Four of the hardest-hitting fighters on the planet are set to collide on Friday November 7, live on SPIKE TV.
Zack Mwekassa, Saulo Cavalari, Brian Collette and Artem Vakhitov will square off at GLORY 18 - RETURN TO GLORY in a Light-Heavyweight Contender Tournament. The winner will be the next challenger for the division’s title belt.
Brazilian bomber Saulo Cavalari (28-2-0, 18 KO's) smashed his way into the spotlight with an incredible knockout of the decorated veteran Mourad Bouzidi at GLORY 12 NEW YORK. The late 2013 win was one of the biggest finishes of the year.
He followed that with a solid performance against Tyrone Spong at GLORY 15 ISTANBUL earlier this year, taking the top contender the distance and underlining his status as one of the division’s new danger-men.
One of this year’s biggest knockouts came courtesy of Zack Mwekassa (11-1-0, 10 KO's). Originally from Congo but based in South Africa in recent years, Mwekassa comes from professional boxing and has the heavy hands to prove it.
He faced Pat ‘HD’ Barry at GLORY 16 DENVER in a fight, which marked the official GLORY debut of both men. Mwekassa showed that he is intimidated by neither big names nor big occasions, stopping Barry out with a huge uppercut late in the first round.
Brian ‘The Lion’ Collette (21-2-0, 18 KO's) is Mwekassa’s semi-final opponent and the South African will hear him roar as he looks to become the first US fighter to challenge for one of the world’s most prestigious championship belts.
Collette has a Muay Thai background. His kicking game contrasts with Mwekassa’s power-punching and makes for a interesting clash of styles, though as his GLORY 12 win over Warren Thompson shows, Collette is more than capable of putting people to sleep.
The final member of the quartet is Artem Vakhitov (11-4-0, 3 KO's) of Russia. A team-mate of Artem Levin, the World Middleweight Champion, Vakhitov has a similar tricky style and shares Levin’s fondness for head movement and body-blows.
His body-punching style was showcased in his GLORY 9 NEW YORK debut when he took out his opponent with a liver-shot less than a minute into the fight. Since then he has won twice more to go a perfect 3-0 in his trio of GLORY outings.
Tickets for GLORY 18: RETURN TO GLORY are available via www.GrandBoxOffice.com and are priced at $35, $55, and $100.
The show airs live on SPIKE TV on Friday, November 7, 9PM ET/8PM CT and will be broadcast in more than 140 territories around the world.
