GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven fights former UFC and Strikeforce contender Antonio “Big Foot” Silva on October 14 in the three-round main event of GLORY 46 in Guangzhou, China.
The full card of GLORY China’s debut show was announced on Friday in the Chinese harbor town.
Verhoeven fights for the third time in a row without putting his strap on the line. Last December he beat Badr Hari on GLORY: Collision in Oberhausen, Germany and in May he got the better of Ismael Lazaar, who he beat by unanimous decision on GLORY 41 in Den Bosch, the Netherlands.
In December, “The King of Kickboxing” will defend his belt for the first time in 15 months in a rematch against Jamal Ben Saddik. This will serve as the main event of GLORY 50 on an unknown date in the Netherlands.
Silva, on the other hand, makes his kickboxing debut. The big Brazilian is better known for his achievements with four-ounce gloves against the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem and Travis Browne, who’d he all beat by (T)KO.
“Big Foot” is currently on a five fight-skid in MMA after losses to Mark Hunt, Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Ivan Shtyrkov and Vitaly Minakov.
Another heavyweight bout on the main card will see Junior Tafa make his GLORY debut. The 20-year-old Australian will fight against a Chinese fighter, whose name has not been announced yet.
To complete the main card, there will be a featherweight Asian Qualifier Tournament. Li Chenchen from China will take on Masaya Kubo in the first semi-final.
The winner of that bout will take on South-Korean GLORY veteran Chibin Lin or Zhang Chenlong, who’ll fight each other in the second semi-final.
Marcus vs. Perreira headlines GLORY China SuperFight Series
The GLORY 46 SuperFight Series features six bouts. GLORY middleweight champion Simon Marcus will headline it and is expected to defend his strap against Alex Perreira. Marcus won the belt last April when he beat Jason Wilnis by split-decision in the main event of GLORY 40: Copenhagen.
Perreira’s last fight was on the same card in Denmark. The Brazilian participated in a four-men Middleweight Contender Tournament and reached the final by beating Burim Rama via TKO in round three. Yousri Belgaroui, who fights Wilnis two weeks earlier on GLORY 45 in Amsterdam, became the winner by beating “Pó Atan” via unanimous decision.
Petpanomrung Kiatmuu9 will make his first appearance since losing his first GLORY world title fight. “The Professor” got beat by featherweight champion Robin van Roosmalen in May on GLORY 41. The Thai fighter will fight a Chinese name not yet determined.
Khayal Dzhaniev, the last man to beat Buakaw Banchamek, will also make his GLORY debut. He’ll also fight a Chinese fighter.
Zhou Wei makes his first appearance at GLORY China. The Chinese middleweight takes on American Matt Baker. Baker won his GLORY debut on GLORY 23 back in August 2015 when he beat his countryman Edward Hyman by judges’ decision.
Qinghao Meng will kick the GLORY 46 SuperFight Series off with a fight against American Brian Bruns. “The Sniper” won his GLORY debut on GLORY 39 by beating Killian Moulun.
The only women’s fight of the card will feature Liu Jia and Angsana Kamhanphol, better known as Zaza Sor Aree.
GLORY China will be a separate organization from GLORY Sports International who will be ‘a significant minority shareholder’, vice chairman Scott Rudmann told Telegraph Sport. The majority of the company will be owned by Chinese investors, like Yao Capital, which is run by former NBA all-star Yao Ming.
