Glory Grand Prix speculation & update thread

[K1power]

So now that the Glory announcement has sunk in and I've given my initial thoughts, let's have a bit of fun speculating.

What do we know so far?

There are two confirmed 4-man qualification tournaments at the following events:

- Glory 85 [29-04]
- Glory 86 [27-05]

There are no event dates confirmed between July and November so it stands to reason that there will be at least two more qualification tournaments during that period:

- Glory 87 [??-??]
- Glory 88 [??-??]

Glory's announcement mentioned that there would be wildcard entries as well, so for the sake of argument let's assume Glory wants to handpick the remaining 4 participants.

That gives us the following Grand Prix line-up:

- Winner G85 Qualifier
- Winner G86 Qualifier
- Winner G87 Qualifier
- Winner G88 Qualifier
- Wildcard #1
- Wildcard #2
- Wildcard #3
- Wildcard #4

So who would you want to see in the qualifier tournaments and how should the wildcards be decided?

Are there any fighters currently not signed with Glory that they should (and realistically could) go after?

What would make for the best Grand Prix line-up and how should the matchups be decided?

[Shadess]

Kryklia does not seem to be a realistic option...

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However many qualifier tournaments they do, I hope they can get 2 somewhat "names" in each one. So likes of a Wilnis and a D'Angelo Marshall + 2 whoever else. I'll just keep bringing up D'Angelo Marshall till Glory brings him back 

Tons of open questions:
Could/would Rico be in? Is Badr back? Would Badr actually enter an 8-man at this point? Is Overeem serving a ban for PEDs? Do they still have enough of a relationship with JBS they can work together? Just so many unknowns. Tho, I think that $500k prize at the end of the road might be enough of a carrot to smooth over anything else except PED bans that aren't in their hands.

Also, let's say Rico would enter the tournament, Badr would fight and Overeem could fight. They'd have to pay pretty significant money for those guys outside of the 500k prize money too. Tournament would get really expensive, not sure if they're going quite that far with the costs here.


4 out of these 5 in as wildcards:
Rico
JBS
Plazibat
Badr
Overeem

Think most the Glory regulars will participate in the qualifier tournaments:
Adegbuyi, Wilnis, Rigters, Osaro, Khachab...Marshall!


To the qualifiers from ONE, if their contracts lapse:
Inocente
Azizpour
Opacic

And since they already poached Osaro and Brudenell from the ONE Euro HW tournament, might as well bring in Nikola Filipović. Could also try and sign whoever looks like they might win that ONE tournament once the semifinalists are set after next weekend.

Then they could keep and eye on the "big hw tournament" the Romanians are holding, bring in the winner of that.

And my own "wildcard" to bring in for the qualifiers, Daniel Ghita. Don't think he ever had his retirement fight...

Guys I'd really rather not see in:
Saki, Zimmerman, Gerges
Think Saki might make it in as a wildcard if they want an old name in there

[Shadess]

Maslobojev could be an option if he wins his title back in time.
Tavares could enter a qualifier tournament.

Vakhitov if Russia ends the w...oh...keep it realistic...

Khbabez and Mahieddine gone down to LHW...just to come back up to HW?

[Shadess]

Don't think there's really any promotions other than ONE who's HW champ would mean anything. No Tatneft or anything in Russia either(?).

Suppose they could check out current WAKO/ISKA/WKN champions and if there's anyone there who looks decent.

Think Michal Turinsky might be the current WKN champion and he's also still the current KOK champion, but unless he looked really good in his WKN title fights I don't think he needs to be brought in.

[K1power]

^ Liking the enthousiasm .

I also like the idea of Glory going after some more guys from ONE, but any success there would effectively kill whatever semblance of a HW division ONE has, so I could imagine ONE getting a bit more competitive in that area.

Agree with bringing back some guys like D'Angelo Marshall and am frankly a bit puzzled it hasn't happened yet. He has a good record and is usually fun to watch.

Don't mind bringing in some Romanian guys, but not ones who tend to struggle stringing together wins on a local level or rely on hometown favoritism.

So for my qualifier picks I'm going to adhere to the idea of there being four tournaments in total. You can't really go wild with 4 man tournaments, but there are some simple rules I'm applying here.

Every tournament needs to contain:
- 1 ranked fighter - from Glory's own top 10.
- 1 veteran - 30+ recognizable name, doesn't have to be elite.
- 1 younger fighter - 29 or below.
- 1 'poached' fighter from another promotion - guess I'll count Rivals participants as well.

Qualifier Tournament #1
- Levi Rigters (Ranked #2)
- Errol Zimmerman (Veteran)
- Roel Mannaart (Young)
- Martin Terpstra (Enfusion/Rivals)

Qualifier Tournament #2
- Jahfarr Wilnis (Ranked #8)
- D'Angelo Marshall (Veteran)
- Nabil Khachab (Young)
- Martin Pacas (Enfusion/KOK)

Qualifier Tournament #3
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (Ranked #6)
- Uku Jürjendal (Veteran)
- Michał Blawdziewicz (Young)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (Rivals)

Qualifier Tournament #4
- Tariq Osaro (Ranked #9)
- Raul Catinas (Veteran)
- Cihad Kepenek (Young)
- Sina Karimian (K-1)

Not sure if I forgot anyone major, but some shuffling is always possible of course. Either way I think this is a good mix of fighters. Some of them even happen to check multiple boxes which is always a plus.

Chose not to pick anyone who currently competes at LHW, but that whole roster may be lured away by the prize money.

Kepenek of course is suspended, but near the end of the year he may be back in the mix.

Kinda threw Karimian in there just for fun; he wanted to fight in Glory, but felt Rivals was beneath him. Make his wish come through and cure him of his delusions of grandeur.

Not sure how I would match everyone up yet.

That leaves the wildcards.

Badr talked about being interested in a potential 8-man tournament as recently as last year and said on social media he was excited about the upcoming Grand Prix when Glory announced it a few days ago.

I kind of feel him getting the first wildcard is a given. His name in there really sells the tournament, despite his string of losses and flirting with retirement.

The second wildcard goes to Overeem. His participation would probably also mark his retirement from kickboxing. Kind of a fitting way to go out.

Though I would like Rico and Plazibat to fill the remaining two spots, I'm not sure about either one of them.

Possible replacements would be JBS and indeed be someone like Saki. Hell, I don't dislike the idea of Ghita coming in to officially retire and squash his beef with Glory.

Just for fun, I'm going to throw in a name that I don't think we have any realistic chance of getting, but would be interesting anyway: Francis Ngannou.

As the season gets underway and more becomes clear we can always adjust some of our predictions.

[Shadess]

Your idea of what kinds of fighters each tournament should have is pretty good. Also, even though I said I don't want to see Zimmerman, I'd actually be fine with him in a qualifier tournament. Just don't want the tournament proper to have like Saki and Zimmerman in as wildcards alongside Badr and Reem. Would be too many old generation guys in without reeeeally earning it at this point.

Forgot Mannaart and Terpstra, they're fine enough names to be in the qualifiers. Also didn't remember to include El Bouni among my LHW's who could participate.

Karimian should be in a qualifier tournament, and he would likely lose.

Would be nice to have a French fighter in the qualifiers, Raphael Tronche (beat Daniel Sam a while ago) and Sofian Laidouni (on Glory 84) could be possibilities.

Also should have a Samoan/Aussie/New Zealander in there and David Tuitupou is on Glory 84...Almost like Glory has thought of this!

[K1power]

Tronche is the ex-boxer right? He's good.

Forgot El Bouni fights at LHW, could swap him with Tronche.

Let's see how Tuitupou does at G84.

[lero]

Just give me: 1.Terpstra, 2.Osaro, 3.Rigters, bring 4.Kryklia and 5.Opacic from ONE, 7.the winner of the DFS tournament (probably Iancu or Ristea), 8. Jamal or Overeem.

That would be fireworks.

[K1power]

Definitely a solid list.

It is funny that DFS is doing a HW tournament as well.

Unfortunately the lineup isn't great, but it still has a chance to deliver.

[kbfan]

Glory doing a Grand Prix? What? Finally something fun happening in the world of kickboxing. This is what sold me on K-1 when i was younger. Actually looking forward to these Glory events

[K1power]

Hey man good to see you back

[K1power]

Qualifier Tournament #1 is official:
Luis Tavares vs. Enver Sljivar
Jahfarr Wilnis vs. Tariq Osaro

Edit: Nordine Mahieddine replaced by Jahfarr Wilnis.

[K1power]

Some interesting notes by Scott Rudmann at today's presser regarding the Grand Prix:

There are 6 spots to be earned. Some of those will be tournaments, some will be single fights.
The final 2 spots will be wildcards.

[Shadess]

500k + fight fees for the tournament. Somewhat worth noting as a bunch of tournaments get advertised as having some prize money, but then it's just split for the fights in the tournament.

[K1power]

The winner of Benjamin Adegbuyi vs. Sofian Laïdouni at G86 will directly earn a spot in the Grand Prix.