Fight Night Saint-Tropez 4 Results: Jerome Le Banner takes controversial win over Karl Roberson

Fight Night Saint-Tropez 4 took place last night in France and featured a main event bout between Kickboxing legend Jerome Le Banner and American Karl Roberson. Le Banner was originally scheduled to fight Maurice Jackson, but Roberson stepped in on short notice.

The first round was a feeling out process between the two, but Le Banner controlled the ring. The controversy came in the second round when with a little over a minute left in the second round Roberson landed a left hand that sent Le Banner to the canvas. Le Banner got up immediately and walked to the corner as if he was expecting an 8 count from the referee, but no count from the referee came and the fight continued. Le Banner went on the attack and was pressuring Roberson towards the ropes, but with less than 30 seconds left in the round another left hand from Roberson sent Le Banner to the canvas. The referee proceeded with a slow count, it took Le Banner 10 seconds just to get up off the canvas, then he walked to the ropes as the referee proceeded with his slow count and then had Le Banner raise his hands and let the fight continue. Over 20 seconds had passed by the time that Le Banner was ready to fight again. What should have been a knockout victory for Roberson didn't happen and the fight continued with the second round ending as soon as the fight was resumed.

The remainder of the fight was close with each man pressing the action at different points. Roberson came out aggressive to start the third round, likely sensing Le Banner was hurt, while Le Banner came out aggressive in the fifth round with the fourth round being pretty even between the two. In the end the judges awarded Le Banner the decision victory.

In other action it was not a good night for Glory veterans. Yohan Lidon scored a third round (T)KO over Jonathan Oliveira, Alexei Papin scored a decision over Danyo Ilunga, and Alexander Vezhevaov defeated Filip Verlinden by decision.

Results:

Jerome Le Banner def. Karl Roberson via Decision

Yohan Lidon def. Jonathan Oliveira via (T)KO in Rd. 3

Alexei Papin def. Danyo Ilunga via Decision

Lizzie Largilliere def. Petchoydying Mor via (T)KO in Rd. 4

Alexander Vezhevatov def. Filip Verlinden via Decision

Fabrice Aurieng def. Yuksel Ayaydin via Decision

Yodwicha Por Boonsit def. Jimmy Vienot via Decision

Frank Munoz def. Zinedine Hameur-Lain via Decision

Sharos Huyer def. Bakari Tounkara via Decision

Jerome Le Banner vs. Maurice Jackson set for Fight Night Saint-Tropez 3 August 4th in France

Kickboxing legend Jerome Le Banner is set to defend his WKN Heavyweight World Title against American Maurice Jackson at Fight Night Saint-Tropez 3 in Saint-Tropez, France on August 4th.

Le Banner will be looking to win his fourth consecutive fight, he has fought in the two previous installments of Fight Night Saint-Tropez with both of those fights ending in (T)KO victories for Le Banner. 

Also on the fight card will be Glory standouts Danyo Ilunga (@TheRealDibuba) and Filip Verlinden (@Filip_Verlinden). Ilunga will fight Alexei Papin. Ilunga was is coming off a loss against Zabit Samedov in the finals of the GFC Fight Series 3 tournament where he lost an extra round decision. Papin will be looking to win his third fight in row, after winning his previous two bouts by stoppage. Verlinden will fight Vladimir Mineev. Like Ilunga Verlinden will be looking to get back on the winning track while putting an end to Mineev's current 20 fight win streak.

Fight Card:

Jerome Le Banner vs. Maurice Jackson

Yodwicha Por. Boonsit vs. Jimmy Vienot

Yuksel Ayaydin vs. Fabrice Aurieng

Zinedine Hamuer-Lain vs. Frank Munoz

Bakari Tounkara vs. Sharos Huyer

Filip Verlinden vs. Vladimir Mineev

Yohan Lidon vs. Jonathan Oliveira

Danyo Ilunga vs. Alexei Papin

Lizzie Largilliere vs. Petchoyding Mor

Glory Last Man Standing Results

Glory "Last Man Standing" took place Saturday, June 21st. The event was Glory's first PPV event. The highlight of the event was the middleweight 8-man tournament to crown the division's champion. 

The tournament final featured a re-match between Artem Levin and Joe Schilling. Levin defeated Alex Pereira and Filip Verlinden by unanimous decision to punch his ticket to the final, while Schilling had a more controversial path to the finals. in his quarter final bout with Simon Marcus, Schilling was knocked down in the second round and when the fight went to the judges score cards it seemed Marcus had once again defeated Schilling. The judges, however, ruled the fight a controversial draw as many though Marcus had done what he needed to move on. In the extra round Marcus was deducted a point with 40 seconds remaining the round for spitting out his mouth piece. Knowing he needed a knockout to win Marcus rushed Schilling and with 20 seconds left walked into a Schilling right hand that put  his lights out and tournament hopes on the back burner.

In the semi-finals Wayne Barrett seemed to have done enough to win a decision over Schilling, but once again Schilling was awarded a decision that many up in arms. The judges declared Schilling the winner by split decision. In the final Artem Levin picked away at Schilling and scored a knockdown over him. In the third round of their bout Levin was oddly deducted a point for clinching, but fortunately for Levin he had built up such a huge lead on the judges score cards that it did not affect the final out come and Levin was declared the winner by unanimous decision

In the night's other title fights Rico Verhoeven was crowned the heavyweight champion after a decision with in which he outworked Daniel Ghita, and Joseph Valtellini defeated Marc De Bonte to claim the welterweight championship. Valtellini and De Bonte fought five hard rounds and both men tasted the canvas in the bout but neither refused to concede defeat until the judges rendered their verdict. It was a huge win for Valtellini who in the past two years has gone from an unknown talent to world champion.

Results: 

8-Man Tournament Quarterfinals

Filip Verlinden def. Melvin Manhoef via Majority Decision

Artem Levin def. Alex Pereira via Unanimous Decision

Joe Schilling def. Simon Marcus via KO in Extra Round

Wayne Barret def. Bogdan Stoica via KO in Round 3

8-Man Tournament Semi-Finals

Joe Schilling def. Wayne Barret via Split Decision

Artem Levin def. Filip Verlinden via Unanimous Decision

8-Man Tournament Final

Artem Levin def. Joe Schilling via Unanimous Decision

Super Fights

Joseph Valtellini def. Marc de Bonte via Unanimous Decision

Rico Verhoeven def. Daniel Ghita via Unanimous Decision

Glory 9 set for New York on June 22nd with light heavyweight tournament, Ghita vs. Guidon and Valtellini vs. Ambang set as super fights

Glory has officially announced that they will be headed to New York. Glory 9 will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom on June 22, and will feature and eight-man light heavyweight tournament. In addition to the tournament three super fights have been made official, Daniel Ghita vs. Brice Guidon, Joseph Valtellini vs. Francois Ambang, and Brett Hlavacek vs. Paul Malfort.

Ghita will be returning to action after his recent (T)KO loss to Gokhan Saki at Glory 6. Guidon will be returning to action since his loss to Semmy Schilt in the Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam this December. Both fighters have lost their last two fights, and will undoubtedly be doing everything in their power come fight time to avoid suffering a third consecutive loss.
 

Canadian Joseph Valtellini was last in action when he made his Glory debut at Glory 6. Valtellini scored a (T)KO over seasoned veteran Murat Durekci. Ambang was last seen in the Road to Glory middleweight tournament in which he bested seven other fighters to be declared the Road to Glory middleweight champion. Both fighters are known for their knockout power and this should be and exciting fight with fireworks.

Hlavacek returns to action after falling short in the finals of the Road to Glory middleweight tournament. Hlavacek will be taking on Florida’s Paul Malfort.

Competitors for the light heavyweight tournament currently include Brian Collette, Danyo Ilunga, Filip Verlinden, Mourad Bouzidi, Steve McKinnon, and Koichi.

You can read the official press release form Glory below.

GLORY HITS NEW YORK CITY’S HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM WITH WORLD-CLASS KICKBOXING EVENT FEATURING

EIGHT-MAN, LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

PLUS SUPERFIGHTS:

DANIEL GHITA VS. BRICE GUIDON

JOSEPH VALTELLINI VS. FRANCOIS AMBANG

BRETT HLAVACEK VS. PAUL MARFORT

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

SINGAPORE (April 23, 2013) – GLORY, the world’s premier kickboxing league that is home to the greatest martial arts stand-up fighters on the planet, today announced that it will bring its championship fight series to The United States for the first time ever with a one-night, eight-man, light heavyweight (209 pounds/95 kilograms) tournament at Hammerstein Ballroom at Manhattan Center in New York City on Saturday, June 22. 

In one of several Superfights also scheduled for the event, heavyweight superstar and former secret service agent Daniel “The Savage Samurai” Ghita (46-9, 35 KOs) of Romania will collide with Muay Thai champion Brice Guidon (28-8, 13 KOs) of France. 

Tickets for GLORY 9 New York, priced from $48 (plus handling fees), are on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster.com and charge-by-phone at 800-745-3000.

“We are thrilled to kick off the expansion of GLORY’s world championship kickboxing series to the U.S. with such a high-caliber event in the sports and entertainment epicenter that is New York City,” said GLORY Sports International CEO Andrew Whitaker.  “We are looking forward to establishing the GLORY brand in the U.S. with this debut event that will showcase the product for what it is – the most exciting and elite form of world-class kickboxing, or martial arts stand-up fighting.”

Slated for battle in the single-elimination tournament, thus far, are hard-hitting KO artist Brian Collette (19-1, 16 KOs) of Norfolk, Va.; four-time world champion Danyo Ilunga (51-4, 41 KOs) of Germany; Muay Thai sensation Filip Verlinden (40-9-1, 16 KOs) of Belgium; Peter Aerts-protégé Mourad “The Silent Power” Bouzidi (75-20-2, 34 KOs) of Tunisia; world Muay Thai and Karate champion Steve McKinnon (42-5, 29 KOs) of Australia and granite chinned Koichi (26-8-1, 15 KOs) of Japan   The remaining two tournament competitors will be announced soon.

In other Superfight action, hard-hitting “Bazooka” Joseph Valtellini (8-1, 7 KOs) of Toronto, Ontario Canada will square off with fellow rising star Francois Ambang (9-2, 4 KOs) of Mechanicsville, Va. in a welterweight (170 pounds/77 kilograms) matchup and Phil Nurse protégé Brett Hlavacek (8-1, 3 KOs) of New York, N.Y. will face three-time Muay Thi titlist Paul Marfort (10-5, 4 KOs) of Orlando, Fla. at welterweight. 

The 27-year-old Valtellini, a high school teacher by day, has become a familiar face in New York, winning six of his pro Muay Thai bouts in The Big Apple, all by way of (T)KO.  Valtellini, who also holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, made a splash, first start in the GLORY ring in Istanbul, Turkey on April 6, stopping Murat Direkci, a veteran with more than 10 times as many fights under his belt than Valtellini, in the third round of their matchup.

Ambang, a 26-year-old native of Cameroon, made a mark in New York City for the first time on March 22, winning the one-night, eight-man development Road To GLORY USA welterweight tournament at Capitale to earn a multi-fight contract with GLORY.  Using heavy body attacks, Ambang defeated three consecutive opponents – two by way of TKO – including a first round stoppage of Hlavacek in the tournament’s championship round.

The 29-year-old Hlavacek reached the championship round of the tournament after scoring a stunning, 41-second TKO on Ryan Parker in the quarterfinal stage of the eight-man affair and earning a unanimous decision over Eric Utsch in the semifinal stage. 

A draw to determine the GLORY 9 New York light heavyweight tournament’s quarterfinal stage matchups will be held on a date to be announced soon.

Doors at Hammerstein Ballroom will open at 5 p.m. EST and the first preliminary bout will begin at 6 p.m.

For more information, visit www.gloryworldseries.com.

Matches for Glory 4 Heavyweight GP set

The heavyweight tournament bouts for Glory 4 are set. The event which will take place on December 31, 2012 in Tokyo will feature a 16-man one night tournament. As Glory has proven in recent events, most of the top talent is under their promotion. Semmy Schilt, Anderson Silva, Remy Bonjasky, Errol Zimmerman, Daniel Ghita, Peter Aerts, Gokhan Saki and Rico Verhoeven will all be in action.

The rules for the tournament will be a bit different than a regular bout. The first three rounds of the tournament will feature an open scoring system with two minute rounds. With the open scoring system if a fighter is clearly ahead on points after the second round there will be no need for a third round and he is declared the winner of the bout.

The finals of the tournament will feature regular Glory rules with three rounds of three minutes each, there will also be two extra rounds if necessary.

Glory 4 HW GP Matches:
Semmy Schilt vs. Brice Guidon
Rico Verhoeven vs. Sergei Kharitonov
Raomoru vs. Gokhan Saki
Igor Jurkovic vs. Anderson Silva
Filip Verlinden vs. Remy Bonjasky
Jamal Ben Saddick vs. Errol Zimmerman
Mourad Bouzidi vs. Peter Aerts
Fabiano Aoki vs. Daniel Ghita