Glory 81: Ben Saddik vs. Adegbuyi 2 will be a kickboxing event held by Glory on August 20, 2022 at the Castello in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Fight Card
Main card
Heavyweight 95+ kg Morocco Jamal Ben Saddik vs. Romania Benjamin Adegbuyi Heavyweight Championship Eliminator
Middleweight 85 kg Suriname Donovan Wisse (c) vs. Portugal Juri De Sousa Middleweight Championship
Heavyweight 95+ kg Turkey Cihad Kepenek vs. Algeria Nordine Mahieddine
Lightweight 70 kg Germany Chihk Mousa vs. Morocco Rafik Habiat
Lightweight 70 kg Bulgaria Stoyan Koprivlenski vs. France Guerric Billet
Featherweight 65 kg Germany Dennis Wosik vs. Japan Naoki
Preliminary card
Middleweight 85 kg Ghana Michael Boapeah vs. Germany Florian Kröger
Lightweight 70 kg Morocco Ilias Darrazi vs. Germany Chris Wunn
Background
Taking place at the Castello in Düsseldorf, Germany on August 20th, GLORY 81 will be headlined by the exciting and long-awaited rematch between GLORY heavyweights Jamal Ben Saddik and Benjamin Adegbuyi. Ben Saddik and Adegbuyi first met at GLORY 62 Rotterdam during a memorable one-night, eight-man heavyweight tournament. The top two seeds faced each other in the tournament final, with Ben Saddik claiming the tournament crown after defeating Adegbuyi by KO despite a broken right hand. While Adegbuyi believes Ben Saddik had the easier path to the finals and won their bout simply because he was the fresher fighter, Ben Saddik believes he's at a different level.
In the co-main event, top-ranked light heavyweight contender Luis Tavares and third-ranked Sergej Maslobojev will compete to become the fifth undisputed title holder in the division's history. Tavares is on a series of 5 consecutive wins and recently defeated Florent Kaouachi by KO at GLORY Rivals 1 while Maslobojev remains undefeated in the GLORY ring after winning all three of his GLORY fights.
The event will also mark the first title defence for GLORY middleweight champion Donovan Wisse. Wisse claimed the middleweight title last September at GLORY 78 after defeating Yousri Belgaroui by TKO with a devastating knee. At GLORY 81, he will face promotional newcomer Juri de Sousa, who earned an immediate title shot through a series of impressive performances across different organizations in Europe. Also in the middleweight division, GLORY newcomers Michael Boapeah and Florian Kröger will look to make an impression for their first time in the GLORY ring.
In the lightweight division, Stoyan Koprivlenski and Guerric Billet, the top two contenders in the world, will face off in a bout with major title implications on the line. Both men will look to make their case for an opportunity to challenge Tyjani Beztati for the lightweight title. Additionally, German lightweight Chris Wunn will take on German-Moroccan Ilias Darrazi, both fighters making their exciting GLORY debuts on August 20.
Top-ranked featherweight contender Zakaria Zouggary will make his return for the first time since December of 2019, where he put on a dominant performance against Asa Ten Pow. He will face GLORY newcomer Rafik Habiat, who has over 70 wins on his resume.