Glory 25 preview: Lineal titles and the return of the Lightweight king

We are less than 24 hours away from the return of Glory, and folks, I am excited. That’s because this weekend’s Glory 25 is headlined by a pair of major fights in the Lightweight division, as Glory champion Robin van Roosmalen looks to make his 2nd (true) defense of the belt when he faces Sittichai. Just as important, maybe more so, is the return of Giorgio Petrosyan against Josh Jauncey. Two huge, huge fights in the sport’s best division.

Glory 25 is live from Milan this Friday, November 6, airing live on ESPN3 at 4:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. PT.

To get ready for this card, we have a look at the lineal gold up for grabs at Glory 25. A reminder on the lineal title rules of kickboxing:

1) In the words of the great Ric Flair – “To be the man, you have to beat the man.” Lineal titles change hands when you beat the champ, regardless of what organization that fight takes place in. Wooo!

2) For kickboxing lineal titles, titles can change across weight classes if the champion changes weight.

3) Yes, we are including all varieties of kickboxing here – Muay Thai, Shootboxing, Oriental Rules, etc.

Good? OK, then take it away Matt!

Hello there lineal title fans! It feels like a long time since we last featured Glory’s marquee division. And, what a better way to get things started again than with the return of a living legend in Giorgio Petrosyan. Since a shocking loss to Andy Ristie back in November of 2013, which saw Petrosyan’s unbeaten streak halted at an unreal 42 fights, Giorgio has been quietly working his way back to form. The man they call “The Doctor” has a 3 fight winning streak to show for his recent efforts as well as a shiny new Chinese title. And, lucky for us, it seems the Doctor is finally ready for a return to glory at Glory 25 in his home of Milan, Italy.

Petrosyan may have lost his lineal crown, but he still owns a piece of the pie. Here’s a look at the 3 titles currently held by Giorgio Petrosyan:

It’s great to see Petrosyan back in the lineal title picture, but his current standing really doesn’t do justice to his incredible career in the most competitive division in the sport. Here’s a historical look at where he stands in the lineal title record books:

He may be ranked 6th all-time, but the stat that should really stand out is his winning percentage among the other champions being recognized on this list. 86% is an incredible win percentage and it really highlights how big the upset to Ristie really was. If you are wondering, the other “blemish” on his record was a 2007 draw with Buakaw at a time when the legend was in the midst of a 15 fight unbeaten streak (and Petrosyan was just 21 years old).

In examining the lineal kings throughout the history of the 70 kg division, we can see that Petrosyan held the longest reign of them all. He was king from the time Masato retired in 2009 until the 2013 loss to Ristie. During this period, Petrosyan completed an incredible 25 successful defenses to his crown.

Of course, it’s hard to ignore the guy sitting at the top of this list. He is, of course, Robin van Roosmalen, the reigning Glory 70 kg champion and a man who currently holds 12 of a possible 20 active lineal titles in the division (60% unification). Here’s a look at all 12 of Robin’s lineal titles:

Let’s be real. It’s no coincidence that these two lineal title holders are competing on the same card Friday night. This event represents an opportunity to set up one of best match ups Glory has to offer at 70 kgs, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The question for Petrosyan is whether his best days are behind him or if he has another run at the title left in the tank. The question for van Roosmalen is whether he truly belongs in the history books next to a guy like Giorgio. In fighting, they often say that you aren’t truly a champion until after your first defense of the belt. In lineal titles, I like to think that one isn’t a true king of the division until he’s contributed to the lineage. The winner has a chance to walk away with 15 of a possible 20 active titles or 75% of the lineal pie…speaking of which, who’s hungry?

Enjoy the fights lineal title fans!

LINEAL UPDATES:

News from around the kickboxing lineal title world here. The big (in more ways than one) update is that we have a new lineal king at Heavyweight. The Glory 24 tournament saw two lineal Heavyweight champions in action, as both Jahfarr Wilnis and Mladen Brestovac walked into Denver with gold. And by the end of that night, all of that gold was around the waist of new king Benjamin Adegbuyi. How long will he wear it? Well, that brings us to…

UPCOMING LINEAL TITLE FIGHTS:

November 10 – Featherweight’s overall king Chujaroen Dabrunsarakam is in action in Lumpinee Stadium in Thailand taking on Phetmorakot. Will be interesting to see how long those titles stay in Thailand – I don’t see them leaving anytime soon.

November 20 – FFC 21 features Lightweight champion Samo Petje against Tigran Movsisyan.

November 21 – K-1 presents a big year end show called “The Championship”. It’s a GREAT line-up that features three highly competitive lineal title fights: Lightweight champ Marat Grigorian vs. Sanny Dahlbeck; Featherweight champ Minoru Kimura vs. Kaew Fairtex; and another Featherweight champ in Koya Urabe vs his brother Hirotaka Urabe. Get excited.

December 4 – Glory 26 Amsterdam has two lineal title fights. Welterweight king Nieky Holzken takes on the winner of the Glory 25 Welterweight tournament. And Rico Verhoeven rematches Benjamin Adegbuyi in a unification fight. Winner of that one will hold 10 of the 19 Heavyweight titles, for 53% of the pie.

April – WFL sees Featherweight Zakaria Zouggary take on Ilias Bulaid. Should be a good fight.

See you Friday for Glory!