Glory World Series

Glory, formerly Glory World Series, is an international kickboxing promotion based in Singapore, which is owned by Pierre Andurand. It is one of the largest kickboxing promotion companies in the world, and features some of the highest-level fighters in the sport on its roster. The company also has international offices in Denver, United States, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Glory produces events worldwide that showcase seven weight divisions (six men's divisions and one women's division). As of 2022, Glory has held over 80 events. The first event was held in 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Background

When K-1 began suffering from extreme financial difficulties in 2011, Total Sports Asia, TSA CEO Marcus Luer, Pierre Andurand, and Scott Rudmann of Nectar Capital attempted to buy the brand. K-1 was instead sold to Mike Kim and EMCOM Entertainment Inc.

In the aftermath, Pierre Andurand, TSA, and the other investors decided to start a brand new kickboxing promotion and acquired United Glory, Golden Glory, and It's Showtime to secure a top event production team and contracts to each promotion's top fighters. Forming the Glory World Series, Pierre Andurand was named Chairman and Scott Rudmann was named vice-chairman. A number of people formerly involved with these three entities event became Glory consultants.

Glory World Series signed most of the world's top kickboxers, such as Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Semmy Schilt, Gokhan Saki, Daniel Ghiţă, Albert Kraus, and Giorgio Petrosyan.

History

Glory Sports International has its offices in the Netherlands, Malaysia, Singapore, and the US. The company includes a mix of entrepreneurs and senior level executives from different environments. The company's investors include Yao Capital, Liberty Global, and TwinFocus Capital Partners.

In February 2013, Glory announced that former WWE Executive VP Andrew Whitaker had been hired as the global CEO of Glory Sports International. In 2018, Glory announced that former CEO of Glory Sports International, Jon J. Franklin had moved to the role of Chief Development Officer, and former UFC executive Marshall Zelaznik had been hired as the new CEO.

On May 15, 2020, Glory announced Zelaznik had resigned as Glory CEO.

On May 26, 2020, Glory Sports International went into receivership, and soon after ownership of Glory was transferred to London-based GSUKCO Limited.

Media coverage

In June 2013, after having its first U.S. event in New York, Glory 9: New York on June 22, 2013, Spike TV signed a multi-year agreement to broadcast Glory kickboxing events; their partnership began with Glory 11: Chicago on October 12 of that year. The broadcast deal with Spike was extended in May 2014 to cover 2015.

In February 2016, Glory CEO Jon J. Franklin announced a new multi-year deal with ESPN.

Beginning in 2019, Glory initiated a partnership with the UFC for the former's events to be exclusively carried in the U.S by UFC Fight Pass. The first event to be broadcast as part of this partnership was Glory 63: Houston on February 1 and the last event was Glory 75: Utrecht on February 29, 2020.

Glory 75 and later events have been available exclusively through pay-per-view.

28 June 2022 Glory announced a multi-year broadcast deal with Videoland in the Netherlands. The deal covers all Glory events starting from Glory 81: Ben Saddik vs. Adegbuyi 2.

16 August 2022 Glory announced a multi-year broadcast deal with Viaplay in Poland.

5 October 2022 Glory announced a multi-year broadcast deal with TV3 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Glory Rivals

In January 2022 Glory announced a new series of events called Glory Rivals, jointly promoted with Enfusion and RISE. The first Rivals event with Enfusion was scheduled for May 21, 2022, at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium. The event was later cancelled due to the finances of Enfusion's local promoter partner Antwerp Fight Organization catching the attention of Belgian authorities.

Glory Rivals 1 was instead held on June 11, 2022 in Alkmaar, Netherlands. In the main event Luis Tavares defeated Florent Kaouachi by knockout in the third round.

Glory Rivals 2 is scheduled for September 17, 2022 in Alkmaar, Netherlands. The main event is set to see Robin Ciric up against Endy Semeleer at welterweight.

Events

Champions

Current champions

''Indicates former interim champions.''

''Indicates current lineal and interim champions.''

Glory Heavyweight Championship

''Weight limit: Unlimited''

Glory Light Heavyweight Championship

''Weight limit: ''

Glory Middleweight Championship

''Weight limit: ''

Glory Welterweight Championship

''Weight limit: ''

Glory Lightweight Championship

''Weight limit: ''

Glory Featherweight Championship

''Weight limit: ''

Glory Women's Super Bantamweight Championship

''Weight limit: ''

Tournament champions

Contender Tournament champions

Qualification Tournament winners

Road to Glory Tournament champions

Multi-division champions

Fighters who have won championships in multiple weight classes (excluding tournament champions).

* Robin van Roosmalen - Won Glory Lightweight Championship on November 7, 2014, then Glory Featherweight Championship on October 21, 2016.
* Alex Pereira - Won Glory Middleweight Championship on October 14, 2017, then Glory Light Heavyweight Championship on January 30, 2021.

Notable fighters

Featherweight

* Serhiy Adamchuk
* Mosab Amrani
* Lim Chi-Bin
* Abdellah Ezbiri
* Massaro Glunder
* Liam Harrison
* Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao
* Yuta Kubo
* Masaaki Noiri
* Fabio Pinca
* Saenchai PKSaenchaimuaythaigym
* Robin van Roosmalen
* Dylan Salvador
* Lee Sung-Hyun
* Tim Thomas
* Kevin VanNostrand
* Gabriel Varga
* Sergio Wielzen

Lightweight

* Chingiz Allazov
* Dzhabar Askerov
* Shemsi Beqiri
* Alessandro Campagna
* Sanny Dahlbeck
* Johann Fauveau
* Marat Grigorian
* Hinata
* Ky Hollenbeck
* Davit Kiria
* Albert Kraus
* Anatoly Moiseev
* Steve Moxon
* Giorgio Petrosyan
* Łukasz Pławecki
* Andy Ristie
* Robin van Roosmalen
* Dylan Salvador
* Simón Santana
* Yoshihiro Sato
* Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong
* Warren Stevelmans
* Jordan Watson
* Bruno Gazani

Welterweight

* Marc de Bonte
* Roberto Cocco
* Raymond Daniels
* Murat Direkçi
* Cedric Doumbe
* Karim Ghajji
* Harut Grigorian
* Murthel Groenhart
* Nieky Holzken
* Paweł Jędrzejczyk
* Karapet Karapetyan
* Yoann Kongolo
* Artur Kyshenko
* Yohan Lidon
* Thiago Michel
* Alim Nabiev
* Antoine Pinto
* Thongchai Sitsongpeenong
* Alexander Stetsurenko
* Chad Sugden
* Alex Tobiasson Harris
* Joseph Valtellini

Middleweight

* Israel Adesanya
* Wayne Barrett
* Yousri Belgaroui
* Chris Camozzi
* Dustin Jacoby
* Artem Levin
* Melvin Manhoef
* Simon Marcus
* L'houcine Ouzgni
* Sahak Parparyan
* Alex Pereira
* Agron Preteni
* Karl Roberson
* Joe Schilling
* Kengo Shimizu
* Bogdan Stoica
* Filip Verlinden
* Steve Wakeling
* Jason Wilnis
* Donovan Wisse
* Amir Zeyada

Light Heavyweight

* Donegi Abena
* Randy Blake
* Mourad Bouzidi
* Saulo Cavalari
* Nathan Corbett
* Abdarhmane Coulibaly
* Michael Duut
* Zinedine Hameur-Lain
* Danyo Ilunga
* Igor Jurković
* Freddy Kemayo
* Steve McKinnon
* Zack Mwekassa
* Nenad Pagonis
* Koichi Pettas
* Gökhan Saki
* Thiago Silva
* Tyrone Spong
* Andrei Stoica
* Stéphane Susperregui
* Luis Tavares
* Makoto Uehara
* Artem Vakhitov
* Pavel Zhuravlev

Heavyweight

* Benjamin Adegbuyi
* Peter Aerts
* Jamal Ben Saddik
* Remy Bonjasky
* Antonio Plazibat
* Mladen Brestovac
* Brian Douwes
* Ben Edwards
* Mirko Filipović
* Hesdy Gerges
* Daniel Ghiţă
* Badr Hari
* Guto Inocente
* Singh Jaideep
* Jérôme Le Banner
* Ismael Londt
* D'Angelo Marshall
* Cătălin Moroșanu
* Alistair Overeem
* Daniel Sam
* Semmy Schilt
* Antônio Silva
* Anderson Silva
* Giannis Stoforidis
* Ewerton Teixeira
* Rico Verhoeven
* Nicolas Wamba
* Jahfarr Wilnis
* Errol Zimmerman

See also

* Golden Glory

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Glory

Kickboxing organizations
Sports organizations established in 2012
2012 establishments in Singapore
Kickboxing in Singapore
Kickboxing in Europe