and began to taunt him even more. His unorthodox style and movement really began to frustrate the No.1 contender, who at one point motioned for Doumbe to meet him in the middle of the ring. Later on in the round, referee Paul Nicholls admonished Kongolo for trying to punch Doumbe in the back of the head after they were breaking from a clinch.
Doumbe continued his in-ring shenanigans in the final round, causing Kongolo to try and hit him after he slipped to the canvas. Nicholls stepped in again and warned both fighters. Kongolo attacked with several spinning-back kick attempts, but Doumbe successfully ducked under all of them. After one Kongolo miss, Doumbe rested his arms on the ropes as if he was relaxing and taking a break. The champion was just too quick for Kongolo over the course of the 15-minute fight. He out landed him and mocked him for the majority of the time to which Kongolo had no answer.
“First, I want to thank my opponent, even if make a lot of trash talking,” Doumbe told Whitney Miller after the bout. “My first motivation is respect and I have nothing but respect for Yoann Kongolo. Second, I’m so happy. I want to thank my family.”
Kongolo defeated Doumbe by unanimous decision in their last encounter back at GLORY 22, and one other time in the Jurafight promotion, also by unanimous decision. Kongolo falls to 5-4 in GLORY.
In the co-main event, Jamal Ben Saddik (32-5) defeated Guto Inocente (33-8) via unanimous decision in a lackluster affair. All five judges scored the contest 30-27.
In the opening round, Ben Saddik, who fought very reserved early on, landed a solid body kick and followed that up with a good one-two combination. Inocente did not mount much offense aside from a few low kicks and retreated to the corner several times, but Ben Saddik did not go on the attack despite the favorable positioning.
In the second round, the Brazilian landed a few kicks to the body of “The Goliath,” who scored again with a few more big punches as well as a pair of kicks to the body of Inocente. The pace slowed a bit in the final round, and Inocente was able to land an impactful low kick, but not much else. Ben Saddik maintained control, out landed Inocente and finished up the round with three straight stinging jabs.
Their was actually more action after the bout ended during Ben Saddik’s post-fight interview.
“I want Rico man. I waited too long for this. So where is Rico?” Ben Saddik told Whitney Miller after the bout, prompting GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven, who was on commentary during the bout, to enter the ring. The two heavyweights then stood toe-to-toe talking trash in Dutch for several seconds.
Asked for his thoughts on Ben Saddik being his next challenger, Verheoven said, “For me this isn’t even a challenge. People saw this fight. How boring was this fight? I almost fell asleep.”
Saddik countered with, “F–k him. I beat him once. He’s nothing,” before taking the microphone away from Miller. “He told me Badr [Hari] did this, Badr did that. I am not Badr, man. I knocked you out once. I was little boy. Tell the audience,” he said, in reference to his TKO win over Verhoeven back in 2011.
“So what was the problem tonight then?” Verhoeven asked Ben Saddik. “You couldn’t even knock him out and he was standing in the corner standing all night. So where you? What were you doing? Were you scared of him?”
“This is so exciting,” Verhoeven said to Miller. “This is what kickboxing is about, man. We are making the fights. Let’s make it happen. I’m ready for this guy. I”m ready for any guy, but If he wants it. let’s do it.”
Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (156-35-2) defeated Serhiy Adamchuk (34-8) and Alexei Ulyanov (21-3-1) to win the night’s featherweight “Contender” tournament.
In the tournament final, it was the kicking game of Petchpanomrung that would defeat the boxing of Adamchuk in a competitive battle. Petchpanomrung earned a split decision with a pair of 30-27 scores and a pair of 29-28 scores. The fifth judge scored it 29-28 for Adamchuk.
Adamchuk utilizes his boxing in the first round, landing several punches on Petchpanomrung, who had trouble adjusting to the Ukrainian’s striking style. Petchpanomrung came roaring back in the second, landing multiple kicks to the body of the former champion. The results of those kicks were visible as several red welts began to show on Adamchuk’s body. The third round was a closely contested one. Adamchuk tried a rolling-thunder kick at one point to try and surprise the No.9-ranked contender, but Petchpanomrung initiated the clinch throughout the round and halted a lot of Adamchuk’s attacks.
With the win, Petchpanomrung improves to 3-0 in GLORY competition and will earn a shot against former champion Robin van Roosmalen for the vacant featherweight title.
Adamchuk punched his ticket to the featherweight “Contender” tournament final with a unanimous decision victory over GLORY newcomer, Nafi Bilalovski (17-5). All five judges scored the contest 30-27 in favor of the former champion. Adamchuk was the superior striker over the course of the three-round fight. He set the tone early on by landing low kicks to the rear leg of Bilalovski in addition to mixing in his boxing. The former featherweight champion landed a few high kicks and kept Bilalovski guessing throughout the contest by continuing to change levels on him. The loss was the GLORY debut for the Russian fighter.
In the opening semi-final bout, Petchpanomrung proved to be too much for the GLORY newcomer Alexei Ulyanov. The Thai fighter landed a steady diet of round kicks to the body of the Russian en route to a unanimous decision victory. Ulyanov came on in the final round and found some success with his boxing, but it was too little too late. Four of the judges scored the contest 30-27 with the fifth judge scoring it 29-28, all in favor of Petchpanomrung, who advanced to the tournament final.
For complete GLORY 39 results, click here.
