Spong wins in final 8

 

In what was a matchup between the best fighters at Light Heavyweight under the GLORY banner we saw Tyrone Spong square off against Danyo Ilunga in the Light Heavyweight Slam Finals. Both men were worn down from fighting twice earlier in the night, with Ilunga fighting two harder bouts for sure. Both men were primed and ready for action when Spong landed a barrage of strikes that Ilunga was covering up.

In what was a rather confusing turn of events, Ilunga, who was still standing, still covering up and aware of what was happening, was pushed aside by the ref who called the bout in what was one of the worst stoppages that we\’ve seen in a very, very long time. It makes some of the Joop Ubeda stoppages of the last few years look competent. We\’ll hopefully have footage of the stoppage in a bit up on the site, but if you somehow missed it, trust us, Spong was looking good, but Ilunga was not down and out by any stretch of the imagination.

Congratulations go out to Tyrone Spong, though, as he won the GLORY Light Heavyweight Slam in New York, which is a feather in his cap no matter what.If there is one reason why I will never leave the kickboxing sport, it is because the product rarely fails to deliver. This was accomplished once again in New York, as the best kickboxing promotion in the world made its way to the States for the first time. Glory 9 featured a 8-man Light Heavyweight tournament, bringing in a lot of the best 209 pound (95kgs) kick boxers from around the world. They also filled the super fights with top ten heavyweight competitors and a chance to look at several of the Road to Glory products on the biggest stage. The main Glory card used a representative from each US Road to Glory tournament, with the exception of the recent Super Heavyweight tournament done a week earlier.

As I mentioned in the opener, and despite the black eye left by the Ref decision in the last bout of the night, the product delivered. A fighter announced himself to the world, as Wayne Barrett, 1-0 into his pro career, took out middleweight Road to Glory winner Mike Lemaire. Wayne introduced an awkward style and exceptional athleticism, making himself one to watch moving forward. We got confirmation; Joseph Valtellini performing as advertised with his dominate low kick win, Rico Verhoeven overcoming a mental lapse to out-kickbox Errol Zimmerman, and Danya Illunga showing why he was so hittable, yet incredible in his run to the top of 95kgs. The stars performed, Daniel Ghita delivering a multi shot combo KO, just a few months removed from being on the other end of one. His win showed the crowd just what an elite top 3 fighter in the heavyweight class looks like. Finally, they had their moment, as tournament favorite and kickboxing super star Tyrone Spong was dropped ten second into the bout as a right hand caught him while he was firing an inside low kick. After seeing several “WTF” tweets dominate my twitter wall, Spong got up, measured with his left while loading up his right hand, then sent a bomb that dropped opponent Michael Dutt. Adding to the legend of the moment, Dutt got up, beating the count, but then feeling the concussion roll over him, returned to the mat. You couldn\’t have scripted a better opening moment.

So night complete, how does Glory move forward? As the event ended, a flood of ideas went through my head. Most of those thoughts were about the bad stoppage at the end of the final bought, but the other ones were solid to the subject of moving forward.