GLORY Kickboxing returned to the Accorhotels Arena in Paris, France, on Saturday, June 10, for GLORY 42: Paris.
In the evening’s headliner, GLORY welterweight champion Cédric Doumbé put his belt on the line against the man he beat to earn it, former champion Nieky Holzken. Doumbé defended the strap with a dominant decision victory over Yoann Kongolo at GLORY 39: Brussels in March. Holzken made his return to the ring for the first time since dropping his title to Doumbé at GLORY: Collision late last year.
The next shot at the welterweight title was decided when top-five kickboxer Murthel Groenhart went to battle with Armenian knockout-artist Harut Grigorian in the co-main event. Both fighters were riding a two-fight winning streak heading into the important rematch in the deep GLORY welterweight division. In the first meeting, Groenhart came back from adversity to stop Grigorian late in the third round.
In the night’s lightweight contender tournament, surging Dane Niclas Larsen looked to push closer to a title shot with two victories in one night. He faced Massaro Glunder in one side of the four-man, one-night tournament bracket. In the other tournament semifinal, former top-10 lightweight Anatoly Moiseev looked to shake off his recent setbacks against Angola’s Christian Baya, who upset top GLORY lightweight Josh Jauncey in his promotional debut.
Elsewhere on the card, top-10 welterweight Yohan Lidon made his much anticipated GLORY debut against former two-time GLORY title challenger Yoann Kongolo in the evening’s SuperFight Series headliner. Former GLORY featherweight titleholder Serhiy Adamchuk looked to regain his place as a contender in the featherweight division when he took on top-10 lightweight Dylan Salvador, who was dropping to his natural weight class.
The GLORY 42 SuperFight Series aired at 12:30 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass. The main card followed at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN 2 and ESPN 3, SFR Sport 5 (Europe and Africa), Esporte (Brazil), Fox Sports Africa, Fight Network (Canada), OSN Sports (Middle East), and Sky (New Zealand).
Christian Baya def. Massaro Glunder by split decision (29-28 x3, 28-29, 30-27) – lightweight contender tournament final
Murthel Groenhart def. Harut Grigorian by knockout (punch). Round 2
Massaro Glunder def. Niclas Larsen by TKO (two-knockdown rule). Round 1, 2:18 – lightweight contender tournament semifinal
Christian Baya def. Anatoly Moiseev by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29 x2, 30-27) – lightweight contender tournament semifinal
Yoann Kongolo def. Yohan Lidon by unanimous decision (30-27 x5)
Nicolas Wamba def. Jhonata Diniz by unanimous decision (30-27 x5)
Zinedine Hamuer-Lain def. Freddy Kemayo by knockout (right hook and right high kick). Round 1, 2:35
Serhiy Adamchuk def. Dylan Salvador by unanimous decision (30-27 x3, 29-28 x2)
Marat Grigorian def. Antonio Gomez by knockout (left knee to the body). Round 2, 2:02
Francois Ambang by unanimous decision (30-27 x3, 29-28 x2)