GLORY 91 successfully went down yesterday at the Dome De Paris in Paris, France. An eventful night for the promotion, delivering big knockouts and upsets, but also some unfortunate injuries. Endy Semeleer was looking to cement his legacy as the new Welterweight king with another dominant performance but was upset by the unorthodox Chico Kwasi, who claimed the title with a career-defining stoppage.
WELTERWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT
Mike's Gym's Chico Kwasi shockingly upset the five-years-unbeaten champion Endy Semeleer, handing him his second career loss and first stoppage loss. Semeleer had had a strong start to the fight, but Kwasi managed to weather the storm. Early in the second round, Kwasi knocked down Semeleer with an awkward spinning back fist off of a missed push kick, then gave Semeleer a standing count after landing a hard right cross followed by a flurry of strikes, and finally ending the fight with a 1-2 into head kick combo.
It has been an eventful three weeks for the Welterweight division as, last month, in ONE Championship, previously 5-year-unbeaten champion Regian Eersel also lost his title after being knocked down by French savateur Alexis Nicolas on his way to a decision victory.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT QUALIFIERS
In the co-main event, top Light Heavyweight contender Bahram Rajabzadeh knocked out the hometown fighter Kevin Oumar in the third to round off a dominant performance. Notably, during the post-fight interview, Rajazabdeh took Joseph Valtellini's microphone, turned towards GLORY matchmaker Robbie Timmers, and demanded a spot in the upcoming Light heavyweight tournament in June, before inexplicably screaming in Timmers's face twice. Several minutes after his fight, GLORY posted on social media that Rajabzadeh had earned himself a spot in the tournament.
Several fights before, 28-year-old French contender Pascal Touré was also able to qualify for the Light Heavyweight tournament after winning a close clinch-filled fight against Mohamed Amine.
FORMER MUAY THAI STARS SHINE
Starting off the main card with one of the most decorated European Muay Thai fighters of the past two decades, 35-year-old Bobo Sacko made his GLORY debut against veteran Featherweight contender David Mejia. Sacko had only fought twice in the past four years but has an elite record, having beaten names such as Liam Harrison, Rafi Bohic, Chadd Collins, Petchboonchu, and Singmanee. Despite not being known for his knockout power, Sacko sparked Mejia 55 seconds into the fight with a right hook, leaving Mejia out cold on the canvas.
An all-time great of Muay Thai above 67 KG, Youssef Boughanem also made his GLORY debut against Ukrainian journeyman Stanislav Kazantsev. The fight ended anticlimactically in the second round as Kazantsev was tripped by Boughanem and fell awkwardly onto his shoulder, injuring it.
GLORY 91 RESULTS
Chico Kwasi def. (c) Endy Semeleer - TKO at 2:22 of R2
Bahram Rajabzadeh def. Kevin Oumar - KO at 0:35 of R3
Youssef Boughanem def. Stanislav Kazantsev - TKO at 2:58 of R2
Sofian Laidouni def. Vladimir Tok - TKO at 0:42 of R1
Pascal Touré def. Mohamed Amine - Split Decision
Soufian Abdelkhalek def. Cyril Benzaquen - Unanimous Decision
Bobo Sacko def. David Mejia - KO at 0:55 of R1
Robin Ciric def. Diaguely Camara - Unanimous Decision
Mehdi Ait Hadj def. Ismail Ouzgni - Split Decision
Ramy Degnir def. Florian Kröger - Unanimous Decision
