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Jon Franklin, Badr, GLORY 42 fan attack, Roosmalen
Photo: James Law/GLORY Sports International

MMA PLUS were able to track down the GLORY CEO Jon Franklin at the GLORY 22 weigh-ins and speak to the boss about some of the upcoming plans for the premier kickboxing promotion.

GLORY’s last appearance in the UK came at GLORY 5: London which took place March 2013, and ever since, British kickboxing fans have pined for another event. With the likes of heavyweight Chi Lewis-Parry and young prospect Chad Sugden, the UK market is huge for the sport.

Franklin admitted it was definitely a location they wanted to return to, and hinted towards early 2016 as a possible London event.

“We would love to come back to Europe, especially to London, especially with Chi Lewis-Parry who’s a Brit, he’s an Americanized Brit. He came to came and tried out for the [LA} Lakers at one point, but he’s spectacular, he’s got a great personality, we think he’s going to be a big star. So we’d like to do an event with Parry, in London. Look for it first quarter 2016.”

Jon Franklin also exclusively revealed that the promotion would be taking a one month hiatus, but would be returning in early August for GLORY 23, which is set to take place from the historic Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Franklin stated: “We’ll be coming from Las Vegas on August 7, you’ll see the first promo for that here at this fight, so we can officially start talking about that. We’ll be at the Hard Rock Hotel Casino Arena August 7 in Las Vegas.

“Well they’ve had kickboxing in Las Vegas over the years when Strikeforce started out they were a kickboxing organisation, they came to Vegas. My predecessor for some reason was avoiding Vegas, I wanted to go to Vegas but it’s taken nine-ten months to figure out the right date.”

As for right now, the GLORY CEO hyped GLORY 22: Lille and promised a fantastic night of action for kickboxing fans around the world.

“A lot of action, a lot of striking, heavy hitting, a bunch of knockouts, we’re exciteD to be here, we’ve got a heavyweight fight, we’ve got some lightweight fights. I think it’s going to be a great night so tune in, come and see us live, however you can watch GLORY, come and watch GLORY.”

GLORY CEO Jon Franklin also spoke about global expansion, finding the right balance between new and established markets, and the importance for charisma in the sport.

Image – GLORY Sports International