Contributor: Lucas Bourdon
After a three-month break, Glory is back with it’s first card of 2014. The event is headlined by a rematch between two K-1 legends and also features Andy Ristie’s first defense of the lightweight title he earned at Glory 12 with one of the most impressive one night performances I’ve ever witnessed. Rounding up the main card is a middleweight contender tournament, earning the winner a spot in a future tournament for the title.
The main event pits Rémy Bonjasky and Mirko Cro Cop, respectively the #6 and #8 greatest heavyweights in K-1 history in my opinion, in what will be the final bout of Bonjasky’s legendary career. Both of these fighters are clearly past their best days 
but Cro Cop appears to have adapted to his decline better than Bonjasky has, turning to a more conservative and crafty veteran style rather than relying of the explosiveness of his youth. Sometimes great fighters can turn the clock back and give us a glimpse of their glory days in those marquee matchups late in their careers and I dearly hope that’s what happens here. As far as who wins it, I’m leaning towards Cro Cop taking a decision in his hometown but I’m just hoping for a good fight as win or lose, Rémy Bonjasky deserves to go out on a high note.
In the co-main event, Andy Ristie looks to confirm his place as the best lightweight in the world following his incredible tournament win in New York, that saw him knock out P4P king Giorgio Petrosyan and #2 lightweight Robin Van Roosmalen in back to back fights. He’ll be taking on the very solid Davit Kiria (who came in as a late replacement for Ky Hollenbeck but actually 
represents a tougher challenge for Ristie and should make for a better fight in my opinion). One of the questions surrounding this match up is whether or not Ristie can find consistency. In the last year, he’s looked amazing in his big fights with Albert Kraus, Giorgio Petrosyan and Robin Van Roosmalen but has had uninspired performances against young prospects Alessandro Campagna and Niclas Larsen. Davit Kiria’s solid boxing and pressuring game should bring the best out of him though and I expect him to find enough openings to land some big shot. Kiria durability should keep him in the fight until the end and I expect Ristie to win a hard fought decision.
The first of the middle weight semi finals is a very interesting rematch between Mike’s Gym product Sahak Parparyan and Jason Wilnis. Parparyan won the first fight and fights with the kind of aggressiveness fans have come to expect from the fighters trained by Mike Passenier, however he is very suceptible to getting outboxed on the outside for long stretches of his fights, relying on good timing with his right hand to score with some big shots and steal rounds. He managed to land one of those big shots the first time he faced Wilnis, knocking him down in the first round of their 2012 fight. However I believe Wilnis’ improvement since then and his superior technique to prevail this time in what should be a very good fight.
While the first semi final is a good fight betwwen two fighters without big names, there is no sugarcoating the second fight. Dustin Jacoby deserves credit for his upset win at the Road To Glory tournament and his commitment to the sport, him and Alex Pereira are not the caliber of fighters that should be on a Glory main card, especially seeing the kind of talent that will be fighting on the Superfight Series. Stylistically Pereira has a boxing background and is more refined that than the still very raw Jacoby, however Jacoby has shown an ability to bully fighters with his size and the drop to middleweight should help him to impose that advantage. I see that as sort of a pickem fight but I’m going with Pereira by decision. Should I be right and Pereira meet Wilnis in the final, Wilnis destroyed him in their first fight and I don’t see any reason to think it wouldn’t happen again. Either way I’d very surprised if whoever wins the first semi final didn’t win easily against whoever wins in the Jacoby-Pereira fight.
That’s it for the Spike Tv portion of the card but the Superfight Series is once again filled with talent, notably with a very relevant welterweight clash between Karapet Karapetyan and Artur Kyshenko, the Glory debuts of HW prospect Benjamin Agdebuyi and Muay Thai tank Aikpracha Meenayothin against Albert Kraus.
-Lucas can be reached @lucas_bourdon.
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