GLORY Kickboxing traveled to the Zénith de Lille in Lille, France, on Saturday, May 12, for GLORY 53: Lille.
The event was headlined by the GLORY lightweight championship bout, which featured the best pound-for-pound kickboxer in the world, Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, and his challenger, 20-year-old Moroccan prospect Tyjani Beztati.
The co-headliner put a spotlight on the best female kickboxer on the planet, Anissa Meksen, who made the first defense of her GLORY super bantamweight title against Amel Dehby, the runner-up during the GLORY women’s super bantamweight tournament.
To round out the main-card action, former Enfusion champion Jahfarr Wilnis took on former GLORY title challenger Jamal Ben Saddik, top-10 light heavyweight Zinedine Hameur-Lain battled former ranked opponent Michael Duut, and GLORY four-man tournament winners Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao and Abdellah Ezbiri collided in a pivotal featherweight title eliminator.
In the night’s SuperFight Series headliner, the four-man super fight tournament winner was crowned. In the semifinal bouts, former GLORY featherweight champ Serhiy Adamchuk faced France’s Azize Hlali and GLORY veteran Victor “Leo” Pinto met Turkey’s Buray Bozaryilmaz.
Former GLORY welterweight king Cédric Doumbé fought Thongchai Sitsongpeenong in additional action in France.
The preliminary card opened at 8:30 a.m. ET on Pluto TV and YouTube. The GLORY 53 SuperFight Series continued at 1 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass. The main card aired live at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS (United States), ESPN3, SFR Sport 5, Fox Sports (Latin America and Africa), Fight Network (Canada), Combate (Brazil), DigiSport (Romania), Fight Sports (Europe), Sky Sports (New Zealand), Ziggo Sport (The Netherlands), DAZN (Japan), Star Times (Africa), Fight Channel (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia), QQ (China), Sina (China), Sohu (China), and GLORY pay-per-view (International).
Jahfarr Wilnis def. Jamal Ben Saddik by unanimous decision (29-27 x5)
Anissa Meksen def. Amel Dehby by unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45, 50-45, 50-45) – for women’s super bantamweight title
Zinedine Hameur-Lain def. Michael Duut via TKO (strikes). Round 2, 1:14
Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao def. Abdellah Ezbiri by knockout (head kick). Round 2, 1:40
Cédric Doumbé def. Thongchai Sitsongpeenong by knockout (punch). Round 1, 0:33
Yousri Belgaroui def. Dawid Kasperski by TKO (strikes). Round 2, 1:37
Serhii Adamchuk def. Victor Pinto by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27, 29-27, 29-27) – featherweight tournament final
Alan Scheinson def. Mohammed Jaraya by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Serhii Adamchuk def. Azize Hlali by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26) – featherweight tournament semifinal
Victor Pinto def. Buray Bozaryilmaz by majority decision (26-30, 28-28, 29-27, 29-27, 29-27) – featherweight tournament semifinal