Marc de Bonte (167 lb / 75.8 kg) vs. Karapet Karapetyan (168 lb / 76.2 kg)
Pat Barry (231 lb / 104.8 kg) vs. Zack Mwekassa (214 lb / 97.1 kg)
Sergey Kharitonov (248 lb / 112.5 kg) vs. Anderson Silva (247 lb / 112.0 kg)
Ben Edwards (268 lb / 121.6 kg) vs. Errol Zimmerman (248 lb / 112.5 kg)
Daniel Sam (274 lb / 124.3 kg) vs. Benjamin Adegbuyi (264 lb / 119.7 kg)
Robert Thomas (185 lb / 83.9 kg) vs. Artem Levin (185 lb / 83.9 kg)
Nicolas Wamba (230 lb / 104.3 kg) vs. Jamal Ben Saddik (275 lb / 124.7 kg)
Artem Vakhitov (206 lb / 93.4 kg) vs. Igor Jurkovic (207 lb / 93.9 kg)
Raymond Daniels (169 lb / 76.7 kg) vs. Francois Ambang (169 lb / 76.7 kg)
Josh Jauncey (150 lb / 68.0 kg) vs. Warren Stevelmans (153 lb / 69.4 kg)
GLORY 16 DENVER & DENVER SUPERFIGHT SERIES
WEIGH-IN PHOTOGRAPHS
GLORY 16 PRE-FIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE FLASH QUOTES
Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva
“This is a very important tournament for me and I have trained very hard, prepared really well. I trained at the Team Nogueira center in Rio de Janeiro, but for this one I was sparring only with big heavyweight strikers, so mainly Ewerton Teixeira and Pedro Rizzo. I didn’t spar with the Nogueira brothers.”
Sergey Kharitonov
“To prepare for the altitude in Denver, we went up to the mountains in Russia and did some training up there. I feel good. I am fit and ready to fight. I’ve been working all aspects of my kickboxing game, a lot of kicks in training as always. Though if I am honest, yes, I do prefer to use my hands and if I get the knockout, it will probably be from my hands.”
Errol Zimmerman
“I have the most experience in this tournament and I think I am also the most complete fighter, so I would say to the other guys, watch out.”
“The trophy you get if you win this tournament is a replica of the one that was awarded to [legendary Dutch fighter]Ramon Dekkers in Thailand twenty years ago. My coach was Ramon’s brother, so it’s very important to me that I win this trophy and bring it home to our gym where it belongs.”
Ben Edwards
“Errol has said he’s out for revenge against me because I knocked out his friend and teammate Jamal Ben Saddik [at GLORY 12 NEW YORK]and that’s fair enough. If he had knocked a friend of mine out, I would want to beat him up too. But we will see what happens on the night.”
“I didn’t come out to Denver early. At home in Australia, I’m like 2,500 ft. above sea level anyway. I think Denver is about 5,000 ft., so it’s not a huge difference really. I think I will be fine with the altitude.”
Pat Barry
On returning to kickboxing
“It’s like riding a bike. If you don’t ride a bike for a long time, it doesn’t take you long to figure out how you did it. I kickboxed first. Since birth, I wanted to be Tong Po. I stepped away for a few years and transitioned over to MMA. When I came back to kickboxing, I realized I had to make changes to my stance, my punches, my kicking, the entire mentality. It took a little while; not very long. It was rusty in the beginning, but it all came rushing back to me like I had kickboxing downloaded into me like The Matrix.”
On GLORY
“It is 100 percent strikes. There is no stalling and the percentage of knockouts in these fights is something ridiculous. The fights get finished. How often do they go the distance? Not very. It’s 100 percent striking, punching, kicking, knees, guys falling down. Find one person who doesn’t find that attractive to watch. Kickboxing is where it’s at right now.”
On the tournament format
“Tournaments are insane. You have to fight, win, go in the back and wait for forty minutes. The adrenaline dump that comes with that is insane. I’ve fought in tournaments where I’ve had a fight, gone in the back, and fallen asleep. Then they’re waking me up because it’s time for my next fight. To have an adrenaline dump that big, then get yourself up and do it again, you have to be a very particular individual to do that. Very highly motivated, self-motivated. You need to be willing to go out there and put it on the line and swing for the fences. This is where it’s at.”
Zack Mwekassa
“Yeah, maybe people are underestimating me, but Pat Barry has made a big name for himself and I think it is normal that they are giving him the exposure he is getting right now. Exposure is not what I am fighting for. This is a great opportunity for me and Saturday night is going to be a great night.”
Marc De Bonte
“I wasn’t able to fight in the tournament because I was injured, but GLORY promised me a title fight when I was ranked #2, so now here I am. At the moment, I am sitting at #6 in the division, but that’s only because I haven’t been active while the other guys have. It makes me a bit annoyed actually. I see fighters above me that I know I can beat.”
“Nieky Holzken isn’t the absolute #1. He hasn’t fought me yet. He’s actually declined to fight me a couple of times, even before GLORY. Maybe it’s not Holzken; it might be his management. I have beaten a lot of opponents that he has beaten. I deliberately challenged them all so that I got in position to challenge him.”
“But the fight never happened, and so I don’t think he can be called the real #1 right now until he fights me. [And the #2 ranked ‘Bazooka’ Joe] Valtellini is good but inexperienced. And I don’t think he’s really fought any top guys.”
Karapet Karapetyan
On De Bonte
“I think he is unpredictable. You must be aware all the time. That makes him dangerous. He has good punches and kicks and a good knee strike. He is a complete fighter.”
“First I must have this fight with De Bonte and we will see how it goes. If I win, I would like to get a rematch with Nieky Holzken. I lost the last fight because I had too much emotion. It was a big tournament and I felt the pressure. I want a rematch to show that I can beat him.
“I would also like to fight Joe Valtellini. We have been supposed to fight several times but it keeps having to be cancelled for injuries and things. We have been waiting a long time to fight so it needs to happen soon.”
