Karate master Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels (25-1, 15 KO’s), a multi-time world champion in his field, will face Brazil’s Jonathan Oliveira (20-3, 11 KO’s) in the semi-final stage of the four-man competition.
Daniels last fought in May this year. He faced Francois Ambang at GLORY 16 DENVER and finished the fight in incredible fashion. His two-touch flying spin-kick has been dubbed ‘The Knockout of the Century’ and has racked up nearly a million views on YouTube.
This will be Daniels’ second GLORY tournament appearance. He fought in the GLORY 13 TOKYO tournament, which took place in Tokyo, Japan in December 2013, but lost to ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini by way of third-round head-kick stoppage.
Valtellini went on to win the GLORY World Welterweight Championship title belt when he beat Marc de Bonte by way of decision at GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES in June of this year.
Oliveira has fought twice for GLORY and sports a 2-0 record in the organization with both wins by way of decision. He debuted at GLORY 7 MILAN in 2013, beating the veteran Italian champion Roberto Cocco, then competed against local hero Atakan Arslan at GLORY 15 ISTANBUL in April this year.
He is from Curitiba in Brazil, a city famous in the fighting world for spawning numerous MMA legends like Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. The city of Curitiba has a strong pedigree in striking arts and is home to numerous Muay Thai and kickboxing gyms.
Following the two semi-final bouts at GLORY 19 the winners will square off in the tournament final. The fighter who emerges victorious from that bout will then go forward to face Valtellini for his world title belt. That clash is targeted for late Spring, according to GLORY.
GLORY 19 takes place at the Hampton Coliseum, Virginia, USA on Friday, February 6 and airs live in the US on SPIKE TV.
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