Varga Exacts Revenge, Takes Title Back from Adamchuk at Glory 32

After a dubious and highly-controversial encounter back at Glory 25 in Milan, the world wasn’t exactly going bananas over a rematch between Serhiy Adamchuk and Gabriel Varga. The fight was plagued by continuous clinching and horrific officiating and Adamchuk wound up snatching the Glory featherweight crown from Varga.

But as the pieces continued fall in the world of kickboxing, Vargas worked his way back into title contention and on Friday in the main event of Glory 32: Virginia, the Canadian evened up the score with his Ukrainian adversary. While there weren’t anywhere near as many tie ups, there were plenty, but referee Chris Wagner was on top of things from the start and kept the fighters in check. The end result was a highly competitive, if not an entirely aesthetically pleasing duel.

Adamchuk (33-6, 14 KOs) was never able to truly find a rhythm against his rival and when he was dropped by a torch of a left hook in the second, he couldn’t dig himself out of the early hole he fell into. Varga, who suffered a cut over his right eye early in the contest, was able to counter the defending champ and keep him off-kilter throughout and did just enough in the brief exchanges to lure the judges to his side.

Aside from the second frame where Varga (28-3, 8 KOs) dropped the Ukrainian, every round was as close as they come, but in the end, two of the three judges sided with Varga, who was awarded a majority decision to reclaim his title. The official scores were 48-48, 48-47 and 48-46 (Sherdog.com also had it 48-46 for Varga).

Zinedine Hameur-Lain was electrifying in the Glory 32 Light Heavyweight Contender Tournament as he blew away both men he faced. After drubbing last-minute replacement Warren Thompson with a missile of a right hook in just 12 seconds, he pummeled Brazil’s Ariel Machado before stopping him in the second.

Machado (43-7, 33 KOs) was rocked twice in the first from that piston-like right hand and after his knees buckled from a left hook in the following stanza, Hameur-Lain (56-13, 35 KOs) drove his left knee into his foe’s liver, ending the fight. Machado, who had bested Pavel Zhuravlev via decision in the semifinals, crumbled to his knees along the ropes and was counted out by referee Dan Miragliotta.

Brian Collette and TUF 23 veteran Myron Dennis waged a memorable three-round war in the rematch from their electric Glory 19 scrum. But unlike their first encounter where Dennis triumphed, this time it was Collette who was the better man. They took turns ripping into each other’s head and body, but “The Lion” landed the harder, cleaner shots throughout and won a unanimous decision via tallies of 29-28 and 30-27 (twice).

In the Glory 32 SuperFight Series undercard, heavyweight Chi Lewis-Parry knocked out nemesis Maurice Greene in the second. The Englishman dropped Greene with a slick right hook in the first and then clubbed him with a right uppercut-left hook combo, ending the fight at 2:30 of the second.

A pair of wicked liver kicks highlighted the undercard as heavyweight Anderson Silva detonated one on Gordon Haupt in just 82 seconds and featherweight veteran Giga Chikadze did the same to Chris Mauceri at 2:20 of the first.

Also on the SuperFight Series undercard, Funda Alkayis dominated Vanessa De Waele via unanimous decision to win the Glory Women’s Super Bantamweight Grand Prix reserve bout; welterweight Francois Ambang edged Michael Stevens via unanimous nod; and Air Force’s Cedric Smith bested Navy’s Roger Corbin via unanimous nod to retain his “Military Championship” belt.