Yousri Belgaroui has earned himself a middleweight title shot after he beat Jason Wilnis in the first round of their GLORY 45 SuperFight Series headline fight.
25-year-old Belgaroui was almost a 3/1 underdog coming into the fight at Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam but he made the bookies look silly with his superb showing against former GLORY champion Wilnis.
The Mike’s Gym prospect looked relaxed in his hometown and his performance was certainly aided by that approach. A body kick from Belgaroui immediately hurt Wilnis and after that, it was just a matter of time as he continued to land some sharp knees to the body.
The end however, came at 2:41 of round one, when an acute right knee grazed the eye of Wilnis, causing an awful cut over his right eyelid. Despite his corner’s efforts (even though the rules prohibit them attending the cut), the doctor waved off the fight as a TKO.
Belgaroui will cash in on his title opportunity on December 9 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands when GLORY host their ‘Redemption’ pay-per-view headlined by Rico Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik.
He faces off against the winner of the middlewieght title fight at GLORY 46: China when Simon Marcus defends against Brazil’s Alex Pereira.
Also on the GLORY 45 SuperFight Series, No. 10 ranked Zakaria Zouggary continued his rise up the featherweight ranks, with a unanimous decision over Massaro Glunder.
It was a very wild first round from both men, with Zouggary electing to sit back and welcome the pressure from Glunder. It was the Mike’s Gym fighter who showed the better technical output in the first, even though Zouggary buckled his opponent in the final seconds, once he was able to get past the nine-inch reach of Glunder.
23-year-old Dutch blood Zouggary began to come into his element in the second, showing precision with his striking combinations which included a beautiful left body, left hook, left body three-piece.
It was much of the same in the third, but a moment of confusion ensued when Zouggary seemed to glance a flying knee past Glunder, who momentarily took a knee. However, referee Paul Nicholls did not deem it a knockdown.
Overall, the GLORY stats indicated that Glunder absorbed less strikes all round, but it was the busier looking Zouggary who was awarded the unanimous decision by the judges. Two ringside officials gave the fight to ‘Double Z’ with 29-28 scores, whilst the rest scored it 30-27 in favour of the Dutchman.
Meanwhile, there was another hometown victory on the GLORY 45 SuperFight Series as 19-year-old prospect Tyjani Beztati furthered his moniker as “The Wonderboy” by handily beating Thai superstar and No.4 ranked lightweight, Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai.
GLORY 45 SuperFight Series Results
Middleweight: Yousri Belgaroui def. Jason Wilnis via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) (Round 1, 2:47)
Featherweight: Zakaria Zouggary def. Massaro Glunder via Decision (Unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Lightweight: Tyjani Beztati def. Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai via Decision (Unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Welterweight: Eyevan Danenberg def. Wellington Uega via TKO (three-knockdown rule) (Round 2, 1:50)
Catchweight (73 kg) Bout: Kevin Hessling def. Stoyan Koprivlenski via Decision (Unanimous) (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
