At the end of 2024, Glory kickboxing would cross-promote top Japanese kickboxing promotion RISE kickboxing in an event where their top featherweights would face off in a one-night, three-round single elimination tournament. That would feature many top names such as Abraham Vidales, Miguel Trindade, and Chad Collins.
The best fight of the night, however, would belong to Berjan Peposhi and Lee Sung-hyun in what was one of the greatest fights of the year across all combat sports.
The Albanian and the South Korean would throw down in what was a brutal back-and-forth battle, in which the momentum would shift as the fighters brawled for technically three rounds, inflicting significant damage on one another. The winner would have to fight again after this bout.
With Peposhi seemingly in the lead in the hectic battle, Hyun would land a brutal knee to the face of Peposhi, dropping him to a knee, which would secure the victory for Hyun on the scorecards. Despite Hyun losing to Petpanomrung, he was the Glory Featherweight champion and the man who won the Glory X RISE featherweight tournament on that day. This is still a fight for the ages.
Berjan Peposhi and Lee Sung-hyun’s war is a symptom of something much greater.
With the incredible talent on Glory and RISE’s roster, it’s unbelievable that they’ve decided to revive kickboxing in one of its most significant and exciting traditions. Grand Prix style tournaments, not only that, but also expanding on this event, such as the massive Last Heavyweight standing tournament currently still running, and the upcoming Last Featherweight Standing tournament, which, unlike the previous tournament, will be much larger and take place across multiple events.
These tournaments and their incredible fighters are what make kickboxing such a unique combat sport. So much so that the PFL is even considering shifting from its original season structure to a single-elimination tournament format. Which goes to show how great kickboxing was in its prime and what their athletes have to offer,.
