On the Holzken vs Groenhart decision:
I watched this fight ringside at the event and had Holzken as the winner with the more accurate and more powerful strikes while blocking most of what Groenhart was throwing. I thought it could easily have gone either way because it was very close.
Rewatched it at home on TV, and still have Holzken as the winner 3 rounds to 2 because he was the aggressor and kept going forward and yes he did land less but landed more powerful strikes that seemed to be doing more damage. Very close fight though.
You cannot possibly call this a "robbery" when the fight is that close, it's not like RvR vs. Sittichai.
I guess it depends if you're judging based on the number of strikes landed, or based on the powerful shots landed and damage done. I tend to favour the latest.
Overall feedback on the event:
Great event, great atmosphere, great to see so many big names from the kickboxing world walking around the arena.
I bumped into Zimmerman before his fight taking pictures with fans, Semmy Schilt and Nieky Holzken's head coach while walking back from the toilets, Groenhart was sitting behind me with his close friends and family during the superfight series for a few minutes, Rico after his fight (he was watching Holzken's fight), and and a lot more that I recognized but wasn't sure who they were. I think I saw Enersto Hoost from very far too, but maybe that wasn't him.
It was strange to queue for 20 minutes for a drink at the bar only to find out no alcohol was sold in the entire area. Apparently it was a policy by the RAI or by the organizers not to serve alcohol to avoid troubles? Not that bad but still surprising. A fresh beer is always nice when watching some good fights
The only negative thing I have to say that ruined a couple of fights was the referring. 2 fights got stopped too early in the tournament, even though both guys were going to lose anyway. Counting a pull down as a knockdown and getting Oblonsky eliminated was silly, and again counting Yurk up to 10 while he still got up before 10 was also disappointing. I know you need to be up by 8, but the other more casual spectators around me were scratching their head on that one.
Watching Glory fights without the crappy commentary is actually great. Rewatching the event at home on TV made me cringe sometimes with the silly uninformed and biased commentating: so many crappy references and biased comments, sometimes big blanks or stopping mid sentence, making silly assumptions, sometimes disrespectful comments of the fighters, etc.
I'd recommend those who have Groenhart as the winner to rewatch the fight without the commentary.
Glory really needs to find a solution to both the referring and the commentating IMO. The rest is great though
