Glory 23 took place tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The night's main event featured Nieky Holzken vs. Raymond Daniels for the Glory Welterweight Championship. The fight was a re-match from their Glory 19 bout in which Holzken defeated Daniels by third round (T)KO.
Daniels came out aggressive to start the bout, while Holzken seemed content with picking his shots in the first round. In the second round Holzken began to get a little more aggressive and stalk Daniels. Both fighters were effective mixing their strikes. Daniels showed a more complete arsenal than he had done previously in his Glory fights, while Holzken was accurate with his strikes as usual connecting with low kicks and working the body with punches. In the third round Holzken came out as the aggressor and was able to land a few solid punches and a knee as he cornered Daniels. The knee opened a massive cut on Daniels left eye, Holzken went in for the kill and unloaded punches to the head and body before backing away. Referee John McCarthy moved in and the fight was stopped immediately. The cut was on the eye lid of Daniels, it was a good stoppage by McCarthy as some serious damage could have occurred if the fight had continued. With the stoppage Holzken captured the Glory Welterweight Championship and has now won his last eight fights, with six of those wins coming by (T)KO.
In the middleweight tournament Dustin Jacoby punched his way to victory, winning both of his bouts by stoppage. In the tournament semi-final he stopped Ariel Sepulveda with one second left in the first round and in the tournament final he stopped Casey Greene with strikes in the second round. The tournament victory is huge for Jacoby, he entered Glory after winning a Road to Glory tournament on less than 24 hours notice. He scored three knockouts in the Road to Glory tournament which was also his Kickboxing debut, but was immediately put in the ring with fighters that had a lot more experience and it showed. Coming into the tournament Jacoby had lost his last four fights. Hopefully Jacoby can build on the tournament win and climb back up the Glory ladder.
Xavier Vigney had stiff test in Daniel Sam at Glory 23. Vigney was coming off having won the heavyweight tournament at Glory 21 and had a lot of eyes on him this bout. He continued his momentum against Sam. Vigney pushed the pace and was successful through out the fight in pressuring Sam and connecting with low kicks and punches. The judges awarded a split decision victory to Vigney. The win is easily the biggest of Vigney's career to date.
Results:
Nieky Holzken def. Raymond Daniels via (T)KO (Cut) at 1:36 of Rd. 3 - Wins Glory Welterweight Championship
Xavier Vigney def. Daniel Sam via Split Decision
Tournament Semi-Finals
Casey Greene def. Quinton O'Brien via Unanimous Decision
Dustin Jacoby def. Ariel Sepulveda via KO at 2:59 of Rd. 1
Tournament Final
Dustin Jacoby def. Casey Greene via (T)KO at 1:19 of Rd. 2
Super Fight Series
Jamal Ben Saddik def. Anderson Silva via (T)KO at 2:55 of Rd. 3
Matt Baker def. Edward Hyman via Unanimous Decision
Chad Sugden def. Murthel Groenhart via Split Decision
Anvar Boynazarov def. Giga Chikadse via Split Decision
