ONE signs Marat Grigorian

Snubnoze707 said:
This is fantastic news for the 70 KG division. Not since K-1 MAX have we had it stacked and concentrated in one promotion. Things just got a lot more interesting.
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Now they just need to sign Buakaw :) I think I remember seeing that it was in the making.
I know he's not in the discussions for best at 70kg KB anymore, but still would be a great addition for some interesting match-ups.
 
Tayski said:
Now they just need to sign Buakaw :) I think I remember seeing that it was in the making.
I know he's not in the discussions for best at 70kg KB anymore, but still would be a great addition for some interesting match-ups.
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I'd still love to see Buakaw in the mix in 2020. I don't really see it though, he may even be past the retirement tour stage.
 
Monte Moku said:
Now that ONE pretty much owns 70kg, what do you guys think about Glory's place in the weight classes above it? At the forefront or no?
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Personally I think Glory should focus on 85KG + at this point. My only concern is they are still very thin in those divisions. Who knows what the promotion will look like when (if) it comes back though. If they do far fewer events they don't need all these divisions to provide content, then focus on higher weight classes. Bring a bunch of Romanians in if you need to, anything at this point. Monopolize those higher weights.

I dislike a lot about ONE on the business end, but you really can't deny they are way more promising and exciting of a promotion than Glory. Glory has been bland for years.
 
They can bring Gafencu, Lambagiu and Stefanovski, at 77-85 kg. Gafencu is spectacular, Lambagiu has very nice body shots, Stefanovski is Swiss-Macedonian with very effective boxing. All are young. Lambagiu and Stefanovski are almost U23, they are both 24 years old, fought for belts same as Gafencu (27).

Stefanovski fights as a journeyman and has lost some decisions, but KOed Beni Osmanoski in Switzerland when it was needed. Osmanovski was close to Glory level or even Glory level at some point. Though poorer than Yoann Kongolo. But honestly all Kongolo, Stevanoski and Osmanovski fought in Superkombat, and Stefanovski is not less technical than Kongolo. Plus Jamie Bates also fought in Superkombat, and if he fights any of these 3 I am not sure he takes it. Bates was KOed in his England by Șchiopu at some massive Romanian event, and Șchiopu has been always just remembered as the sparring partner of Andrei Stoica.

And Bates just beat Harut Grigorian. Hemmers & Co made some questionable fighters champions. Not that they were not challenging material though, but could have lost and still received chances. Others were fired by Glory or not brought.

Surely ONE is not capable of acquiring all the best fighters outside Glory, I cannot see them signing more Romanians after Andrei Stoica, Bogdan Stoica and probably Raul Cătinaș.

There are fighters from China too, etc. For example Levin will be 34 years old in December, not sure if they should bring him or not.. If he agrees on lower purses and if he is at the same level, because you decrease more besides the HW division as stamina!
 
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I agree, Snub, there is a talent now at 77 but that can also fight at 85 kg. At 95 there is a lot of talent too, they could bring Cozmâncă and Fabio Kwasi (what happened to Zhuravlev? nobody really knows). If any will sign with ONE, Glory can say goodbye to the 95. Khbabez, Stoica brothers and El Bouni are all in Asia now. I am just saying, if they don"t want to end up with Susperregui and Hameur-Lain, also Machado is not showing anything lately. Except 3-4 names plus newly promoted Pereira, best light-heavyweights are not in Glory.

I can make a bet Timmers will not reform. He will keep adding only Dutch fighters. Former management added from 1st to 3rd tiers. Even 4th, lol. It does not matter some are not fantastic. There is no kickboxing development this way. I mean Adamchuk (Mike"s Gym) and RvR were enough, does not need Qiu Jianliang.
 
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77 KG + would be fine too actually. I mean seriously even if they brought in a bunch of Euro journeymen fighters they could prop up the better guys in the division with exciting KO's and also have some upsets resulting in new potential stars. I don't even care if its a bunch of bumswingers. Ditch the other weight classes, those fighters can find a home in ONE or K-1. I think this would be better for the sport not just Glory.
 
Gafencu is not a brawler (bum swinger), he comes from boxing. He already beat the best WWs from the gyms of Bonjasky, Hoost and Aerts. Some are calling him the Romanian McGregor.



Stefanovski neither is a brawler. Lambagiu is a brawler, who fought last year a 1-round match against Kyshenko and did very well in the beginning being the aggressor.

From Scorpions Iași, all are brawlers (Moroșanu, even Lambagiu and Cozmâncă a kind of) except Ștefan Lătescu.



I mean how is not Cozmâncă beautiful to watch? He has a strong chin for the 95 kg, most of the Dutchies would not fuck with him in the 95 kg.



Cozmâncă has a "trademark", a scorpion high kick.



And Gafencu has the "tornado kick", no fight without it. Believe me, this is how you attract rating in America. KO and unknown finishings.

 
We can say good-bye to Buakaw and maybe soon to Yod. They didn"t get promotion when they needed to. Glory should have created a 4-man tourney before Marat to take over, between Petrosyan, Sittichai, Yod and Buakaw. Too many Thais though.

Now will be between Giorgio, Superbon, Sittichai and Marat. You are not losing anything. But if they make Final 16 or Final 8, others can also get involved. We shall see if Ozcan can do it outside of the Netherlands after the Chinese embarrassment.

Somehow, I still like Yod though.
 
A little bit off topic, but since I have no right to start a new thread, I will post it here. Meanwhile Glory contracted Levi Rigters from Enfusion:


I have seen him fight in a match against a guy Dexter... I was not impressed. I don`t think he is Glory material. They should have fought for Gerges, who came back to Enfusion:
https://kickboxingz.com/

Glory is quite frankly in a mess right now. Marat was not some guy but he was a champion in his weight class. That is a big deal. Also, he was a talent. In the female division Anissa Meksen (who was also a champion) also quit Glory and signed a contract with ONE. This was confirmed by her in an Instagram thread.
 
He has a crappy resume, Marshall before signing to Glory was knocking out Stoforidis in Superkombat, not winning a decision like Rigters. He has been always technical but at that point Marshall did not look good enough for the big stage.

I mean Enfusion has protected Rigters big. Only one good fight, against a Ndiri without experience and to understand his quality Ndiri went on decision against Ristea.

When Rigters KOed Red Cairo, the Surinamese was semi-retired. I see Levi Rigters with even a worse defense than of Marshall. Very bad defense and fitness.

Not sure how can they trick people with this Rigters, I"ve seen his name for a while, but honestly he is nothing special. From Enfusion Ndiri is the only worth heavyweight, but not ready for Glory yet.

I mean, he fought Suisse like you said (Dexter), and the worst version of Suisse compared to the times when he fought decent in Superkombat. Sure, he has reach, some power and could be dangerous against chickens. The others will keep pointing more than him.

Not a big signing or something with potential, I will be shocked to see him doing well. Even his attacks are poor. In Superkombat he would have been a jobber. I can say even a former sloppy and slow Rozenstruik was much better than him.

Aygun who isn"t creme a la creme, was signed by ONE. Aygun would probably knock Rigters out. Londt and Catinas would send him to the hospital. Slovak Pacas must also be removed by Glory, he lost twice to Rigters. They totally ignore the other scenes and Enfusion has been always a so-so promotion. Surely never worth in the HW.

Rigters is a kind of Krouba. If you send him to Russia to a slow Kornilov for Glory, he is losing. Even Vanneste in prime might have been more talented. And it"s Vanneste, maximum 3rd tier.

My question is how can he fight 5 rounds against Pacas? They both must be crap. Rigters has no preparation and many other things.

0:32 against a much smaller Susano, who is not a worthy fighter

 
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Honestly Muhammed Balli from our Golden Fighter Championship, who has also fought in Enfusion, is also a dubious signing.

Rigters and Balli are not Glory material, and this will led to ONE being more watched. Luckily Verhoeven, Ben Saddik, Adegbuyi and Hari are still there.

But Rigters would be good though, if they would feed them with him. I mean you can start selling more KOs for the beginning. 2.00 meter muscular guy on the floor..

If they wanted somebody to grow up in Glory, because he reminds me of Marshall when Marshall was not ready for Glory, but still went there. I mean that"s Nidal Bchiri from the Dutch scene. But Bchiri is not ready too, just that he will be Glory material because he is a much better talent than these 2 dubious signings.
 
Glory also was not a broadcast in my country in 2020, and they used to have very good ratings even at night.

Not sure what they are doing.
 
I don't know what it was but I always found Glory kind of boring anyway tbh, maybe it's because their focus is on the heavier divisions which aren't my favourite anyway, but it always seemed like the fights went to underwhelming decisions.
 
Megalodon said:
I don't know what it was but I always found Glory kind of boring anyway tbh, maybe it's because their focus is on the heavier divisions which aren't my favourite anyway, but it always seemed like the fights went to underwhelming decisions.
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I enjoyed many of the fights, but I usually muted the audio. I found Joe's commentary to be annoying at times and the play-by-play guy (Todd Grisham I think?) had a voice that was like taking a cheese grater to my ears haha. At least for me, just that alone would ruin watching it
 
I always enjoyed the comments of Valtellini. Since he was actually a fighter, he has good knowledge of the sport and what is happening in the ring, contrary to previous commentators who were boring. It is strange that some people don`t like him. Also, he has a very good Youtube channel called Bazooka kickboxing with free kickboxing lessons. I really like the guy.
 
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