Tiffany Van Soest regained GLORY Super Bantamweight title. The American kickboxer nicknamed “Time Bomb” faced her old foe, French Anissa Meksen in the headliner of GLORY 71. The contest topped the fight card, held at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL on November 23 (AEST).

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The pair has previously met twice. Both encounter ended in favor of Meksen.

Van Soest initially earned the inaugural title by way of winning the championship tournament back in 2016. She dropped the belt by unanimous decision against Meksen in her second defense in December 2017.

This past March, Van Soest attempted to reclaim the title and take the revenge, yet fell short, losing by split points decision. Meksen was in her second reign and successfully defended the strap twice.

Their trilogy fight also went a full five-round distance. The verdict heard a unanimous decision in favor of the representative of the country-host. It was not, however, without controversy.

“Van Soest was faced with the threat of a point deduction for catching Meksen with an elbow on three separate occasions while attempting to land a spinning back fist. Had a deduction been implemented, the fight would have resulted in a majority draw, and the belt would have stayed with Meksen. But the infractions were not felt to be intentional by the referee, and Van Soest was not censured,” reads the fight recap sent out by the promotion.

Ultimately, a new champion Van Soest updated her record to 21-4-1, 6 KO. Former titleholder Meksen dropped to 99-5, 32 KO. The pair is expected to meet for the fourth time.

Also on the night Benjamin Adegbuyi scored a unanimous decision against D’Angelo Marshall in their second encounter at heavyweight, declaring 2-0. As well, Mike Lemaire took a split decision against Malik Watson-Smith after three rounds of their welterweight matchup. In addition, Aline Pereira stopped Crystal Lawson in the first round of their women’s kickboxing battle at super bantamweight.

The complete GLORY 71 results can be found below.

The event was the first show of two-part program produced this weekend at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL. The second show, billed as GLORY 72, is held a day after, featuring the defending featherweight kickboxing champion Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao up against former interim titleholder Kevin Vannostrand. The pair battles it out in the championship rematch.

GLORY 71 Chicago: Meksen vs. Van Soest 3 results

Tiffany van Soest def. Anissa Meksen by unanimous decision (48-47 x2, 49-46)

Benjamin Adegbuyi def. D’Angelo Marshall by unanimous decision (30-26 x3)

Mike Lemaire def. Malik Watson-Smith by unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27)

Lowrant-T Nelson def. Ammari Diedrick by unanimous decision (29-27 x3)

Arkadiusz Wrzosek def. Demoreo Dennis by TKO (three-knockdown rule, R2 at 2:59)

Nick Chasteen def. Seijo Imazaki by TKO (retirement, R2 at 3:00)

Aline Pereira def. Crystal Lawson by TKO (strikes, R1 at 0:59)

Thomas Jenkins def. Andrew Navickis by KO (punches, R2 at 2:18)

Arthur Sorsor def. Matt Zilch by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Justin Moss def. Kuchlong Kuchlong by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)