On Saturday, Dec. 21, GLORY Kickboxing closed out 2019 with its biggest event of the year. The promotion touched down in Arnhem, Netherlands for its 74th event, dubbed Collision 2.
In the night’s main event, the promotion’s heavyweight king, Rico Verhoeven, put his belt on the line against bitter rival Badr Hari. The pair met previously in 2016 at Collision in Germany, with Holland’s Verhoeven stopping the Moroccan Hari in the second round due to an arm injury. Since then, Verhoeven had competed five times and made three successful title defenses. The 35-year-old Hari returned to action at GLORY 51, defeating Hesdy Gerges by decision.
Just like the first meeting, Hari found success early, dropping Verhoeven twice inside the first three rounds. However, in the third round, Hari went for a wheel kick and landed awkwardly. He yelled in agony and could not continue, as Verhoeven once again retained the title.
The GLORY 74 card was headlined by the promotion’s middleweight and interim light heavyweight titleholder, Alex Pereira. The Brazilian squared off with Ertugrul Bayrak. Pereira only needed one round to dispatch of the challenger, scoring yet another highlight-reel knockout.
The action kicked off at 11 a.m. ET with the SuperFight Series on UFC Fight Pass. The GLORY 74 card followed at 1 p.m. ET, also on UFC Fight Pass. The Collision 2 main card began at 3 p.m. ET, airing on UFC Fight Pass in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, and pay-per-view for the rest of the world.
Luis Tavares def. Stéphane Susperregui by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Mohammed Jaraya def. Massaro Glunder by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Zakaria Zouggary def. Asa Ten Pow by unanimous decision (30-27 x5)
Alex Pereira def. Ertugrul Bayrak by knockout (left hook). Round 1, 3:00 – for middleweight title
Serhii Adamchuk def. Aleksei Ulianov by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30, 27-30, 29-28)
Ariel Machado def. Michael Duut by unanimous decision (29-26, 30-25, 30-25, 30-25, 30-25)
Itay Gershon def. Zhaoyang Li by majority decision (28-28, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Antonio Plazibat def. Jahfarr Wilnis by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Donovan Wisse def. César Almeida by majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Nordine Mahieddine def. Cihad Kepenek by extra round split decision (10-9, 10-9, 9-10, 9-10, 10-9)
Ulrik Bokeme def. Kevin van Heeckeren by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Rebekah Irwin def. Yi Xu by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28)