GLORY 15 ISTANBUL, which aired on SPIKE TV from Ülker Sports Arena in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, April 12th.
GLORY World Light-Heavyweight Champion
“It was a shame what happened. It would have been nicer for the fight to go on longer and I would have preferred to have finished it with a knockout or something. You never want a fight to end like that. At the same time, it did mean that the fight was finished, so I don’t feel like I got lucky or anything. Tyrone kicked and I blocked it perfectly and you saw the result. This can happen with leg-kicks and correct blocking.”
“I told Tyrone how much I respect him and how I am sorry how the fight ended and that he got injured that way. Tyrone is a real warrior and I have a lot of respect for him, so of course when he is back I think he will be challenging to be champion again.”
“To walk out into a full arena of my countrymen with the flag wrapped around me and everybody going crazy… I cannot describe it. There are no words to describe such a feeling. It is like the biggest high that you ever felt. It is unbelievable, a highlight of your whole life.”
“Now I am champion I will fight anybody who GLORY puts in front of me. For me, it makes no difference. I am number one now and I will defend that against anybody who wants to try and take it from me.”
“I read a lot of things about how much pressure I was under but to tell you the truth the only real pressure I felt was when I had a back injury in the middle of camp. I couldn’t train for three weeks and according to the doctors, when they saw the MRI, I should not fight at all. But I came through it and tonight I won the tournament and became champion. The media and stuff is pressure, but it is not something I cannot handle.”
“First thing I am going to do? This diet down to light-heavyweight was so hard; I had to be so careful. I think I am going to get McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC — all on one plate. Ha!”
Cor Hemmers
GLORY Head of Talent Operations
“Our thoughts are with Tyrone and we wish him a speedy recovery. At this stage, we don’t know exactly what the damage to his leg is. We had ambulances on standby and Tyrone was taken to one immediately from the ring, and from there to the hospital. We are waiting for updates from the hospital.”
“It may be that some people say that Saki won this fight by some sort of luck or fluke. But actually, you must realize that this kind of defense (the shin block) is the textbook defense from Muay Thai and kickboxing. If your opponent throws a kick and you defend perfectly, you will hurt him. It is designed to hurt him so he does not throw that kick any more. Of course, it is rare for a fighter to sustain a serious injury when his opponent blocks him like so, but it does happen – look at Anderson Silva in the UFC recently, for example. It is rare but it is not completely unexpected – this is exactly what such defense is designed to do.”
“We have some people in mind for Saki’s first title defense, but first I think we must let him enjoy the belt for a little while. He beat two world-class opponents in one night to become champion and that is a very special thing. I am sure he is willing to face anybody who is offered to him, so when we have opponents in mind, we will contact him to arrange his next match.”
“Daniel Ghita is number one in the heavyweight division, so of course he will be fighting for the heavyweight title when that belt is placed on the line. We don’t have a match set yet, but there is one opponent who makes very good sense for it. We will announce some news shortly via GloryWorldSeries.com.”
Robin van Roosmalen (32-6-0, 19 KO)
GLORY #2 Ranked Lightweight
“I think the result was OK. It was a close fight and I am happy with my performance; that’s the important thing. I had identified speed as an area I wanted to work on and I am happy with my speed in this fight.”
“Am I still in the mix? Well, I have been top three in the division the whole time, so even coming off losses, I think I am still one of the top contenders. I never thought otherwise of myself. So we will see what happens now, but if they want to offer me a title fight [against Davit Kiria], I am ready for that.”
