GLORY 4 Tokyo announces opening matches for Heavyweight Grand Slam

The opening round matches for the highly-anticipated GLORY 4 Tokyo Heavyweight Grand Slam event were announced today.

The bouts were determined via random drawing in Tokyo earlier today and will take place at the Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve.

“The tournament draw has made some really interesting matches for the first round, matching the best rising stars with some of the sport’s biggest names. Some of the pairings are absolutely explosive and will be guaranteed wars,” says GLORY chairman Pierre Andurand.

“This is the world’s most prestigious kickboxing tournament and is the single biggest kickboxing event in history. We are extremely proud of this line-up that features fighters from over a dozen nations, and are very excited at seeing the tournament play out,” says GLORY Managing Director Marcus Luer.

“Tens of thousands of fans watched the draw online and it was attended by numerous members of the press both in Tokyo and online, guaranteeing that the eyes of the world will be on the Saitama Super Arena this New Year’s Eve.”

The tournament seeds can be found below:

• Semmy Schilt (#1 seed) vs. Brice Guidon
• Gokhan Saki (#2 seed) vs. Raomoru
• Daniel Ghita (#3 seed) vs. Fabiano “Cyclone” Aoki
• Remy Bonjasky (#4 seed) vs. Filip Verlinden
• Peter Aerts (#5 seed) vs. Mourad Bouzidi
• Errol Zimmerman (#6 seed) vs. Ben Saddik
• Anderson “Braddock” Silva (#7 seed) vs. Igor Jurkovic
• Sergei Kharitonov (#8 seed) vs. Rico Verhoeven

A total of $600,000 in prize money will be awarded during the GLORY 4 Tokyo Heavyweight Grand Slam fight card, which represents one-half of the ‘GSI presents DREAM 18 and GLORY 4 Tokyo – New Year’s Eve Special,’ double-header event at Saitama Super Arena.

The action will kick off at 4 p.m. JST with DREAM 18, a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) card stacked with world-class talent to be announced soon.