Glory Rivals 2 x Enfusion [17-09] Results

[larsenator]

Yeah all the things you mention don't make sense at all.

I haven't seen the first event: it's great that this was actually an improvement.

Like I said: the level in a lot of countries these days, are really high, so I expect at least that level or something higher when watching Glory. And they've never really delivered on that so I never followed Glory even though I'm a HARDCORE NERD/FAN.

I agree very much that if they actually marketed the event as a Enfusion fighter going up against a Glory Fighter it would make much more sense.

[K1power]

People who've been reading my nonsense for a while know that I tend to be one of Glory's bigger critics: I have some fundamental issues with their whole inception and the people running the show. I never really accepted them as the biggest / best kickboxing promotion even at their height.

The reality is that ever since FEG K-1's downfall in 2011 the kickboxing landscape has been fractured.

The main downsides of this are that:
- a lot of talent is scattered throughout different promotions and therefore the best fighters don't always fight each other.
- it's become more tedious to keep up with the sport, because you're more or less required to keep track of multiple promotions. It takes time that people don't always have. Additionally, depending on where you live not all content is always readily available - at least not legally. You often end up having to jump through some hoops first.
- talent crossing over to different sports like boxing and MMA.
- a sport that was already niche is now splintering even further (people only liking this or that promotion/talent pool/weightclass).

There are however, some good developments we've seen over the past decade as well:
- a lot more weightclasses have emerged to the foreground. It's not just HW and 70kg anymore.
- due to there being many more prominent promotions now, more fighters - including women - are getting chances on big stages.
- The sport has gotten more popular in select areas due to strong local promotions and/or local heroes emerging.

With all of that out of the way, I still believe Glory is one of the top promotions. Even after their bankruptcy and subsequent restructuring.

When it comes to lower weightclasses Asia is still where its at (MT, China, K-1, Rise), but higher weightclasses are dominated by Glory and to some extent ONE FC. There are also some strong local promotions, but in all honesty none of them hold a candle to the aforementioned ones. Enfusion is like 'It's Showtime - Lite Edition' and has been getting worse each year for the past five years or so. Romania is doing some good things, but they're also one of the worst offenders when it comes to favorable matchmaking and hometown decision making.

Now, with Russian fighters being cut by Glory we might see a bit of a power shift, but we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.

Sorry for the long, incoherent ramblings lol.

[larsenator]

I LOVE your post K1power!

Couldn't have said it any better my self!

Never followed Enfusion: a bit sad to read that they are getting worse. I thought it was a descent, steady promotion growing the sport.

I know K-1 is still doing great things: I just wished that they would post on SoMe in English..... and on their website. Google Translate doesn't offer much help, since the entire way of formulating sentences in Japanese is nonsense when translated to English (same goes for Thai).
If K-1 posted everything in English I would definitely cover everything they do. That's for sure.

Also: What's up with Kunlun? Looks like they haven't done anything post COVID-19?

The thing I dislike the most about Glory is the fact that their fighters can't really keep busy. And then they end up losing them to ONE, UFC etc. 
And I'm all for more than one big promotion: the more quality promotions we have, the better it is for the sport and everybody involved.
I do not have the biggest hopes for Glory surviving: I know people who used to work for them and the way they run things, used to and still do, is not really compatible to everything you just described (i.e. the Kickboxing "landscape"). 

Let's hope for the best.

[K1power]

I think things are slowly picking up again in China, but Shadess who is pretty much our Russia & China expert may be able to clarify.

As far as multiple promotions go, I have no problem with that in and of itself. You want there to be competition on some level due to the obvious downsides of a single promotion being in a monopoly position. Even when K-1 was king there were other large promotions (It's Showtime, Local/SuperKombat, SuperLeague etc.) and they were able to coexist / complement each other.

Right now it feels a bit too much like the wild west for my taste. And great point about promotions like K-1 not really going after an international audience. Not sure if this is simply a case of current management only having ambitions to conquer the Japanese market or if Mr. Kim / K-1 Global are still preventing them to expand into different territories beyond Japan.

As for Glory's survival: I tend to alternate between them going out of business soon and them being on the cusp of figuring out a sustainable - albeit slimmed down - business model. If by the end of year they give us some sort of roadmap for 2023 that'd give me some hope for their immediate future.

Like you said, here's hoping for the best possible scenario.

[Shadess]

Chinese kickboxing boom years were 2015-2018 or so, there was stupid money around and now in general there's just less money for kickboxing. Kunlun was majorly slowing down anyway and then covid became a "convenient" end for them.

They did hold one event in Dubai a couple months ago. Or, really that was a friend of theirs loaning the Kunlun name for the event, it had very little to do with Kunlun. Their plan was to start doing ok level events at a monthly pace again, but it's been very very quiet after the first Dubai event. There was supposed to be a 2nd event last week. It didn't happen and they didn't even announce it being cancelled anywhere lol.