With the historic Glory 100 event coming to a close, the qualifiers in the first phase of the Glory Last Heavyweight tournament have been decided, as former interim Glory Heavyweight champion Tariq Osaro scored two big knockouts over Asdren Gashi and Sofian Laidouni to earn his spot in the tournament.
Nico Pereira Horta would also win big, as he qualified with decision wins against Colin George and Miloš Cvjetićanin, fighting with an intelligent and reserved game plan. The giant striker in Horta would fight a disciplined fight, using pressure and good defense against the Serbian Powerhouse in Miloš and fellow giant Colin George.
Moroccan powerhouse Anis Bouzid would also move in the gigantic tournament as he would defeat the likes of Russian amateur world champion Asadulla Nasipov in a back-and-forth battle that would go to the extra round, in which Bouzid would win and then proceed to defeat former ONE kickboxing title challenger and Kunlun Fight champion, Iraj Azizpour, as his boxing would overwhelm the Iranian in the final round of his qualifying tournament.
The final qualifying mini-tournament at Glory 100 would be won by the unlikely Mory Komah, who would defeat Romanian Alin Nechita in a decision and would have a controversial war with fan favorite Azerbaijani striker Bahram Rajabzadeh in which Bahram would knee Komah while he was on the floor and nearly ignited a brawl as officials and cornermen would have to be involved before the bout resumed.
However, when the bout was restored to order, the two would continue to throw down, with Komah landing a vicious flying knee that would badly knock out Bahram. It was the best knockout of Glory 100 and one of the best knockouts of the year.
The last heavyweight standing tournament takes off at Glory 100
It was an incredibly long but high-quality card, lasting nearly 8 hours of straight kickboxing. The next stage of qualifications for the tournament will continue throughout the year, culminating in December. However, with the sheer number of participants, this tournament will quite significantly impact the development of the sport and solidify it as one of the most unique aspects of combat sports. Tournaments have been resurrected due to Glory.
