While he was away from competition the belt went first to Marc de Bonte and then to ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini, who won a decision over De Bonte at GLORY 17/LAST MAN STANDING. This was particularly galling for Holzken as it was Valtellini he had beaten to win the GLORY 13 TOKYO tournament in the first place.
Holzken considers himself the rightful champion of the division. Valtellini disagrees, pointing out that tournaments and straightforward title fights are two very different things.
Tonight Holzken fights in the GLORY 19 Welterweight Contender Tournament, live in the US on SPIKE TV at 9pm ET. He faces Alexander Stetcurenko in the semi-finals while the other bracket has Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels against Jonathan Oliveira of Brazil.
Whoever wins the tournament gets a title shot. Holzken plans on it being him. “I’m coming for you Joe,” he tells Bloody Elbow in this video interview. “But first I’ve got to beat these two guys.”
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