Cédric Doumbé faces ‘The Predator’ for undisputed welterweight championship at GLORY 76
Two-time GLORY World Welterweight Champion Cédric Doumbé will lay his belt on the line against arch-rival Murthel ‘The Predator’ Groenhart, the current interim welterweight champion, in the main event of GLORY 76 ANTWERP on Saturday, March 28 at the AED Studios in Antwerp, Belgium.
‘The Best’ Doumbé (73-6-1, 43 KO’s), of Paris, France and Groenhart (69-24-3, 40 KO’s), of Amsterdam, Netherlands, have one of the most bitter rivalries in fight sports. They have met in the ring on two previous occasions, with each of them owning a win over the other.
This title showdown in Antwerp – GLORY’s first visit to the Belgian docklands city – will be the rubber match to determine which of them wins the trilogy. It will also be a title unification bout, with Groenhart having won the interim title at GLORY 70 last year when Doumbé was sidelined by an elbow injury.
An unknown when he first faced Groenhart at GLORY 28, Doumbé pulled off an upset win to immediately put himself on the map. Seven months later, in December 2016, he dethroned Nieky Holzken and commenced his first title reign as the undisputed best welterweight striker on the planet.
Two successful title defenses followed before Doumbé encountered Groenhart for a second time. This time Groenhart came away the winner – and took the title belt with him.
But welterweight has traditionally been GLORY’s most turbulent division and, true to form, the belt did not stay with Groenhart for long – he lost it to Harut Grigorian, who in turn was stopped by Doumbé at the beginning of last year, wrapping the gold around the Parisian fighter’s waist once again.
Now the entwined paths of the two adversaries lead them both to Antwerp, Belgium for this decisive third encounter, where they seek the emphatic win which will confirm them as unquestionably the most dominant welterweight champion in kickboxing history.
“There’s a lot on the line in this fight. The winner of this career-defining clash will emerge as the undisputed GLORY world welterweight champion and the right to call himself the best striker on the planet at this weight,” said Marshall Zelaznik, GLORY CEO.
“The intensity of the personal and professional rivalry between these two is matched only by how badly both of them want to be undisputed world champion. They are taking shots at each other non-stop on their social media and this rivalry will boil over in explosive fashion in the ring come March 28.”
Tickets go on sale next week, Thursday, February 13 via GloryKickboxing.com.
