Harut Grigorian Travels to France for Welterweight World Title Tilt
GLORY welterweight champion Harut Grigorian (48-11, 34 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) will be entering enemy territory when he travels to France to take on No. 1 contender Cédric “The Best” Doumbé (70-6-1, 41 KO, fighting out of France) at GLORY 60 Lyon.
The title tilt between Grigorian and Doumbé headlines GLORY 60 Lyon from Palais des Sports de Gerland on Saturday, Oct. 20.
The champion’s most recent defeat came on French soil, losing to Murthel Groenhart at GLORY 42 Paris last year. In the time since, Grigorian has put together a four-fight winning streak including contender tournament victories over Karim Benmansour and Antoine Pinto, revenge against Groenhart to claim GLORY gold, and a victory over top contender Alim Nabiyev in his first title defense.
Doumbé, a former welterweight champion himself, earned this opportunity to reclaim the belt by knocking out back-to-back opponents. It took just 33 seconds for him to blitz Thongchai Sitsongpeenong at GLORY 53 SuperFight Series in May and he followed that performance with a second-round stoppage of Alan Scheinson at GLORY 55 SuperFight Series in July.
Recent title challenger and No. 1-ranked middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (24-5, 12 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) returns at GLORY 60 Lyon, taking on Yassine “Boom Boom” Ahaggan (33-6, 22 KO, fighting out of France) of Team Impact Aquitaine.
Belgaroui defeated Dawid Kasperski at GLORY 53 SuperFight Series in Lille, before falling short in his title bid against champion Alex Pereira at GLORY 55 New York. Ahaggan earned a hard-fought decision over Maxim Vorovski in his lone promotional appearance at GLORY 47 SuperFight Series in Lyon.
Stéphane “Ippo” Susperregui (47-5-2, 27 KO, fighting out of France) will once again enter the GLORY ring, accepting his first fight for the promotion since GLORY 5 London in 2013. His opponent at GLORY 60 SuperFight Series is 21-year-old Dutch-Surinamese prodigy Donegi Abena (9-1, fighting out of the Netherlands). Their bout will be contested at light heavyweight.
Hailing from Central France, Michael Palandre (25-2, 9 KO, fighting out of France) has also been added to the card, competing at lightweight.
It will be a home game for Lyon-native Abdellah Ezbiri (46-13-1, 13 KO, fighting out of France) when he faces fellow featherweight Victor “Leo” Pinto (76-29, 23 KO, fighting out of Thailand) in the GLORY 60 Lyon opening bout.
Now ranked No. 4 in the division, Ezbiri returns to the same arena that birthed his GLORY 47 Lyon contender tournament victory, which included wins over Anvar Boynazarov and Azize Hlali. Pinto was born in France, but now lives and trains in Thailand. He will be looking to improve his No. 8 ranking and put together the first winning streak of his young GLORY career.
The five-fight card for GLORY 60 Lyon can be found below:
GLORY 60 Lyon
Welterweight Title Headline Bout: Harut Grigorian (c) vs. Cédric Doumbé
Middleweight Bout: Yousri Belgaroui vs. Yassine Ahaggan
Light Heavyweight Bout: Stéphane Susperregui vs. Donegi Abena
Lightweight Bout: Michael Palandre vs. TBA
Featherweight Bout: Abdellah Ezbiri vs. Victor Pinto
GLORY 60 Lyon will be carried live on ESPN3 at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT on Saturday, Oct. 20.
Before GLORY 60 Lyon gets started, GLORY 60 SuperFight Series offers a fight card full of French talent.
Originally scheduled for GLORY 57 SuperFight Series in August, the light heavyweight bout between No. 3-ranked Zinedine “Good Boy” Hameur-Lain (60-15, 38 KO, fighting out of France) and GLORY newcomer Felipe Micheletti (fighting out of Brazil) will now shift to France, headlining GLORY 60 SuperFight Series.
Hameur-Lain has reeled off three wins in-a-row and five of his last seven, with each victory coming by way of knockout. Micheletti is a veteran of the Brazilian striking scene, having faced current and former GLORY champions from the region including middleweight champion Alex Pereira, former light heavyweight champion Saulo Cavalari, and upcoming heavyweight title challenger Guto Inocente.
Senegalese slugger Mamadou Lamine “Black Rock” Sene (12-2, 12 KO, fighting out of France) and Brazilian bruiser Bruno “Muhammad” Chaves (18-1, fighting out of Brazil) will both be making their GLORY debuts at GLORY 60 SuperFight Series, squaring off at heavyweight.
At just 23 years old, Muay Thai practitioner Jimmy Vienot (61-15, 33 KO, fighting out of France) already has already competed at the sport’s highest level, including two prior appearances for GLORY. At GLORY 60 SuperFight Series, he’ll make his third walk to the GLORY ring against a yet-to-be named welterweight.
The current fight card for GLORY 60 SuperFight Series can be found below:
GLORY 60 SuperFight Series
Light Heavyweight Headline Bout: Zinedine Hameur-Lain vs. Felipe Micheletti
Heavyweight Bout: Mamadou Lamine Sene vs. Bruno Chaves
Welterweight Bout: Jimmy Vienot vs. TBA
Two additional bouts are expected to be added to GLORY 60 SuperFight Series in the coming weeks.
GLORY 60 SuperFight Series will stream live and exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT on Saturday, Oct. 20.
The GLORY 60 prelims, which lead off fight night, will showcase up-and-coming talent from the French region.
In bouts featuring featherweights, Yoann Mermoux will meet Frank Rouztof, while Geoffrey Vivies (8-4, 3 KO, fighting out of France) will vie with an opponent to be named shortly. Guerric Billet (29-2, 13 KO, fighting out of France) will battle Hafed Romdhane (78-10-3, 32 KO, fighting out of France) at lightweight, while Mehdi Kada (13-3, 4 KO, fighting out of France) will cap off the preliminary card in a welterweight affair.
The four-fight GLORY 60 preliminary card can be found below:
GLORY 60 Prelims
Welterweight Bout: Mehdi Kada vs. TBA
Lightweight Bout: Guerric Billet vs. Hafed Romdhane
Featherweight Bout: Geoffrey Vivies vs. TBA
Featherweight Bout: Yoann Mermoux vs. Frank Rouztof
Streaming details for the GLORY 60 prelims will be confirmed and announced shortly.
Tickets for GLORY 60 Lyon – including access to GLORY 60 SuperFight Series and the GLORY 60 prelims – are on sale now and available for online purchase by visiting tickets.glorykickboxing.com or francebillet.com (for fans in France).
For more information about GLORY, visit glorykickboxing.com.
