GLORY, the world’s premier kickboxing league, staged its first major combat sports event, GLORY 57, at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center on Saturday.

The highlight of the night was a five-round title contest between reigning champion Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong and Marat Grigorian.

It was a tactical battle, with the fighters carefully picking their shots. Sitthichai fought off the back foot using his signature left body kick, while Grigorian pushed the pace of the fight with his punches.

It came down to the wire, with Sitthichai taking a split decision victory on a one point margin. Four of the five judges saw the fight 48-47 for Sitthichai, with the fifth and final judge giving it 48-47 to Grigorian.

In a post fight interview Sitthichai said that despite cleaning out the 70kg division, he will stay there and has no intention of moving up a weight class to become a dual division champion. Rightfully so, the Thai is one of the smallest competitors in his roster, and can easily make 67kg. It was a wise move on behalf of Sitthichai and his management.

The fight card also included an eight-man lightweight qualification tournament. In the final bout Xu Liu defeated Zhang Wenshang by split decision.

Also on the card, Muay Thai fighter Zaza Sor. Aree returned for her second GLORY appearance. She lost a decision to the stronger and more aggressive Liu Jia. American Asa Ten-Pow also returned, taking on Chinese fighter Xie Yuhang in a three-round battle. Ten-Pow showed that he is here to stay, working hard for his split decision victory against the aggressive and durable Xie.

This was the promotion’s second event in China, the first being GLORY 46 in Guangzhou. It was also the third event as part of the “Summer of GLORY” – a five city campaign featuring events in New York, Denver, Shenzhen, Chicago and Amsterdam.

GLORY is now a major player in the international market, with media rights deals in nearly every country, but inroads into China represents a huge step forward. GLORY, formerly Glory World Series, is an international kickboxing promotion company founded in 2012. The company has its headquarters in Singapore and international offices in Denver, United States, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

(SD News)