Glory 25 Results: Sittichai loses controversial decision to Robin van Roosmalen, Petrosyan successful in Glory return

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

Fight Card for Glory 25

Glory 25 takes place this Friday November 6 in Milan, Italy. It will be Glory's first show since officially announcing their events will no longer air on Spike TV. The current information on how the event can be seen is unknown, but the fight card is still stacked.

The main event will feature Glory Lightweight Champion Robin van Roosmalen as he puts his title on the line against Sittichai Sitsongpeenong. This bout will be van Roosmalen's second title defense with his most recent being a decision victory over former champion Andy Ristie. Sittichai won the Glory 22 contender tournament and since then has won four more bouts in other promotions leading to his showdown with van Roosmalen. It should be fireworks between these two.

The co-main event will feature the return of Giorgio Petrosyan as he takes on Josh Jauncey. Petrosyan has not fought for Glory since Glory 12 on November of 2013 where he lost for only the second time in his career. Since the loss Petrosyan has fought only three times with all of them ending in victories. He defeated Erkan Varol, Enriko Kehl, and most recently Xu Yan. Jauncey has taken the Kickboxing world by storm since debuting in 2014. He has gone 4-1 with three of his wins coming by knockout. He last competed at Glory 22 this past June in the lightweight tournament where he won his semi-final bout against Djime Coulibaly by (T)KO, but came up short in a decision to Sittichai Sitsongpeenong in the tournament finals. 

A four man tournament in the Glory welterweight division will take place. The semi-final bouts for the tournament are Murthel Groenhart vs. Nicola Galo and Karim Ghajji vs. Yoann Kongolo.

The Super Fight Series portion of the card will also feature some big names. Glory Featherweight Champion Gabriel Varga will make his first title defense against Serhiy Adamchuk. The pair was previously set to fight on the Bellator 142: Dynamite event, but an injury forced Varga to withdraw from the bout.

Danyo Illunga and Artem Vakhitov will also square off at Glory 25. Illunga was a hot prospect when Glory first launched, but has struggled as of late going 2-3 in his last five fights. Vakhitov most recently competed for Glory at Glory 20 where he dropped a split decision to current Glory Light Heavyweight Champion Saulo Cavalari. Before the loss to Cavalari, Vakhitov had won eight consecutive bouts.

Fight Card:

Robin van Roosmalen (c) vs. Sittichai Sitsongpeenong for Glory Lightweight Championship

Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Josh Jauncey

Gabriel Varga (c) vs. Serhiy Adamchuk for Glory Featherweight Championship

Danyo Illunga vs. Artem Vakhitov

Samir Boukhidous vs. Vittorio Iermano

Stefano Bruno vs. Hosam Radwan

Anatoly Moiseev vs. Teo Mikelic

Glory Welterweight Tournament:

Murthel Groenhart vs. Nicola Galo

Karim Ghajji vs. Yoann Kongolo

Robin van Roosmalen vs. Sittichai Sitsongpeenong title fight set for Glory 25

Glory Lightweight Champion Robin van Roosmalen will put his title on the line in the main event of Glory 25 against Sittichai Sitsongpeenong. The bout joins the previously announced co-main event bout between Giorgio Petrosyan and Josh Jauncey.

Van Roosmalen won his title against Davit Kiria at Glory 18 in November of 2014. Since becoming the champion he has defended his title once, against Andy Ristie at Glory 20 earlier this year. His last fight took place against Steve Moxon this past June in New York as part of the charity event Fight for Education. Van Roosmalen has won his last four bouts and eight of his last ten with the only two losses in that span coming to Giorgio Petrosyan and Andy Ristie.

Sittichai has won his last six bouts and earned his title shot by winning the Glory 22 contender tournament. In his latest bout he defeated Jonay Risco by decision at Kunlun Fight 31.He has been able to make a successful transition from Muay Thai to Kickboxing. The only loss in his last ten fights is a decision to Dylan Salvador at Kunlun Fight 24.

Glory 25 takes place on November 6th in Milan, Italy.

Fight Card:

Robin van Roosmalen vs. Sittichai Sitsongpeenong 

Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Josh Jauncey

Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Josh Jauncey set for Glory 25

Giorgio Petrosyan is set to make his return to Glory on November 6, 2015 in Monza, Italy at Glory 25. The man welcoming “The Doctor” back to the Glory ring is young gun Josh Jauncey.

Petrosyan has not fought for Glory since Glory 12 on November of 2013 where he lost for only the second time in his career. Fighting in the Glory Lightweight Tournament, Petrosyan was knocked out by Andy Ristie in stunning fashion. Since the loss Petrosyan has fought only three times with all of them ending in victories. He defeated Erkan Varol, Enriko Kehl, and most recently Xu Yan.

Jauncey has taken the Kickboxing world by storm since debuting in 2014. He has gone 4-1 with three of his wins coming by knockout. He last competed at Glory 22 this past June in the lightweight tournament where he won his semi-final bout against Djime Coulibaly by (T)KO, but came up short in a decision to Sittichai Sitsongpeenong in the tournament finals. 

The bout between the two fighters should be intriguing to fans as Petrosyan has proven to be a difficult puzzle to solve for many of the world’s elite fighters. Jauncey will be looking to show that he has arrived on the elite level and can not only hang with them but beat them.

Giorgio Petrosyan set to fight at Glory 25

It has been nearly two years since Giorgio Petrosyan last set foot in the Glory ring. At Glory 12 Petorsyan lost for only the second time in his career when to the shock of fight enthusiast Andy Ristie scored a third round knockout over "The Doctor".

Since the loss to Risite and his last appearance under the Glory banner Petrosyan has won three consecutive fights under different promotions. Fans have been awaiting his return to Glory, despite the loss to Risite many still consider him the best Kickboxer in his division. 

"Giorgio is one of the best pound-for-pound strikers on the planet. In fact, he ranks among the very best of all time across [all] combat sports," said Glory CEO Jon Franklin. "Fans worldwide will once again get to see 'The Doctor' go to work. At GLORY 25 he'll be facing a top lightweight on his home soil of Italy. This is a huge fight for Petrosyan and this event will be very special."

No opponent has been announced for Petrosyan, the only other information known is that Glory 25 will take place in Milan, Italy and that there will also be a 4-man welterweight tournament on the night with the winner earning a shot at Glory Welterweight Champion Nieky Holzken.

You can view Glory's promo video for Petrosyan's return below.