Rico Verhoeven
“I said I was going to do it and I did it,” said an emotional Verhoeven as he accepted the tournament winner’s belt and the grand prize of $250,000.
“I have been dreaming of this since I was six years old and I always believed it would come true. I told myself every day since I was six years old that I would be a champion and today it came true. I always believed in myself.”
“I did it for my daughter. She’s nearly three years old so she understands some things which are said to her. I promised her I was going to come back with the title and the prize money,” said Verhoeven afterwards.
“I was thinking about that promise; that’s what kept me going in the final minutes and gave me the power to win the tournament.”
“I’m really happy we were able to have such exciting fights for the SPIKE TV debut. I think we showed all the US fight fans what kickboxing is all about. This is our time now. GLORY is here to stay.”
Errol Zimmerman
“It was the SPIKE TV debut for GLORY and I wanted to put on a show for the fans with a big knockout. I think me and Gerges had one of the best fights of the night. I really wanted to take him out. This was a great show, all the fights were really good. This is what kickboxing is about. America, we are coming. Be ready.”
Joseph Valtellini
“Ghajii was really tough. He’s had over 100 fights and you could feel that in his quality and the way he responded to things. I hit him with some really hard shots, some big head kicks and I was like damn, how are you still standing up? It was one of the toughest fights of my career without a doubt.”
“I move to number two in the rankings now and I’ve booked my spot in the welterweight tournament taking place in Tokyo this November. I can’t wait for that. I am coming for that number one spot that Nieky Holzken is in right now. I am going to be number one. I’ve always said it and now I am going to do it.”
“My father was in the audience tonight, that was very special for me. My sister came down from Toronto and I had a lot of friends. I have never in my life seen my father cry until tonight. He is usually hard as a rock but tonight he was crying his eyes out after I won.”
“And this was the first time my mom watched me fight live on TV. Usually she will only watch the fight on tape after she knows I won. Tonight she watched it live; she called me afterwards and said ‘every time you got hit, I felt it.’ But she’s very proud. They all are.”
Tyrone Spong
“Everything went according to plan. I am very happy with the outcome; it all went exactly as planned. There was a lot of talk about the rematch and settling scores but there was no pressure for me. There is some bad blood but that’s in the past now after this fight.”
“Pressure doesn’t affect me. I have been fighting main events since I was 18. I have been carrying events since I was 18. It’s normal for me now.”
“I think I played my part tonight for SPIKE and for the organization and for the sport. More and more I am becoming the face of GLORY and I deliver. I put in a lot of hard work to live up to this role as an ambassador for the sport and the organization here in the United States. I will keep working hard and I will continue to deliver.”
“I hit him on the body first and I saw that my power affected him. From then it was just a question of time.”
