On Friday, Feb. 16, GLORY Kickboxing returns to the Windy City for its 50th event. The event takes place from the UIC Pavillion located on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus.
In the night’s main event, welterweight champion Murthel Groenhart makes the first defense of his title against a familiar foe, Harut Grigorian. The pair have met twice previously, with Groenhart scoring second-round knockouts in both contests. However, the pair’s meeting at GLORY 42 was filled with controversy after a dazed Grigorian turned his back to Groenhart along the ropes and the Dutchman violently sent Grigorian to the canvas. The ensuing melee included fans entering the ring and assaulting Groenhart before order could be restored. Both fighters picked up wins at GLORY 44 – also in Chicago – to set up the title contest.
Also on the main card, the promotion will host a one-night, four-man heavyweight tournament. Former title challenger Benjamin Adegbuyi takes on D’Angelo Marshall in one side of the ladder, while Brazilian Guto Inocente meets Junior Tafa in the other half of the bracket.
The night’s SuperFight Series card is headlined by a lightweight title tilt featuring the sport’s No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, who defends his belt against tournament winner Christian Baya.
The GLORY 50 SuperFight Series airs live at 8:30 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass. The main card streams live at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN3, with the replay airing on ESPN2 on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 10 p.m. ET.
Below are the results of the event’s weigh-ins, which took place Thursday, Feb. 15. Video of the action appears above (courtesy of GLORY).
Richard Abraham (169) vs. Malik Watson-Smith (170.5)
Benjamin Adegbuyi (262) vs. D’Angelo Marshall (248) – heavyweight tournament semifinal
Guto Inocente (253) vs. Junior Tafa (278) – heavyweight tournament semifinal
Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (153.5) vs. Christian Baya (153.8) – for lightweight title
Haze Wilson (248) vs. Anthony McDonald (260) – heavyweight tournament reserve bout
Omar Moreno (170) vs. Casey Greene (169.5)
Daniel Morales (168) vs. Omari Boyd (169)
Diego Llamas (150) vs. Justin Houghton (151)