Glory not paying its bills?

[Broadcast]

Could be like a refreshing, but imagine: Glory is bankrupt! It is very bad for image. Glory resisted exactly 8 years (Andurand just 7) and It"s Showtime and Superkombat/Local Kombat 15 years. But yet again if they pump again money..

And some Dutch people were very delusional, a few months ago Bas Boon predicted a golden future for Glory. He said the Netherlands has become the new Japan of fight sports! ) And you call me delusional.

http://basboon.com/?p=7105

From what I know Hemmers' activities in Glory are only suspended until further notice. He is not dismissed.

 

[Broadcast]

Kickboxing, where to? Former Superkombat CEO predicted the fall of Glory years ago

1. K-1 went bankrupt
2. After 15 years It's Showtime was bought by Glory (the rumors were anyway Rutz was not satisfied)
3. CEO Eduard Irimia left Superkombat/Local Kombat after 15 years and moved to film industry
4. Some Anonymous announces ONE Championship is losing plenty of money, and is being confirmed
5. Glory went bankrupt after only 8 years, 7 of Pierre Andurand

"The events cause damage," said Irimia in 2016.

Think Glory spent $50 million (as of 2016), and I've had years of investing everything I've had to make it happen. For me, the Superkombat curse is to make events like us. Whoever tried to do this realized that it was not so. The shows do more harm than good. It's about years of work to create a brand, and that brand can bring investors.

For example, in Milan we had an agreement with a theater, which costs a lot, somewhere at 30,000 euros for the location (more than the largest arenas). We made a partnership agreement. They sold the tickets, and they should have given us the difference. Unfortunately, after the gala, we didn't see any money. After that, in Turin, a Romanian who was, on top of that, a friend of ours, put a rather expensive show, in which we lost together.

LIBERTATEA

 

[Broadcast]

Irimia constantly said Glory are losing money. Looks he had enough experience to understand Glory should have penetrated into Europe as long the market was still profitable. Now kickboxing is not popular anymore not even on the European continent.

What did Glory think, they can attack UFC without Grand Slams like the golden age of K-1?

Glory might have lost at least tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds. ONE the same, it is total chaos in Asia, those fans are novices in following MMA. Still, it can grow though compared to Glory in the US. A Glory without huge stars or impressive heavyweights like about 15 like in K-1.

The popularity of kickboxing in Europe wasn"t speculated. Of course Europe is still rich but now in Europe if you want money and profit you must put shows with impressive fighters. You can"t trick people with much averageness and sometimes mediocrity.

If Glory return I am sure they will not allow anymore to be such a Dutch promotion. The Dutch people could be proud and fanatic in kickboxing, but Glory was not a profitable promotion.

Another thing that the Dutch matchmakers do not understand is that they need KOs in America. And even when they host in Europe but it is shown on American TV. You have to fight with UFC/Bellator/boxing.

 

[Broadcast]

Not to mention the whole combat sports are losing terrain as of 2020. ONE wants to take over in Asia but maybe it will not be possible. Boxing has decreased constantly, kickboxing after K-1 was not even on the map in reality (we are fans, but not all the world is) and MMA is big only in the US (Irimia for example believes UFC can still milk money but in fact at some point people might lose interest since the golden era passed; constantly told Rousey, even Silva and others are not stars but products and it was confirmed). The truth is my friends, fans of sports, have been not watching kickboxing since K-1. Not all the Romanians sports followers watched Ghiță in Glory. They are also not watching the UFC, but not a problem since UFC is a lot watched in the US, and they are barely watching some legendary bouts in boxing.

For me kickboxing is spectacular, the best fighting sport as marketable, it is a pity. Kind of new though compared to boxing. In kickboxing has been invested the least, and without funding it will be not visible. A pity, such a show.. It takes hundreds, maybe millions!

My opinion is not to have huge expectations. And it was anyway visible in time, Glory has decreased as production. Of course, the fight cards were not poorer than of the UFC AT ALL in my opinion, but if you want to penetrate you must do more. You must put shows with cards full of stars.

And Mr Chattri is the most optimistic guy I have ever watched.

 

[Broadcast]

Belgaroui posted on instagram indicating that GLORY is over.

Very sad if true, for everyone that worked there

There are more chances not to hear anymore about Glory, than a refreshing. This is my prediction. And of course not happy about it, not sure where the roster would go. And even notice ONE hasn"t put a show in Europe so far.

Here it is not soccer, not very often you hear a promotion returns after filed bankruptcy. Especially one with West business, from top tiers.

 

[JohnMc]

They clearly bet the farm on Jailbird Badr and lost. They must have overpaid him for what he's actually worth.

 

[JohnMc]

Irimia constantly said Glory are losing money. Looks he had enough experience to understand Glory should have penetrated into Europe as long the market was still profitable. Now kickboxing is not popular anymore not even on the European continent.

What did Glory think, they can attack UFC without Grand Slams like the golden age of K-1?

Glory might have lost at least tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds. ONE the same, it is total chaos in Asia, those fans are novices in following MMA. Still, it can grow though compared to Glory in the US. A Glory without huge stars or impressive heavyweights like about 15 like in K-1.

The popularity of kickboxing in Europe wasn"t speculated. Of course Europe is still rich but now in Europe if you want money and profit you must put shows with impressive fighters. You can"t trick people with much averageness and sometimes mediocrity.

If Glory return I am sure they will not allow anymore to be such a Dutch promotion. The Dutch people could be proud and fanatic in kickboxing, but Glory was not a profitable promotion.

Another thing that the Dutch matchmakers do not understand is that they need KOs in America. And even when they host in Europe but it is shown on American TV. You have to fight with UFC/Bellator/boxing.

They bet the farm on Badr and expanding into the US. Plus that one and done PPV clearly didn't help. And ESPN putting them on at 3am didn't help. They should have kept running events In Europe where they had a solid base [I went to their London event and had a blast] with an occasional US. Instead they focused solely on the US and ignored the European fans driving them away and into the arms of KOK.

 

[RedDawn]

From the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad:

Future GLORY Kickboxing uncertain due to corona

GLORY is in trouble due to the corona crisis. There was even a rumor yesterday that the kickboxing organization had filed for bankruptcy, but that is being debunked. However, it is not yet clear when, where and in what form GLORY will take place in the future.

It is no longer a secret that GLORY, the kickboxing organization where world champion Rico Verhoeven signed a multi-year contract at the end of last year, is in financial difficulties. Commissioned by investor Pierre Andurand, general manager of sports Cor Hemmers recently drew up a 'corona proof' plan with a number of colleagues. The document has now been submitted, but that has not yet led to a final decision.

Suspended until further notice

Hemmers' activities at GLORY have been suspended until further notice. “As an independent consultant, I have an agreement for my services. I have been informed that the agreement has been suspended. In my case, as an external advisor, there is in no way a question of dismissal, ”explains the Bredanaar briefly.

Rico Verhoeven's management would not comment on the rumors surrounding GLORY. "We don't know anything, so there's no point speculating on rumors from unknown sources," said manager Karim Erja.

 

[Snubnoze707]

Former Superkombat CEO predicted the fall of Glory years ago

So did like every single person in this sub-forum. Who cares about the former Superkombat CEO?

They lasted longer but they were just a regional promotion and didn't have to deal with a Global Pandemic.

Leave it to you to use this opportunity to start spewing about Romania...

 

[Blazeblack]

This would be a great time for Bellator to copy ONE fc’s model. Scott has the background in kickboxing promoting, Viacom has bottomless pockets and bellator already has name recognition and has tested the waters. The key, IMO, would be to pickup some of Glory’s talent and mix the kickboxing fights into regular mma cards.

 

[Dessyboy]

COVID has affected practically every sport in the world, but for sports which were struggling before COVID, its been the death nail

It's interested that K1 was doing ok, when it was competing with both Pride and the UFC

Glory couldn't handle just competing with UFC

All of the big names from the K1 days are old/retired

Glory only created a small handful of names

Most young talent is going into MMA

It's the same in Australia. Kickboxing used to be big with Wayne Parr, Nathan Carnage Corbett, Bruce Preacher mcphie etc. Now there is nothing



Kickboxing as a sport is basically over.

 

[Broadcast]

So did like every single person in this sub-forum. Who cares about the former Superkombat CEO?

They lasted longer but they were just a regional promotion and didn't have to deal with a Global Pandemic.

Superkombat was promotion no 1 in the world according to WIPU, so STFU please! In 2011, over It"s Showtime and Ultimate Glory (1st year of Glory). Plus the point of Irimia is very valid. Glory should have signed him, Tanikawa and the others.

Regional is only in your head, because you lack knowledges.

SUPERKOMBAT Roster included:

- Glory"s - all top 10 in the word at some point:
* Rico Verhoeven
* Daniel Ghiţă
* Benjamin Adegbuyi
* Errol Zimmerman
* Hesdy Gerges
* Pavel Zhuravlev
* Ismael Londt
* Alex Pereira
* Yousri Belgaroui
* Donegi Abena
* Ben Edwards
* Mladen Brestovac
* Yoann Kongolo
* Mourad Bouzidi
* Jamie Bates
* Brice Guidon
* Felipe Micheletti
* Braddock Silva
* Dangelo Marshall
* Bogdan Stoica
* Antonio Plazibat
* Faldir Chahbari
* Zinedine Hameur-Lain

- UFC"s top 5s:
* Jairzinho Rozenstruik
* Volkan Oezdemir
+
* Christian Colombo

- Bellator"s top 5:
* Tony Johnson
+
* Thiago Michel

- Pride
* Alexandru Lungu

- ONE"s top fighters:
* Roman Kryklia (HW champion)
* Tarik Khbabez (official challenger)
* Andrei Stoica (official challenger)
* Ibrahim El Bouni (former top 10)

- Legends:
* Alexey Ignashov
* Mighty Mo (your US)
* Bob Sapp (US)
* Albert Kraus
* Mike Zambidis
* Stefan Leko
* Zabit Samedov
* Paul Slowinski
* Chris Ngimbi (some times It"s Showtime champion, also ONE fighter)

- other North America K-1 fighters:
* Carter Williams
* Gary Goodridge
* Jarrell Miller

- K-1:
* Bjorne Bregy
* Brecht Wallis
* Lloyd van Dams
* Raul Catinas
* Doug Viney (New Zealand, 10 classes over Tafa)
* Freddy Kemayo
* Tomas Hron
* Petr Vondracek
* Roman Kleibl
* Tony Gregory
* Wendel Roche
* Dzevad Poturak
* Sergei Gur

- Other top 10s:
* Jorge Loren
* Igor Buganeko
* Redouan Cairo
* Fabio Kwasi
* Amir Zeyada
* Muray Aygun
* Mustapha Haida
* Ionuț Iftimoaie
* Aalviar Lima
* Fred Sikking
* Brian Douwes
* Cedric Manhoef

CONTRADICT ME IF YOU CAN! It is not about Superkombat but you named it, lying again. THEY WERE ALL PART FO THE SUPERKOMBAT ROSTER. I can bring another 200 very known names, kickboxers like that did not enter top 10 but are top fighters in Europe usually and not only from Europe. From Moroșanu, to Ondrej Hutnik, Tsotne Rogava, Daniel Sam, Nicholas Wamba, Erhan Deniz, Roberto Cocco and others.

 

[Broadcast]

Not sure why you keep insisting, Snubnoze, proving you are the biggest noob I have ever seen! When you talk about value, rank, it"s subjective, you can manipulate people with your thinking. But these are aberrations, demolished, completely destroyed by EVIDENCE (absolute facts).

 

[Shadess]

Nobody cares about your lists or essays on Superkombat.

 

[Shadess]

This would be a great time for Bellator to copy ONE fc’s model. Scott has the background in kickboxing promoting, Viacom has bottomless pockets and bellator already has name recognition and has tested the waters. The key, IMO, would be to pickup some of Glory’s talent and mix the kickboxing fights into regular mma cards.

Bellator for all intents and purposes has given up kickboxing. They have more recently seemed to aim for some kind of profitability with Bellator, would be odd for them to suddenly venture back into kickboxing.

 

[Broadcast]

I said that, Shady, but I had to respond him. He is very provocative. I just cannot believe it!

Back to the topic...

Superkombat didn't have to deal with a Global Pandemic.

So you think Glory is dealing with pandemic? AHAHAHAA! It has nothing to do with the pandemic, all the contracts are suspended, I mean about the company workers. How are they losing any money, how?

They have lost money from year 2, since Day 1 of Andurand. The guy is a noob and always had American noobs around him. They know nothing about K-1 and kickboxing. For Andurand it is a hobby, he is a practionner. Plus their Dutchmen were fanatics (they didn"t realize it"s not the Netherlands, but America, plus Dutch kickboxing doesn"t rely on show/KO like K-1 used to; the Dutch rules are also shit, good for the most professional kickboxing but bad for spectacle and what the Americans want).

Most of the North American writers know nothing about K-1 and Dutch kickboxing, later Romanian, etc. Fraser Coffeen knew some, he was intelligent and a real hardcore.

They are complete noobs, they were following Muay Thai at most and their local scene. They are just wannabies.

Very poor knowledges like Snubnoze.

My thinking is that Andurand had time to reconsider Glory in this pandemic. He is a smart investor. We cannot deny that. He is good at school and business, probably had no experience in kickboxing and let the others to run Glory. These experts were not experts. Glory was just a hobby, if he would have put passion in it, even by his decisions would have done more than the "American" experts. There experts did not lack just experience, but were also dumb.

And talking about marketing, the site of Glory was also crap.

 

[Broadcast]

Glory was in miserable state in the past years, I did not want to say here anything but Snubnoze provoked me. I have also put soul in Glory, just to know.

The Dutch people are knowing it, you sherdoggers not. Glory was giving free tickets in the United States in order not to have empty seats, wrote the Dutch press. Then a contract with ESPN on the internet has any value? They could have sold thousands in Europe, even 750k euros from tickets every event. Somebody must also respond why there was only such a contract in the last years, TV deal in America... Poorest deal I have ever seen, it is like they consider kickboxing the 50th sport at least! The group of Andurand was so rich that they could have easily bought a national channel - just kidding of course. But it"s true.

Instead of investing in Americans without real experience (some probably did not even work with WWE, not even in production because it was crap), Glory should have made events in Europe and Tokyo/Korea. Hiring former owners such as Rutz, Irimia and Tanikawa, this type of guys, matchmakers. Of course, plus Hemmers as a talent scouter. Not as a matchmaker.

 

[Broadcast]

Snub, I am remembering about that "regional" promotion now... ) which was better?

ESPN 3 aka ESPN3.COM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN3 of Glory?

Or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Sports_Network CBS Sports Network?

I remember how you tried to minimize CBS Sports Network telling people it"s not CBS Sports. But ESPN 3 is not even on TV, but on-line via streaming!

Kickboxing fans in the US are many, Andurand needed a pandemic to realize he must shut down everything in America:

If he"s smart, he"s returning home in Europe under another name. Glory isn"t even known in Europe. This sport doesn"t exist if it"s not a broadcast in Europe/Japan. Glory is anything but not a brand. Another name would impact better than Glory. Maybe in Europe we will not have amateurs fighting and paper champions. Glory is not associated with Europe at all.

 

[Blazeblack]

Bellator for all intents and purposes has given up kickboxing. They have more recently seemed to aim for some kind of profitability with Bellator, would be odd for them to suddenly venture back into kickboxing.

Frankly kickboxing is a sport that tends to loose money for promoters. Seems like at least for now, you have to be willing to operate at a sizable loss for at least a few years until you can find and build your consumer base. That’s a hell of a lot to ask promoters and investors to dump money into. I like what ONE is doing, hopefully they don’t hit a brick wall.

 

[Dessyboy]

GLORY kickboxing files for bankruptcy, removes top executives



Jesse Holland
July 3, 2020


GLORY Kickboxing has reportedly fired top executives Cor Hemmers and Remon Daalder, among others, according to a report from combat sports journalist Giovanni Tjin. In addition, it appears the promotion’s overseas offices have been closed.

Aaron Bronsteter reports GLORY has also filed for bankruptcy.

The writing was on the wall as recently as May, when Chief Executive Officer Marshall Zelaznik, who also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), resigned from his position at GLORY.

The current roster is expected to remain intact.

GLORY 78: “Bader vs. Benny” was the next major event on tap for Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam; however, global quarantine conditions put that card on hold. No word yet on whether or not the promotion will move forward or refund pre-purchased tickets.

The sport of kickboxing never really caught on in the Untied States despite multiple attempts (and some of the biggest names in the sport), which is kind of weird since most MMA fans criticize fights that go to the ground for any extended period of time.

Expect more details on this development in the coming days.