By Jody Kohn
GLORY made its long awaited Las Vegas debut on Friday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The main event saw Nieky Holzken capture the welterweight title, a belt that many believed he had already earned, if in name only. Raymond Daniels lost to Holzken when they first met, and this time he seemed to start out better, but he slowed down as the fight went on, and in the third Hozken finally caught up to him, cutting his eyelid badly, forcing the fight to be halted.
It remains to be seen what lays ahead for the talented Holzken. He says he wants to fight Paul Daley at the upcoming combined GLORY/Bellator card. But beyond that, he seems to be interested in pursuing a boxing career. If he is going to do so, it seems like now would be the time to do it as he is now in his 30’s, and his stock as a name in kickboxing is unlikely to get higher.
In the middleweight tournament, Dustin Jacoby captured consecutive victories over Ariel Sepulveda and Casey Greene. Coming to GLORY from MMA, Jacoby has not been given an easy path upon his arrival. However, these wins should give him confidence going forward that he has what it takes to hang with the elite fighters in the sport.
In the co-main, Xavier Vigney continued his climb to stardom with a split decision victory over Daniel Sam. It was not a spectacular performance by Vigney, but he deserved better than the split decision. It was difficult to see how a judge could have awarded two rounds to Sam.
GLORY 23 RESULTS:
Welterweight Title: Nieky Holzken def. Raymond Daniels via KO (cut) Round 3 1:36
Middleweight Finals: Dustin Jacoby def. Casey Greene via KO Round 2 1:19
Xavier Vigney def. Daniel Sam via Split Dec (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Semifinal: Casey Greene def. Quinton O’Brien via Un Dec (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Semifinal: Dustin Jacoby def. Ariel Sepulveda via KO Round 1 2:59
GLORY SUPERFIGHT SERIES RESULTS:
Jamal Ben Saddik def. Anderson Silva via KO Round 3 2:55
Matt Baker def. Edward Hyman via Un. Dec (30-27 x 3)
Chad Sugden def. Murthel Groenhart via Split Dec (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Anvar Boynazarov def. Giga Chikadze via Split Dec (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
