Glory 25 took place today in Milan, Italy. The promotion made it's debut on ESPN 3 with Robin van Roosmalen and Sittichai Sitsongpeenong fighting for the Glory Lightweight Championship in the main event and Giorgio Petrosyan making his return to the Glory ring in the co-main event.
Sittichai Sitsongpeenong looked sharp against Robin van Roosmalen. He delivered a steady stream of left kicks to the body and legs of van Roosmalen with some strong knees mixed in. He controlled the fight as van Roosmalen didn't seem as active as we have come accustomed to seeing from him. He opened up a bit more in the third round but Sittichai dictated the pace of the fight from start to finish. It seemed a new Glory Lightweight Champion would be crowned, but much to the displeasure of the fans in attendance van Roosmalen was declared the winner by unanimous decision with scores of 48-47 from all three judges. Fans booed the decision and van Roosmalen told them he didn't care if they booed afterwards during his post fight interview. Definitely a controversial ending and an unfortunate one for Sittichai.
In the co-main event Giorgio Petrosyan returned to Glory for the first time in two years. Looking to spoil his return was Canada's Josh Jauncey, but despite his efforts Petrosyan was on point. The Doctor was surgical with his strikes. He was very accurate and his evasive defensive skills were near perfect. Jauncey put forward a valiant effort as he did not back away from Petrosyan, but it was impossible for him to land anything significant on Petrosyan while not being able to avoid Petrosyan's strikes. In the end it was a successful return for Petrosyan who took home a unanimous decision victory.
In the welterweight contender tournament Murthel Groenhart and Karim Ghajji met in the finals to see who would win a shot at Nieky Holzken's welterweight title. Groenhart made it to the finals by scoring a stoppage over Nicola Gallo after a knee opened a cut that forced the fight to be stopped. Ghajji defeated Yoann Kongolo by majority decision in his semi-final bout in a very close fight.
In the tournament final Groenhart came out looking to end things early. A right hand knocked Ghajji down and after he answered the count Groenhart went in for the kill unleashing flurry after flurry trying to put Ghajji out, but he was able to survive the round. In the second Groenhart looked a bit slower than the first and Ghajji started to get back into the fight with some nice combinations. In the third round Groenhart and Ghajji went toe to toe and when it was over Groenhart took home a unanimous decision. With the win Groenhart will now face Nieky Holzken for the Glory Welterweight title.
Glory Featherweight Champion Gabriel Varga was unsuccessful in his first title defense. Serhiy Adamchuck was crowned the new champion with a unanimous decision win in what was a close fight.
Results:
Giorgio Petrosyan def. Josh Jauncey via Unanimous Decision
Serhiy Adamchuck def. Gabriel Varga via Unanimous Decision
Artem Vahkitov def. Danyo Illuna via Unanimous Decision
Vittorio Lemano def. Samir Boukhidous via (T)KO (Cut) in Rd. 2
Stefano Bruno def. Hosam Radwan via (T)KO in Rd. 2
Anatoly Moiseev def. Teo Mikelic via Unanimous Decision
Welterweight Contender Tournament Semi-Finals:
Murthel Groenhart def. Nicola Gallo via (T)KO (Cut) in Rd. 2
Karim Ghajji def. Yoann Kongolo via Majority Decision
Welterweight Contender Tournament Final:
Murthel Groenhart def. Karim Ghajji via Unanimous Decision
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