Glory 88 - Hari vs. McSweeney [09-09] Results

[K1power]

Happening this Saturday.

[K1power]

Weigh-ins/presser in 2 hours:

[K1power]

Remember 3 weeks ago when I said the G87 may be the worst stream I've ever watched on YouTube? Well, this presser is coming for its throat lol.

Not even sure where to start:
- Presser started 45 minutes late.
- Audio/Video out of sync with volume levels all over the place.
- Scott Rudmann hopping around on stage looking like a WCW reject, talking jibberish and reading made up 'facts' from his phone like a true professional.
- Badr deciding not to answer questions, clearly not wanting to be there. Just staring into the distance, looking angry.
- Awkward press questions tiptoeing around Badr.
- Stream dies the second Sarah Moussaddak walks onto the stage lol.

When it comes to logistics/press related events, Glory has to be the worst promotion in the history of kickboxing.

[larsenator]

It's actually shocking that they can perform THAT bad and still call themselves the biggest and best kickboxing promotion in the world.

[Fox]

Anyone know when it starts?

[K1power]

Sept 8, 2023 21:49:13 GMT 1 larsenator said:

It's actually shocking that they can perform THAT bad and still call themselves the biggest and best kickboxing promotion in the world.

Calling yourself the best anything it just marketing 101. I'm sure every promotion refers to themselves as the #1/greatest/whatever. That said, there are quite a few newer kickfighting fans, people who aren't from the K-1 generation like many of you and me and they legitimately believe Glory is the best thing ever. I might not agree, but hey, power to them.

To be fair, aside from being poor at marketing and press events the cards themselves usually deliver. Some of them are even great. You can fail at a lot of things as long as you give the audience good entertainment and I think Glory is a good example of this.

I just wish they'd spent some of that Andurand money on technically competent people and get rid of the final remnants of the original staff.

[K1power]

Sept 9, 2023 6:10:20 GMT 1 Fox said:

Anyone know when it starts?

If their website can be trusted;

Prelims start in a bit over 6 hours, main card in 8.

Edit: What I refer to as prelims are the LSFC2 fights.

[K1power]

Edit: This part of the presser actually wasn't bad, even if I'm not very invested in the fight.

[K1power]

The LSFC 2 portion of the card is supposed to go live any minute on one of the the La Sueur YouTube channels, but I can't find a stream. Perhaps it's geo-blocked.

Edit: I think this may be it, but it's not available.

[Shadess]

Need a French VPN yea. 1st fight was pretty bad. Amateur pitter patter point fighting mostly.

[K1power]

I'm fine just posting the LSFC2 results afterward, Videoland broadcast starts in 30 minutes .

[K1power]

Full Results

Glory 88
Badr Hari vs. James McSweeney
*Badr announced last minute he wasn't in the right mindset to fight, due to the earthquake in Morocco.

Tiffany Van Soest defeats Sarah Moussaddak by KO R2
Nordine Mahieddine defeats Abderahmane Coulibaly by KO R3
Denis Wosik defeats Berjan Peposhi by Split Decision
Stefan Latescu defeats Pascal Touré by Unanimous Decision
Nikola Todorovic defeats Karim Ghajji by Unanimous Decision
James Condé defeats Jonathan Mayezo by Unanimous Decision
Iliass Hammouche defeats Florian Kröger by Unanimous Decision
Diaguely Camara defeats Ilyass Chakir by Unanimous Decision

LSFC 2
Axel Alfandari defeats Marc Philippe Ngatchou by Unanimous Decision
Théo Avon defeats Ibrahima Doukansi by Unanimous Decision
Lissandre Mercier defeats Lionel Picord by Unanimous Decision

[K1power]

Badr decided not to fight due to his mind being with the earthquake victims in Morocco. Not sure what to make of this. He seemed sincere in his speech, but I can also understand people seeing this as a cop out when other Moroccan/North African fighters fought on the same card regardless of current events.

Anyway, my thoughts..

The Good
+ Overall this was a solid event. While the main event not happening was kind of a bummer, I don't think many people had high expectations of Badr/McSweeney and it was more about the other fights on the card.
+ Van Soest winning her retirement fight in style with a highkick KO. The camera didn't show the kick when it landed, but the replay showed the right angles. Perhaps not the best result for the crowd, but that's Glory's punishment for consistently making champions fight in the challenger's hometown.
+ Mahieddine/Coulibaly was a fun back-and-forth brawl by two fighters who don't have the best gas tank, but really tried to push through. Good to see Mahieddine win again, but it takes two to tango and I think Coulibaly deserves another shot in Glory.
+ Mahieddine's high kick KO over Coulibaly.
+ Wosik/Peposhi was a very entertaining high volume fight. Early on it looked like Wosik would win easily, but Peposhi grew into the fight and started taking over a bit. It was probably Peposhi's closest fight so far, but ultimately he's still 0-3 in his Glory career so far.
+ Despite the fight being ugly, Latescu did better than I expected even though he was fighting a much bigger opponent. It's a good thing, because him losing to the first random guy outside of K-1 would make their cruiserweight division look a whole lot worse.
+ I didn't expect Ghajji to have a high output like this against the taller and much younger Todorovic, but he gave him a run for his money. Another fun fight and good victory for Todorovic.
+ Ghajji coming out to the Mandalorian theme.
+ Good high paced and technical fight between Mayezo and Condé.
+ Hammouche/Kröger was kind of unexpectedly entertaining. Kröger grew into the fight as Hammouche fatigued, but I guess it was too little too late. Hammouche gave a nice post-fight speech and seemed like a good guy.
+ Glory apparently bringing standin 8 counts back. Hope this is not a France-only thing.
+ Camara/Chakir was an awesome first fight. Camara got revenge on Chakir who apparently once defeated him outside of Glory.
+ Scott Rudmann announcing the profits of this event going to support Morocco's earthquake victims. If that's actually going to happen it's a respectable undertaking and one of the few times Rudmann didn't talk BS.
+ A moment of silence for yesterday's big earthquake in Morocco.

The Bad
- Badr/McSweeney falling through last minute.
- Touré/Latescu was an ugly clinchfest, which to be fair was mostly Touré's fault.
- Hammouche was wearing shorts with pockets which is prohibited. His cornermen taped it shut, but that wasn't allowed either so ONE FC Flyweight champion Ilias Ennahachi exchanged his way too small shorts with him ringside lol. Remy commented this is a bush-league amateuristic oversight by both Hammouche's team and Glory staff.
- ..two minutes after the moment of silence Moroccan fans booing Camara.
- LSFC2 being advertised as airing for free on YouTube which is technically true, but in actuality is hidden behind a geo-block. Apparently the fights weren't great so it's no big loss, but still.

Additional notes
* I wonder what's gonna happen with Badr/McSweeney and their scheduled GP qualification.
* Manhoef pointed out Mahieddine's bad gastank is influenced by a medical condition he didn't want to disclose. He said it's not for him to reveal, but Mahieddine.
* Remy and Melvin were positive about Latescu, but said his fighting style is somewhat limited and he should use his kicks a lot more.
* Completely missed that first knockdown Camara scored on Chakir. Completely came out of nowhere.

[Shadess]

Fantastic retirement for Tiffany. Really couldn't have been any better other than the event having been in her hometown.

That said, terrible result for kickboxing. There's absolutely nobody to continue the division now. Champ walks away and Meksen stuck in a contract dispute with ONE.

Glory should probably kill the division now.

[K1power]

BTW there was so much bickering between Remy and Melvin tonight. They were constantly shooting each other down haha. Videoland made a good call putting the two of them together in the studio with Mark Schaaf instigating.

Edit: They're still going at it haha.

Remy asked Melvin if he still weighs 108kg.
Melvin says he weighs 110 now lol.