13 Fighters Confirmed for Glory Grand Prix Kickboxing Tournament in Japan

Just over a month after Glory World Series merged with competitor It’s Showtime, the kickboxing promotion has now announced a 16-man heavyweight tournament headed to Japan this December.

The Glory Grand Slam will feature an all heavyweight, one-night tournament with some of kickboxing’s top stars set to compete on the card.

“Glory is the premier league of kickboxing and the tournaments are open only to those fighters who have proved themselves to be worthy,” explained Cor Hemmers, kickboxing icon and Glory ambassador.

“The fighters we have invited to the Grand Slam are either household names in the sport already or are the future champions. They represent more than 10 nations spanning 4 continents. The fights will be spectacular and the tournament will be dramatic. The winner will be the unquestioned king of the heavyweight division.”

The tournament has secured 13 of the possible 16 slots with the following fighters being locked down for the one-night show: Semmy Schilt, Remy Bonjasky, Peter Aerts, Jerome LeBanner, Errol Zimmerman, Gokhan Saki, Sergei Kharitonov, Filip Verlinden, Ismael Londt, Braddock Silva, Brice Guidon, Jamal Ben Saddik and Igor Jurkovic.

With the event planned for Tokyo, several Japanese fighters are expected to appear on the card as well with more announcements as well as a date and venue to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

The rules for the one-night 16 man tournament will also differ from other kickboxing events.

The Grand Slam event will debut a new tournament format devised by Hemmers. The sixteen fighters will battle it out over four stages in one night to determine an overall winner.

In order to make this possible, three of the stages will feature shorter rounds (two minutes instead of three) and there will be a ‘sudden death’ rule in the earlier stages which means a fight will be stopped before the third round commences if one of the fighters has been judged to win the preceding two rounds (Best of three format).

More details about the tournament and the format will be released by Glory World Series as they become available.