There's no fight in GLORY for either Antonio Plazibat or Jamal Ben Saddik until they complete the bout against each other, according to Scott Rudmann. The vice-chairman of the world leading kickboxing promotion took to Twitter on Saturday evening with this statement. On many levels this is controversial, as it's just the latest episode in a long running saga about which contender is most deserving of challenging heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven for the belt.
Plazibat and Ben Saddik, who both train at Mike's Gym under legendary trainer Mike Passenier, are currently ranked the first and second contenders according to GLORY's own rankings. It's however a public secret that Alistair Overeem or Badr Hari are actually in leading positions for the opportunity to challenge Verhoeven, even though K-1 veteran Badr hasn't won a fight since he signed with GLORY back in 2016, while former UFC-fighter Overeem still has to fight his first match in GLORY at COLLISSION 4, which will take place on the 8th of October.
Earlier this month, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad broke the news that Plazibat and Ben Saddik were not going to fight each other at COLLISSION 4, the reasons for this were explained in a different light by GLORY and the trainer of both fighters, Mike Passenier. In general it's not a rare occurrence to see fighters of the same gym fight each other, like with Kamaru Usman vs Gilbert Burns from Kill Cliff FC (formerly Sanford MMA) at UFC, or Rico Verhoeven versus Benjamin Adegbuyi, who both train under Dennis Krauweel. These are special fights that can’t be avoided if either training buddy wishes to make his title aspirations become true, plus it’s usually conducted with a lot of respect between the fighters.
In July this year, Warrior Code interviewed Plazibat, in which he explained his views on his title chances. In the same article, we've explored in depth the situation we're now currently in. With regards to today’s news, it’ll be interesting to see how the kickboxing world will respond to Rudmann’s statement, especially Plazibat and Ben Saddik themselves.
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