GLORY Kickboxing Reveals 32-Man Lineup for Historic ‘Last Heavyweight Standing’ Tournament
If you love world-class kickboxing, 2025 just got a lot more exciting.
GLORY, the biggest kickboxing organization in the world, is set to launch a massive 32-man heavyweight tournament featuring the best of the best in 10-ounce gloves. The festivities are scheduled to kick off on Saturday, April 25 with a 16-fight card featuring all heavyweight fights. The event will emanate from Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands and be followed by four more yet-to-be-announced fight cards.
Check out the official press release from GLORY Kickboxing below:
“Kickboxing historically has been defined by tournaments, now GLORY will redefine tournaments with the introduction of ‘Last Heavyweight Standing’, the biggest heavyweight tournament in the history of combat sports.
“This year-long five-event tournament will kick off April 5 at ‘GLORY 99: Last Heavyweight Standing’ at the Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands with a mega sixteen-fight all-heavyweight card. The match-ups all being decided by a random draw. Over the course of 2025, fighters will enter qualifying tournaments and career defining matchups until the final eight remain for an epic one-night end of year tournament to decide who will be the ‘Last Heavyweight Standing.’
“This week, the field of heavyweights was finalised as the last remaining entrants were confirmed.
“Among the participants, former two-time heavyweight challenger Jamal Ben Saddik, former interim-champion Tariq ‘Cookie’ Osaro, new signing & top five in the world Rade Opacic, the wild & unpredictable Bahram Rajabzadeh, and fan favourite Nabil ‘The Tank’ Khachab.”
Full list of 32 fighters Revealed for Historic GLORY Kickboxing Tourney
And here’s a list of all 32 fighters scheduled to compete in the tournament courtesy of MMA Mania:
- ‘The Romanian Tank’ Ionut Iancu (30-10, 12 KO)
- Ahmed ‘Bosnian Steel’ Krnjić (14-3-1, 4 KO)
- Uku Jürjendal (20-9, 16 KO)
- Tariq ‘Cookie’ Osaro (26-4-1, 13 KO)
- ‘The Golden Wolf’ Bahram Rajabzadeh (70-4, 61 KO)
- ‘The Goliath’ Jamal Ben Saddik (36-9, 29 KO)
- Rade Opačić (21-6, 16 KO)
- ‘Murat ‘The Butcher’ Aygün (32-4, 8 KO)
- Sofian Laïdouni (37-4-1, 18 KO)
- ‘Mr. Gentlemen’ Benjamin Adegbuyi (35-8, 20 KO)
- ‘Big Sexy’ Nico Horta (23-10, 3 KO)
- Yuri Farcas (13-3-1, 6 KO)
- Oleh Pryimachov (16-5, 5 KO)
- Anis ‘Takamura’ Bouzid (45-4, 36 KO)
- Asdren Gashi (18-4-1, 9 KO)
- Luigi Gashi (15-4, 4 KO)
- Miloš Cvjetićanin (11-3, 8 KO)
- ‘The Gladiator’ Christian Ristea (44-25, 13 KO)
- Colin ‘The Beast’ George (23-12, 21 KO)
- Cihad Kepenek (23-7, 16 KO)
- Alin ‘The Beast’ Nechita (16-1, 7 KO)
- Nicolas ‘Junior’ Wamba (75-7, 24 KO)
- ‘The Bulldozer’ Petr Romankevich (29-9, 10 KO)
- Asadulla Nasipov (10-1, 5 KO)
- Iraj Azizipour (69-7, 27 KO)
- Brian ‘The Hitman’ Douwes (42-26-1, 31 KO)
- Tomáš ‘The Giant Slovak’ Možný (21-10, 7 KO)
- ‘The Soldier’ Nidal Bchiri (19-4-1, 4 KO)
- Miroslav Vujovic (11-7, 8 KO)
- Nathan ‘The Axe’ Cook (7-2, 6 KO)
- Sina ‘Hero’ Karimian (16-4, 8 KO)
- Nabil ‘The Tank’ Khachab (29-5-1, 4 KO)
Interestingly, GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven is not among the 32-man bracket. GLORY CEO Marshall Zelaznik explained at the press event that the bracket has been set up to assume that Verhoeven will not be competing.
It is possible that Verhoeven could enter the tournament in a wild card spot or simply continue to defend his crown against other potential contenders not competing in the “Last Heavyweight Standing” tourney.
Verhoeven has been the promotion’s heavyweight world titleholder since 2013.
