For GLORY, 2024 was a year of solidifying legacies and breaking narratives. The promotion delivered electrifying events, signed top fighters and promising prospects, and continued pushing the sport forward.
Many fighters further enforced their position as the division's top dog, such as Rico Verhoeven winning the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix in spectacular comeback fashion, and Donovan Wisse defending his title twice with his usual precision. On the other hand, Miguel Trindade shook up the entire featherweight division by knocking top contender Chadd Collins not once but twice in the first round along with handing Kento Haraguchi his first-ever KO loss. Ultimately Petpanomrung Kiatmuu9 retook his throne by defeating Trinidade in the final, but Trinidade still made his presence known. Within a similar realm, we also saw the shaky hype train that was Bahram Rajabzadeh who had established himself as a breakout fighter bleeding with potential coming into 2024 but ultimately failing to deliver in both his Grand Prix performances.
Most of these stories were told in the whopping three divisional grand prix tournament events they held this year which speaks volumes to the quality of their divisions and fighters. Building on the excitement of the three divisions already featured in their grand prixs, GLORY’s welterweight division was shaken up as 70 kg champion Tyjani Beztati moved up and fought reigning champion Chico Kwasi to a draw.
Another positive to mention is GLORY's impressive signings this year, including established fighters like Arian Sadikovic and Rade Opacic, along with rising talent such as André Santos. With many ONE heavyweight kickboxers inactive lately, Opacic's move could signal exciting things to come in the future.
Aside from their divisions and fighters, their ticket sales and event performance were nothing to overlook as well. COLLISION 7, which headlined the heavyweight title fight between Rico Verhoeven and Levi Rigters at the GelreDome football stadium, clocked in as the second biggest event in GLORY history just behind COLLISION 2 in 2019. Adding on to their success this year are their sold out shows in Belgium and Croatia.
With almost all of their divisions on the rise and filled with stars and dark horses alike, their global presence growing, and huge momentum coming out of this year, it is hard to imagine a dull 2025 for GLORY.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
EXTREME FIGHT GAME RISE
In addition to their successful collaboration with GLORY, RISE had a promising year. While it is very hard to follow up their wildly successful 2023, they kept their momentum going by keeping their exciting 53kg and 55kg divisions active, and building up other fighters such as Ryujin Nasukawa.
Ryujin, brother of legendary Tenshin Nasukawa, had a particularly good 2024 winning 5 bouts and 3 of them by KO. He seems to be developing very well and looks to only be getting better going into 2025. On the other hand, Kazuki Osaki fought and won 3 times while Toki Tamaru and Shiro met for the first time this year. Their first meeting was unfortunately halted in a no contest due to a headbutt, but Shiro was ultimately victorious in their rematch via unanimous decision. This static trio has been one of RISE’s big draws since 2023, and will only be getting more exciting with RISE’s recent announcement to restart collaboration with K-1.
If RISE can continue to capitalize off of their partnership with GLORY, and respark the rivalries from their previous collaborations with K-1, 2025 will be looking very promising.
