Glory Announces Ghita vs. Verhoeven for Heavyweight Title

Daniel Ghita (50-10, 39 KOs) and Rico Verhoeven (43-9, 10 KOs) will square off for the vacant Glory heavyweight title on June 21, it was announced Saturday.

The promotion revealed the match during Saturday’s broadcast of Glory 16 “Denver” on Spike TV.

The fight is being staged on the Glory “Last Man Standing” pay-per-view event, which takes place at The Forum in Los Angeles.

“This is a huge fight. One of the biggest fights of the year in any combat sport,” Glory matchmaker Cor Hemmers told Sherdog.com.

“Ghita and Verhoeven are basically neck-and-neck at the top of the division. Both of them would be worthy champions. Their fight at Glory 11 in October last year was a ‘Fight of the Year’ contender and it was really close.

“The decision went Verhoeven’s way. Ghita didn’t agree; he wasn’t happy. Now they are going to rematch and settle the argument,” continued Hemmers.

“This is Glory’s first heavyweight title fight and it’s two very strong contenders. I wouldn’t be surprised if it results in another ‘Fight of the Year’ nomination for them.”

Verhoeven’s win over Ghita secured him victory in the Glory 11 four-man heavyweight tournament. In the semi-finals he defeated the tournament’s favorite Gokhan Saki by unanimous decision. His last outing was at Glory 13, when he outworked and outclassed the veteran Peter Aerts over three rounds in what was declared to be Aerts’ retirement fight.

Ghita competed on the same card, destroying the concussive puncher Errol Zimmerman in just 30 seconds. It was the quickest defeat of Zimmerman’s career. Ghita had been favorite to win the fight but not in such quick and decisive fashion.

The Glory “Last Man Standing” pay-per-view event also hosts an eight-man middleweight tournament. The No. 1-ranked Artem Levin and California’s Joe Schilling are among the participants. The winner will emerge with the Glory middleweight world title.