ROAD TO GLORY LAUNCHES IN JAPAN WITH EIGHT-MAN FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT IN TOKYO MARCH 10
WINNER TO RECEIVE $20,000 GRAND PRIZE, ONE-YEAR GLORY WORLD SERIES CONTRACT AND ENTRY INTO $180,000 GLORY 8 TOURNAMENT IN MAY
On the heels of a smash success, double-header mega-event in Saitama on New Year’s Eve, GLORY, the world’s new premiere kickboxing league, announced during a press conference today that it will bring to Japan its ROAD TO GLORY development fight series for identifying future stars of the sport, beginning with an eight-man, single-elimination featherweight (143 pounds/65 kilograms) tournament at Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Sunday, March 10.
Tickets for the event, priced from ¥5,000, go on sale tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 31 and will be available for purchase online at Pia (http://pia.jp/t/), E-Plus (http://eplus.jp) and Lawson Ticket (http:l-tike.com).
A draw held during the press conference yielded the tournament’s quarterfinal matchups as follows: Zen Fujita (10-6-1 (1 NC), 3 KOs) vs. 19-year-old prospect Riki Matsuoka (2-0, 1 KO), three-time Shido-Kan Karate champion Mohan Dragon (12-5-2, 6 KOs) vs. hard-hitting KO artist Yuki (32-15-1, 24 KOs), battle-tested tournament champion Yukihiro Komiya (30-10, 8 KOs) vs. seasoned warrior Ryuji Kajiwara (23-11-1, 6 KOs) and Masaaki Noiri (15-3, 6 KOs) vs. Hiroya (21-8, 9 KOs).
The winner of the quarterfinal round bout between Fujita and Matsuoka will face the winner of the bout between Dragon and Yuki in the semifinal stage of the tournament and the winner of the bout between Komiya and Kajiwara will meet the winner of the fight between Noiri and Hiroya in the semifinal stage of the tournament.
“Last year, GLORY made a commitment to restore the Japanese martial arts fight scene to greatness and, bringing our all-new ROAD TO GLORY tournament series here in order to develop future kickboxing champions and superstars, is the most logical, next move for us in order to accomplish that goal,” said GLORY Managing Director Marcus Luer.
“ROAD TO GLORY will nurture the most promising young Japanese fighters and prepare them for the most intense competition that takes place in GLORY championship series tournaments that are fought on a global stage,” continued Luer.
Three Superfights as well as a tournament reserve fight will be added to the fight card soon. In the event that any of the tournament’s quarterfinal round fight winners are unable to return to the ring for semifinal round action due to injury sustained en route to victory, the winner of the tournament reserve fight will take the injured fighter’s place in the tournament.
The winner of the ROAD TO GLORY Japan featherweight tournament will be awarded a grand prize of $20,000 and a one-year contract with GLORY where he will have the opportunity to compete in the world’s most prestigious one-night GLORY kickboxing tournaments.
The winner will also be entered into the GLORY 8 Tokyo “Slam,” or eight-man tournament, which will take place on Friday, May 3 at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, and award a total of $180,000 in prize money to its competitors. The roster of fighters for the tournament will be announced soon.
Doors at Differ Ariake Arena will open for the ROAD TO GLORY event at 15:00 and the first bout will begin at 15:15.
