On Mar. 9, GLORY Kickboxing is presenting the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix, and it was recently announced that this fight card will feature two title matches. The tournament will be accompanied by lightweight and light heavyweight championship matches.
GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix
The long-awaited heavyweight tournament has finally been booked. It has been confirmed that the divisional king Rico Verhoeven will be a participating fighter. This will be a one-night, eight-man elimination tournament.
The eight heavyweight kickboxers who have qualified are:
Rico Verhoeven (60-10, 20 KO)
Antonio Plazibat (22-5, 16 KO)
Tariq Osaro (25-3-1, 13 KO)
Levi Rigters (15-1, 7 KO)
Uku Jürjendal (20-8, 16 KO)
Bahram Rajabzadeh (65-1, 58 KO)
Nabil Khachab (26-4-1, 4 KO)
Sofian Laïdouni (35-2-1, 17 KO)
No matchups have yet been confirmed for this tournament.
Tyjani Beztati vs. Enriko Kehl – lightweight title match
The Moroccan-Dutch GLORY lightweight champion Tyjani Beztati will put his title on the line against Germany’s Enriko Kehl. “The Wonderboy” Beztati is most recently coming off of a five-round dominant win against Kaito Ono, the SHOOT BOXING champion, which was his fourth title defense.
“The Hurricane” Kehl has picked up two top-ranked wins since signing with GLORY Kickboxing. The German-born athlete has competed in WLF, in China, ONE Championship in Singapore, and elsewhere. His most notable win was a K-1 championship victory over the legend Buakaw Banchamek.
The high-skilled Kehl will be looking to capture the GLORY kickboxing lightweight world championship crown while Beztati aims to earn his fifth title defense.
Donegi Abena vs. Tarik Khbabez – light heavyweight title match
Donegi Abena and Tarik Khbabez have been booked for the light heavyweight showdown match, this is the third time these two athletes have been booked against one another. The Surinamese-Dutch Abena will look to add a second defense of the light heavyweight title. While “The Tank” Khbabez aims to trade his interim title in for the real crown.
Morocco’s Khbabez has bounced between the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions and has fought a rogue gallery in these weight classes. With consecutive wins over Daniel Toledo and Mohamed Amine, he is set to challenge for the throne.
The 25-year-old Abena has had a career resurgence. After early losses to Alex Pereira and Artem Vakhitov, he was able to earn a world title in 2023. He avenged an earlier loss to Sergej Maslobojev and added Mohamed Touchassie to his win streak. The long-awaited Donegi Abena vs. Tarik Khbabez title match will finally come together.
The GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix event is booked for Mar. 9 in the GelreDome and will be broadcast live from Arnhem, the Netherlands.