

Photo via GLORY



This weekend Glory hosts a pay-per-view kickboxing event called Last Man Standing which has one of the finest line ups which they have produced yet.

The main event of the pay-per-view pits heavyweight #1 and #2 Daniel Ghita and Ricco Verhoeven against each other, and the welterweight title is on the line in a bout between Bazooka Joe Valtelleni and Marc De Bonte.

The highlight of the event though, is the 8-man elimination tournament in the middleweight division. Some of the finest fighters in the world take part in a one night, 7 fight tournament and anything can happen.

The tournament system is built for upsets, surprises and designed to test the endurance of all the participants. Let's take a little look at the participants ahead of Glory: Last Man Standing.

Filip Verlinden and Melvin Manhoef

In the first round of the tournament, Verlinden, the Belgian Bull, meets the well known knockout artist, Merciless Melvin Manhoef.

The Melvinous One has been rather inactive in the kickboxing world of late, taking just one fight in 2013, losing a decision to Zabit Samedov—and hasn't picked up a kickboxing win since 2009. Manhoef took a serious run at an MMA career for the last few years, but really wasn't able to do much with his crippling lack of a grappling game.

What will never leave Melvin Manhoef, however, is his puncher's chance. A puncher's chance is over-rated in most match ups... but Manhoef is arguably one of the hardest punchers in the world, at any weight, in any sport. He knocked out Mark Hunt in one punch—a feat which has never been replicated.

What do you need to know about Manhoef? Overhand, left hook, low kick. And he's damn fast with it. His now infamous knockout of Ruslan Karaev is a perfect example of this combination in action.

He's also excellent at throwing a powerful round kick to the arm, followed by a punch from the same side as he is recovering the leg. He's caught a good few guys in this in kickboxing and MMA, but Kazuo Takahashi has to be the most memorable.

Filip Verlinden, meanwhile, is a solid all-round kickboxer. He lacks the finishing rate of Manhoef , but he is a crisp boxer. What Verlinden excels at it is using his height. Both of these men have fought heavyweights, and this tournament is two weightclasses lower. Verlinden will likely have the reach or at least the height on all of his opponents and that really suits him. What Verlinden does well is to let his opponent's attacks fall just short and then catch them with a good jab and a follow up.



Steps back, lets the opponent fall short, and nails him with the jab.

And, as you want to see in every kickboxer who is fighting tall, Verlinden throws combinations into knee strikes beautifully.

His body work is exceptional when he remembers to do it. Against Fabiano Cyclone, after a round of punching the guard, Verlinden started connecting body kicks and eventually put the Brazilian down with one.

So what are Manhoef's chances against the fresher, more active fighter? Well, when you consider the problems Verlinden had against Saulo Caliari when the latter got in his face and threw with volume, Manhoef's chances exponentially improve as long as he can move forward and avoid sitting on the end of that jab!



A nice jab, but a close right overhand follows it back. This is Manhoef's bread and butter.

Artem Levin versus Alex Pereira

If you like a kickboxer who can throw his hands, this is the match for you. Levin can box the ears off the best of them in a kickboxing ring, and Pereira, coming from a boxing background, has added tasty spinning kicks to his arsenal and always excites.

Pereira excels both on the end of his jab, which he will go into a bladed stance to land—lining his lead shoulder up with the opponent's jaw and dropping his rear shoulder back—but has also had success in close. Pereira burst onto the Glory stage with a knockout of Dustin Jacoby and has continued winning from there.

Against Jacoby, Pereira's success came as he initiated an exchange, covered up, and found the mark with a tight left hook. The kind of left hook you will see on a professional boxer. They say that the hook is a counter, and to only resort to hooking when the opponent isn't looking, and Pereira did just that.

One obvious weakness in Pereira's game is that same boxer's jab. Rather than jabbing straight out of a more squared kickboxing stance, Pereira will narrow his stance to create a line straight to his opponent. The result is a more accurate, hammering jab, but an exposed lead leg. He has had considerable trouble with eating low kicks after he has landed his jab.

Artem Levin, meanwhile, has rapidly become one of my favourite kickboxers. I made a video about one of Levin's matches and in just that match plenty of his guile and trickery is on display. Levin is simply marvellous to watch between his suppression of his opponent's offence, and his creativity in his own attacks. Levin, to me, is worth the price of admission simply for the possibility of learning some new combination, counter or pattern.

If anyone will punish a fighter for playing silly beggars, it's Pereira, who can blast through the smallest openings. This has technical performance or knockout of the night written all over it as Levin will try to deny Pereira the chance to land a headache maker.

Wayne Barrett versus Bogdan Stoica

Wayne Barrett is all the rage at the moment. With just four professional fights under his belt, Barrett has finished three of his opponents and took a decision over the previous Glory tournament champion, Joe Schilling at Glory 12. Barrett is a heavy puncher who throws awkward, deceiving bombs. Barrett will swing with almost straight arms but put enough bend in his arm and curve in his punch to circumvent the opponent's guard. It's similar to watching a young Igor Vovchanchyn in action.

Barrett's finest moments so far came in his bout with Schilling. Note this inside slip to huge right swing. These were the kinds of punches which were finding their way around Schilling's guard all night.

Bogdan Stoica has been around a while, but this will be his debut in Glory. He is well known for his unique shorts with an extra slit in them to enable him to throw axe kicks and high kicks more freely. What I have been more impressed with while watching him, however, is his tendency to sit back, let his opponent come to him, then counter and attempt to flurry on them.

Barrett is still inexperienced professionally, and while laser accurate, his wide punches expose him to returns. His insistence on swinging when in close can expose him to an easy double collar tie and swift knee as he found against Schilling. Stoica is pretty good at that and will be more than happy to oblige given the chance.



Textbook knee.

Joe Schilling versus Simon Marcus

Schilling, the previous Glory middleweight tournament winner, is an interesting and awkward fighter. His reliance on straight pushing and snapping kicks allows him to really trouble kickers. The great Kaoklai Kaennorsing found it hard to get going against Schilling and wound up getting finished by the American, a large feather in Schilling's cap, though Kaoklai was long past his best.

Schilling's best known win in Glory is his controversial win over Artem Levin. After losing the first round, Schilling was able to knock Levin down with a superman punch in the second round, and land a brutal knee to the jaw on the way down. Levin won the third round which caused the scorecards to come out as a draw.

In the sudden victory round, Schilling was outstruck again, but when Levin slipped over while blocking a punch, mid-kick it was ruled a knockdown and Schilling picked up the win.

Schilling has an awkward stlye and a good left hook, which he caught Levin with numerous times. But his awkward stepping combinations often leave him off balance, which left him off balance and unable to react when Wayne Barrett started counter punching him mid-combo.

Simon Marcus has bested Joe Schilling on two occasions in the past, though. In their first meeting, which both fighters agreed to being a “winner take all” purse (something which is so unbelievably stupid that no fighter should be agreeing to it in this day and age), Marcus hurt Schilling with a knee and a sweep from the clinch. As Schilling got up, wobbling, Marcus nailed him with a left hook which sent him down, and a right elbow as soon as he got up again. It was an easy KO victory for Marcus, but the throw played a pivotal role.

In the rematch, Schilling made it a fight, but Marcus edged it with his work from the clinch once again. Schilling's style, while a nightmare for a kicker, did little to trouble Marcus, who wanted to fight in the clinch. It will be interesting to see what Glory's limiting of the clinch will do for Marcus. The sad truth is that under Glory rules, clinch fighters like Marcus and elbow masters like Nathan Corbett, just cannot do their best work.

Every single man in this tournament could be headlining a kickboxing event anywhere else in the world. If you love combat sports, particularly the stand up elements, you really can't have much to do on a Saturday night that is better than watching Glory: Last Man Standing. And we'll have the breakdowns of the best bits here on Fightland soon after!

Pick up Jack Slack's new ebook, Fighting Karate at his blog Fights Gone By.Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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