OVER 200 COUNTRIES TO TELEVISE HISTORIC
GLORY 4 TOKYO – HEAVYWEIGHT GRAND SLAM’ KICKBOXING TOURNAMENT
$600,000 IN PRIZE MONEY AT STAKE IN ONE-NIGHT, 16-MAN
SINGLE-ELIMINATION CONTEST IN TOKYO ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
Press conference photos from Ben Pontier
BEN PONTIER PHOTOGRAPHY©
TOKYO, Japan (Dec. 30, 2012) – Over 200 countries across five different continents around the globe will showcase the highly-anticipated ‘GLORY 4 Tokyo – Heavyweight Grand Slam,’ one-night, 16-man tournament at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’! s Eve, featuring an unprecedented assembly of world-class kickboxing superstars that collectively boast over 400 professional career KO victories.
CBS Sports Network (U.S) , The Fight Network (Canada), SkyPerfect (Japan) , NicoNico (Japan), Premier Sports (U.K.) Sony Six (India), Setanta Africa (Africa), Canal+ (France), BandSports (Brazil), SkyMEX (Mexico and Central America) and EuroSport (Europe) are amongst the television networks that have signed on to showcase the historic event that will award a total of $600,000 in prize money to its tournament competitors.
“We are thrilled to be able to deliver this monumental night of GLORY championship kickboxing to millions of fight fans all over the world, so that they can be a part of the single biggest event in the history of ! our great sport,” said GLORY CEO Marcus Luer. “Any of the 16 tournament fighters could headline an event anywhere in the world and, to be able to have them all battling it out in one tournament is truly an amazing thing that every fight fan should have the opportunity to witness.”
Additional TV partners for the GLORY 4 Tokyo – Heavyweight Grand Slam event include Russia 2 (Russia), Marca TV (Spain), Sport TV (Portugal), Combat Channel (Russia and CIS territories), Ma Chaine Sport (Israel, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Sub Saharan Africa), PCCW (Hong Kong), Veronica SBS (Netherlands), Orange Sport (Poland) , Sky NZ (New Zealand), Fight Channel (Croatia), ProTV Sport (Romania), Sport1 (Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hang Meas TV (Cambodia), SportCast (Taiwan! ), Astro (Malaysia and Brunei) and SkyNet (Myanmar).
In the First 16, or opening round of the tournament, world No. 1 ranked heavyweight and No. 1 tournament seed Semmy Schilt “SEM” (39-6, 18 KOs), an enormous, 2.12 meters/6-foot-11 Karate black belt who won the GLORY heavyweight title earlier this year, will face world Muay Thai champion Brice Guidon (28-7, 4 KOs) of France.
No. 2 seed, hard-hitting Gokhan Saki “THE REBEL” (77-15, 53 KOs) of The Netherlands will square off with power puncher Raomoru of Japan.
No. 3 seed Daniel Ghita “THE SAVAGE SAMURAI” (44-7, 34 KOs) of Romania will battle Jhonata Diniz (7-2) of Brazil.
No. 4 seed, the dynamic, high-flying Remy Bonjasky “THE FLYING GENTLEMAN“ (77-14, 40 KOs) of The Netherlands will collide with Muay Thai technician Filip Verlinden (38-6, 17 KOs) ! of Belgium.
No. 5 seed, decorated, all-time sensation Peter Aerts “THE DUTCH LUMBERJACK” (104-30-1, 78 KOs) of The Netherlands will be tasked with fighting his friend and training partner Mourad Bouzidi (73-19, 33 KOs).
No. 6 seed Errol Zimmerman “THE BONECRUSHER” (76-16-1, 41 KOs) of Suriname will take on 22-year-old phenom Jamal Ben Saddik (22-0, 19 KOs) of Morocco.
No. 7 seed Anderson Silva “BRADDOCK” (32-8-1, 22 KOs), the top heavyweight kickboxer out of Brazil, will meet surging force Igor Jurkovic (44-5, 29 KOs) of Croatia.
No. 8 seed and former paratrooper Sergei Kharitonov (22-7, 12 KOs) of Russia will lock up with 23-year-old rising star Rico Verhoeven (37-6-1, 8 KOs) of The Netherlands.
The draw to determine the First 16 matchups was held on Nov. 20. GLORY tournaments use a seeding system similar to that used in tennis and other tournament format! sports.
To ensure that tournament fighters are not exposed to unnecessary risk of injury, a ‘Best of Three’ rule mandates that any fighter who wins the first two rounds of a First 16, Quarterfinal or Semifinal bout is declared the winner of the bout and advances to the next stage of the tournament.
About DREAM:
Japan’s premier MMA organisation, DREAM has staged 23 top-class events in the course of its four-year history. Fighters that have stepped into the DREAM ring include Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Melvin Manhoef, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Eddie Alvarez, Todd Duffee, Gesias Calvancante, Marius Zaromskis.
About GLORY:
The GLORY World Series (www.gloryworldseries.com) is the world’s premier martial arts stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe and offering up to $1,000,000 in prize money to the winners of 16-man ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments, which are open to only the best fighters in each weight class. The fight series also includes 8-man ‘Slam’ tournaments and events with traditional, single bouts.
With television deals spanning every continent, online live video streaming of all shows and the world’s largest online martial arts library, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely distributed sporting organizations. Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in the UK, Holland, Tokyo, Malaysia, Singapore and soon in the USA. Its personnel include an unprecedented mix of accomplished entrepreneurs and senior level executives from the diverse worlds of finance, sports marketing, television and martial arts fighting.
FIGHTER LEGION® is on
Source:
Contact Glory World Series
Press relations officer: Contact: Mike Afromowitz
Website: Glory World Series / No:37