Glory 54

The wait is over. Five years after first landing in London, GLORY finally returns to the United Kingdom later this spring.

The world's premier stand-up combat league today announced details for GLORY 54 Birmingham and GLORY 54 SuperFight Series, taking place at Genting Arena on Saturday 2nd June.

One of combat sports' most dominant champions, Rico "The King of Kickboxing" Verhoeven (52-10, 15 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), sets his crown aside at GLORY 54 Birmingham, taking on No. 7-ranked heavyweight Mladen "The Scorpion Sting" Brestovac (56-12-1, 35 KO, fighting out of Croatia) in a three-round, non-title affair.

Verhoeven has won 15 straight fights inside the GLORY ring, highlighted by six title defenses and recent victories over long-time rival Jamal Ben Saddik, mixed martial arts veteran Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and kickboxing legend Badr Hari. Trading leather on English soil will feel familiar for "The King," as Verhoeven has trained extensively under renowned boxing coach Peter Fury in Manchester.

Brestovac faced Verhoeven for the GLORY heavyweight championship in 2016, losing via unanimous decision. Since then, he has had his hand raised five times in six fights, including a head-kick knockout that stopped Hesdy Gerges inside one minute.

The five-fight card for GLORY 54 Birmingham can be found below:

GLORY 54 Birmingham
Heavyweight Headline Bout: Rico Verhoeven vs. Mladen Brestovac
Lightweight Co-Headline Bout: Marat Grigorian vs. TBA
Lightweight Bout: Christian Baya vs. Josh Jauncey
Featherweight Bout: Bailey Sugden vs. Anvar Boynazarov
Featherweight Bout: Adrian Maxim vs. Chenglong Zhang

The six-fight card for GLORY 54 SuperFight Series can be found below:
GLORY 54 SuperFight Series
Light Heavyweight Headline Bout: Danyo Ilunga vs. Fraser Weightman
Welterweight Tournament Final Bout: Winner of Bout A vs. Winner of Bout B
Welterweight Bout: Richard Abraham vs. Adam Hadfield
Lightweight Bout: Elvis Gashi vs. TBA
Welterweight Tournament Semifinal Bout B: Mark Timms vs. Dawid Blaszke
Welterweight Tournament Semifinal Bout A: Jamie Bates vs. Nick Samways