Matchmaking Notes Glory 42

GLORY returns to Paris this Saturday night, June 10, for GLORY 42 PARIS at the Accor Hotels Arena in Bercy.

Headlining the SUPERFIGHT SERIES card, live on UFC Fight Pass, is a clash between #1-ranked contender Yoann Kongolo (64-9, 46 KO's) and his French counterpart Yoann Lidon (123-34, 77 KO's). This is a fight we originally wanted to make for GLORY 22 two years ago but Lidon had a prior commitment. 

His place that night was taken by Cedric Doumbé and of course we see now what Doumbé has gone on to accomplish. Lidon has said in interviews recently that he thinks Doumbé stole his place – and he doesn't just mean at GLORY 22, he means as welterweight champion. 

Lidon is coming here to try and capture the belt. Kongolo is coming off an unsuccessful attempt to do that at GLORY 39 and he needs to win this fight to retain his top contender spot and stay in position for another shot. If Lidon can beat the #1 contender he goes instantly high in the ranking and joins the contender conversation.

In the co-headline fight we have two heavyweights, with France's Nicolas Wamba (48-7, 22 KO's) taking on Brazil's Jhonata Diniz (15-5, 10 KO's). It's an interesting fight because both of them came into GLORY, had a really hard time of it and went back to the regional leagues to gain more experience and sharpen their skills. So now they are going to play off against each other and we will see who takes the next step forwards.

Two French light-heavyweights are facing off in the middle of the card when Zinedine Hameur-Lain (57-15, 36 KO's) meets Freddy Kemayo (68-23-1, 47 KO's).

Hameur-Lain made a big impression early in his GLORY appearances when he won a Contender tournament. But he was then stopped by Pavel Zhuravlev in his next outing. That made me think; it's a bit unfair on some newer guys to put them straight in at the championship level after winning a tournament, because there can be a big gap in skills and experience.

So we have adjusted things and now the tournament winner can still face the champion but can also be matched with a top three opponent, if that is felt more appropriate. That's a better structure for the less experienced guys. 

Hameur-Lain has already proven himself a great fighter; Kemayo is a long-time veteran of the sport who is now moving into the final stages of his career and has dropped to light-heavyweight to do so.

In years gone by he faced all the big-name heavyweights and a hundred more besides. We saw in his last fight that he faced the 19-year-old newcomer Imad Hadar and showed the value of all that experience. He let Hadar burn himself out and then when he saw the opening he took the youngster out.

He's probably going to try and do the same in this fight. Hameur-Lain cannot afford to lose focus for a moment. Kemayo will be waiting to take his chance as soon Hameur-Lain lapses in concentration.

Another fighter who has dropped a weight class is Dylan Salvdor (49-12-1, 41 KO's). He came in as a lightweight, won a contender tournament and then lost a close title fight with Sitthichai. After that he said he would fight at featherweight, which is his preferred weight class. 

Opposite him is former champion Serhiy Adamchuk (34-8, 14 KO's), who has gone from being a puzzle people couldn't figure out to being 1-3 in his last four. I like Adamchuk, he's a strong fighter and has developed a lot in his time with GLORY. He used to clinch too much but now he shows very well-rounded skills.

I don't think Adamchuk has been figured out but he does maybe have more of a problem with strategic fighters. Salvador is not an easy fight for him, because he has great footwork and knows how to step out of danger and play with the opponent's mind, but Adamchuk needs the win here.

We are happy to have a fighter of Marat Grigorian's quality on board. He has opportunities all over the world but we wanted him exclusive to GLORY and to secure that we had to make a deal with him which keeps him active throughout the year. This is one of those fights.

Not too many people are looking to step in and fight Marat (49-10-2, 30 KO's), even guys from the top five. Right now we are having trouble matching him and at the same time he has fought Sittichai twice now in GLORY and lost both, so to keep things interesting for everyone, we are going to have the winner of the GLORY 42 PARIS Lightweight Contender Tournamet fight Marat next to see if they are ready to face Sitthichai.

Antonio Gomez (50-8-2, 29 KO's) was unlucky to be cut and stopped in his fight with Josh Jauncey earlier this year and as soon as the cut was healed he was in touch with us looking for his next fight. When we offered Marat he said yes immediately.

He told us “Marat is one of the strongest guys in the division but I am really going to show you something against him”.

We respect that attitude a lot, that's a real fighter. Gomez is a good boxer and likes to come forward, but of course Grigorian has the advantage here in skills, top-level experience and probably power. There is a risk for him though: Marat is a guy who likes to know his opponents well so he can prepare in a very precise way. There have been times when he has been tripped up mentally by facing an unknown guy, as in his fight with Adamchuk at GLORY 22.

Opening the Superfight Series card is a lightweight fight between Francois Ambang (17-6, 6 KO's) and Remy Vectol. He approached us recently but I didn't have an immediate opportunity for him. Then Jimmy Vienot was forced to pull out of this Ambang fight with an injury so it was Remy's lucky day.

He's a bit of a wild card, but he's 27 so he still has time to build in his career and if he can win here then we will see what we can do with him in the future. Ambang has more experience and is a GLORY veteran but fighters on the French and European circuit face better quality opponents than those who come through the US circuit, so I see this as an open fight.