Some interesting tidbits from
recent episodes of Warrior Talk:
Cor Hemmers- Says the budget for Glory's 16-man Grand Slam event (Glory 4) was 4.5M USD.
- Stopped in 2010 as a trainer because of some medical issues and Glory starting up behind the scenes.
- Was offered another contract with Glory after they went bankrupt, but ultimately declined for a number of reasons.
- One of the reasons he mentioned was that he had a lot of issues with some of the American board members in the promotion, namely Scott Rudmann.
- Says Rudmann is qualified for finance related matters, but should stay far away from anything operational.
- Was called by Andurand after he decided to leave Glory, but he wasn't able to change his mind.
- Is quite critical of current Glory. He didn't like Glory 93 very much, but was more positive about Glory 94.
- Thinks it's a missed opportunity, but also pretty telling that Maurice Hols left Glory as quickly as he did.
- Recently had lunch with Marshall Zelaznik and was told Rudmann would be moving more to the background.
- Says Glory is fishing from a small talent pond and thinks it's a shame programs like Road 2 Glory were retired.
- There were ideas that he shot down that Glory went ahead with after he left. He named
House of Glory as an example.
- Is going to Japan to meet with Ishii and some other K-1 operatives he still has a good relationship with. Not sure if there are business implications or more of a social call.
- Talked a lot about training Ramon Dekkers.
- Has started working on a documentary about Ramon with a filmmaker a few years ago.
- Due to some circumstances like COVID it became harder to communicate with the filmmaker.
- Hemmers became frustrated, because he wanted to keep working on the documentary.
- Started an editing course to keep working on the film and is now a certified editor lol.
- Says he is in talks with several potential streaming partners to release the documentary.
- Told some stories about some of the experiences he had with Dekkers over the years.
- Used super glue on Dekkers to close a cut during a fight and people thought it was vaseline lol.
- Feels like apart from Dekkers, Gökhan Saki was one of the biggest talents he worked with.
Hemmers definitely has some interesting stories to tell. They should invite him again some time.
Nidal Bchiri- Says there was a lot of behind-the-scenes drama during the K-1 GP in Sarajevo.
- Was initially supposed to fight on the K-1 Osaka card in October, but it fell through.
- Is going back in training camp soon, because there is still a chance of him appearing at the K-1 finals in December.
- Mentioned an opening appearing in the line-up, "because Glory stole one of their fighters" lol.
- Says conversations between his management and Glory have been going on as well.
- Would like to avenge a loss to Rigters should he go to Glory.
- Has some bad blood with Rade Opačić after having lost to him in an Enfusion tournament a few years ago.
- Isn't sure what the right fight weight for him is and has some trouble with discipline.
Bchiri is well-spoken and was joking a lot, seems like a fun dude.
