Glory 94 - Antwerp [31-08] Results

[K1power]

Prelims kick off in roughly 8 hours.

[Shadess]

Another event without Grisham on commentary. Glory needs to find a better substitute if this keeps happening. Kruck just doesn't cut it as a regular.

[K1power]

I usually only watch with English commentary during the prelims on YouTube as Videoland only does summarizations on those.

When the Videoland broadcast kicks off I always switch to the Dutch stream as not only do I like the studio portions inbetween fights, I also prefer the Dutch commentary team over the English one, with and without Grisham.

[K1power]

Results
Cem Caceres defeats Stefan Latescu by KO R1
Berjan Peposhi defeats Ayoub Bourass by Unanimous Decision
Angelo Volpe defeats Youssef Boughanem by Split Decision
Serkan Özcaglayan defeats Jente Nnamadim by Unanimous Decision
Nico "Big Sexy" Pereira Horta defeats Sofian Laïdouni by Unanimous Decision
Jay Overmeer defeats Ismail Ouzgni by TKO R2
Mory Kromah defeats Mohamed Amine by KO R2
Younes Smaili defeats James Condé by Unanimous Decision
Anwar Ouled-Chaib defeats Cedric Tousch by Unanimous Decision
André Santos defeats Adam El Hammouchi by TKO R2
Karim Taquet defeats Rahmani Madani by TKO R1
Soufian El Hammouchi defeats Arman Hambaryan by TKO R3
Ismail Ayaadi defeats Abdellah Oussaid by TKO R2

[Shadess]

Kinda lost focus middle of the card, but it really ended on some high notes damn.


Latescu makes mistakes at times and leaves openings, but I didn't see Caceres finishing it like he did. He is really taking full advantage of his opportunity.

[K1power]

Quick Thoughts:

The Good
+ While some fights were not as good as I hoped, for the most part I liked this event. Especially the two main and co-main events really delivered.
+ Caceres really took care of Latescu. Caceres has pretty much come from nowhere to be a LHW contender. Anyone can get caught by a liver shot, but I think Latescu is starting to look a bit limited.
+ Manhoef's reaction to Caceres scoring the KO was funny. I hope it'll pop up on social media so I can share it.
+ Liked the little face off between Beztati and Kwasi even if it was a little awkward. Wonder how Beztati is going to deal with someone not just his own size, but also Chico's awkwardness.
+ Peposhi vs. Bourass was really fun. For a late replacement, Bourass did really well here and showed some cool moves throughout, that double backfist especially was great. Peposhi scored more consistently and did more damage overall which is what won him the fight. Good thing the fight wasn't stopped because of Peposhi's cut in the third.
+ Overall I liked Volpe vs. Boughanem, but did expect a bit more from Boughanem. I guess it's hard to ditch MT mannerisms in your mid 30s after 240 fights. Either way, big win by Volpe who showed some nice, crisp boxing and fast knees.
+ Özcaglayan got his much needed win and while this isn't the Glory debut Nnamadim was hoping for, he showed so much heart I'm surprised he made the final bell. My one returning critique is that both fighters should have kicked a lot more. Serkan isn't returning to contender status if he doesn't start kicking.
+ I didn't mind Big Sexy vs. Laïdouni, but his dance at the end was definitely the true highlight.
+ Despite the unfortunate ending, it's good to see Overmeer back in the winner's circle. He needed this win, even though he was competitive in his losses.
+ Very strong performance by Mory Kromah, even though the result is no surprise.
+ Condé vs. Smaili was pretty fun. Good Glory debut for Smaili, but I have my doubts Welterweight is where he should compete at this stage of his career.
+ While the fight got a bit messy after the first round, it's good to see Ouled-Chaib come back from his loss to Semeleer. He needs to pace himself better, but I liked the variety in his moveset.
+ André Santos looked great in his Glory debut. A bit surprised by the number of Portuguese fans and that seemingly all of them brought vuvuzelas lol. Also didn't know Santos is with SB Gym. Based on this fight alone he seems like a nice acquisition for Glory.
+ El Hammouchi vs. Hambaryan was wild and somewhat dirty, but also hardfought and very entertaining.
+ Nice opening performance by Ismail Ayaadi.

The Bad
- The second half of the card was a bit light on finishes, but that's just how events play out sometimes.
- Really sucks about Ouzgni's injury. We had just gotten past the awkward, clinchy opening phase of the fight. Hope it's nothing serious.
- I'm a bit worried about Mo Amine. I believe this is his fifth loss in a row, with most of them being stoppages. Not sure what's next for him. If he doesn't want to turn into the Light Heavyweight version of Massaro Glunder he probably should stop being a late replacement.
- Don't like Smaili not making weight. He said he was dealing with an injury, but when you're there to fight there can be no excuses.
- Not sure about Madani's exact injury, but it always sucks seeing someone go out like that. He seemed to be in horrific pain. Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Additional Notes
* Ref Strijkert going down in a fight again, luckily this time he didn't get punched by anyone. Said in a post-fight interview "taller people are clumsier" lol.
* Not sure if the English stream showed shots of Remy, but he was commentating ringside with a tiny pink ventilator to cool himself down. Melvin was seen later holding a blue one.
* Apparently Kromah called out Abena, who in turn gestured to the camera that he talks a lot lol.
* Looks like Adam and Soufian El Hammouchi are brothers.
* I think it was Valtellini that said the event sold out. Nice.
* Can't recall the last time I saw an American ref at a European event.

[Shadess]

Latescu definitely makes mistakes, but think he'll be ok. I've never been very big on Glory going to Romania, tho they could've in the past, but had Latescu won this I think he coulda headlined an event for Glory in Romania. I enjoy watching him.

Beztati-Kwasi faceoff was pretty good. Beztati has been fairly awkward and boring when trying to perform for the cameras in the past but he wasn't anywhere near as bad here. I do like Glory trying these things.

A bit of Horta every now and then is fine if he can keep this up.

Regarding Amine, I was ready for him to be gone...but Caceres and Kromah came out looking pretty good off of beating him. Maybe he's worth keeping around to launch other fighters

Santos was fun.

Glory really needs to figure out their English commentary, I couldn't even imagine a fun clip coming from Kruck/Valtellini. They really need a better sub when Grisham isn't available.

[K1power]

I do like Latescu a lot more than I used to, but hope he doesn't become just another one dimensional fighter known for a single thing when there's potential for more. But yeah, an event in Romania seems off the table for now. Maybe Iancu can rebuild that interest depending on his next few fights.

On the other hand, perhaps a return to Turkey might be interesting? Between Caceres and Özcaglayan they can make a nice pair of headliners. Put Aygün somewhere low on the card. I dunno, I think it has potential.

As for Beztati, they've definitely been trying to build him up as the next big thing, but he doesn't seem to have the star power as Glory 93 barely sold out the Rotterdam venue with little over 2000 seats.

And Amine.. what can I really say about him? Not sure how his contract looks, but I can imagine him getting at least one more fight, because he helped Glory out here. If he doesn't win that he should try something else. Go to a promotion with a weaker LHW division (perhaps K-1?), win some fights and rebuild some confidence. Would be a shame to reduce him to a gatekeeper role when he's still young enough to achieve more.

The English commentary, I don't mind it, but definitely prefer the Dutch team. Remy might not have that radio host quality Valtellini does, but I do see myself agreeing a lot more with him than I do Valtellini. Also Remy and Alexy Lely make a pretty good duo. Sometimes Remy's working with another co-commentator like Sander Schrik, but that also works (albeit to a lesser extent).

[kbfan]

Latescu needs to do what Ghita did back in the day. He is young, it's the perfect time to move to Holland and get proper training and sparring partners. What he gets in Romania is limited, as perfectly shown in his last 2 fights.

[Shadess]

Sept 2, 2024 8:11:06 GMT 1 K1power said:

On the other hand, perhaps a return to Turkey might be interesting? Between Caceres and Özcaglayan they can make a nice pair of headliners. Put Aygün somewhere low on the card. I dunno, I think it has potential.

+a Gokhan Saki retirement fight. Not that I really want to see him fight anymore, but these kinds of guys should do a proper retirement fight and not just vanish from the sport.

[h]

i remembered this was on and got to watch it. had fun. need to keep up more often. but with a live source for shows now it will be easier to do that.

[K1power]

Definitely a fun show to get back into things.

[K1power]