Glory 17 Kenshin Breakdown: Legender killer + contender tournament winner
Lawrence Kenshin breaks down the spectacular performances by Gabriel Varga and Andy Ristie on Saturday night at Glory 17, coining a new term on the way.
Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai vs. Gabriel Varga [Featherweight Rank #3 vs. #5]
Simonchai faced Varga in the first round of the contender featherweight tournament. Sitmonchai is one of the top ten featherweights from Thailand’s prestigious Lumpinee Stadium. He’s fought in 107 bouts with a high knockout ratio of 61%, and he’s only 19! A successful debut in Glory put him at rank #3.
For his second Glory match and Varga’s 4th, it was a battle of styles. Varga walks forward more, throws in volume, and uses spin attacks; Simonchai is more defensive with powerful and precise counters. It’s a battle of precision and power versus speed, volume, and unorthodoxy.
Duke Roufus on Varga before the bout: “I like this kid a lot, life long martial artist and he throws a lot of cool moves in the ring. I think what’s going to throw Sitmonchai off is his speed, his movements, and his ability to spin… The key is to use his height and reach and not to get in there to mess with the Thai’s power shots and knees.”
And that was really the tale of the bout. Varga would spend much of the bout going forward with volume, and occasionally catching Sitmonchai with spin attacks. Sitmonchai had his moments, with combinations into low-kicks (reddening Varga’s thighs), push-kicks, and surprisingly, his own spins. But even though slightly more precise in the early rounds, his corner knew he was getting outworked and advised Sitmonchai to “pick up the pace, go go go.”
In round 3 Varga even came out ahead in precision; this fight is an important reminder for pushing the pace in kickboxing.
Without the extended clinch, Varga was able to consistently push forward with jabs and setup some real neat combinations. This match also highlighted why the hands are so important in kickboxing.
Andy Ristie vs. Ky Hollenbeck [Lightweight Rank #2 vs. #4]
If you don’t know Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie by now, time to learn. He’s a legend killer. At Glory 12, he took out the #1 and #2 kickboxer in the world to win the Lightweight tournament, and he did it in a spectacular fashion. Last November, Ristie took out the best kickboxer in the world — Giorgio Petrosyan — a man who’s beaten a who’s who list of fighters, a legend that hasn’t lost in 7 years and went 76-1. In the tournament finals, he knocked out the #2 best kickboxer with a similar punch.
‘The Machine’ is a product of Lucien Carbien, a legendary Dutch trainer who also created standouts such as Tyrone Spong and Alistair Overeem. Like Spong and Overeem, Ristie switch hits, but his switch-hitting arsenal far more diverse and creative — so unpredictable that he’s taken out yet another elite fighter in Ky Hollenbeck.
Ristie finished Hollenbeck with a left-hook, and it only took him 35 seconds. But that’s not the punch everyone should be talking about. Ristie entered with a jab (feint) into rear push-kick, Hollenbeck covered the jab and moved to the side, effectively getting out of the way of the straight attacks and establishing a “dominant angle”. Hollenbeck then threw a left-hook, which Ristie dodges and somehow maintains enough balance to throw a “modified cross” on retraction.
I’ll call this the “pendulum punch.” In striking, when an opponent has achieved a side-angle, he is in a dominant position. Normally, this is a position where his opponent scrambles for defense. No, Ristie doesn’t do that. Instead, he leverages the missed shot to hit Hollenbeck with a shot that I dare say combat sports has never seen before.
The mechanics behind this shot is similar to a superman punch. We’ve all seen variations of the superman punch, and punching off kick retractions. But most likely, we haven’t seen this one; the “pendulum punch” is so unique because Ristie knew exactly what position he was in, and there wasn’t an ounce of panic. This signifies that it’s a setup, and it worked.
Immediately after the flush “pendulum punch,” Ristie quickly repositioned and came back with a punch called the “lead-cross” (loading the shoulder for a powerful lead-side “jab”). He remained composure, patiently waited for Hollenbeck to react, and finished his wobbly opponent. I’ll look at this spectacular sequence and remain baffled for a while, Ristie is the epitome of creativity.
In Ristie’s previous fight and championship bout, he lost to Davit Kiria. Ky Hollenbeck was replaced by Kiria due to scheduling conflicts with his Firefighter Cadet Program. Coming in with extensive Kyokushin background, Davit is as gritty as they come. It was four rounds of dominance, and just when everyone thought Ristie put on the same beating in round 5, Kiria knocked out the legend killer. It was beautiful to watch a heavy underdog comeback in such manner, and wonderful to see his heart-felt, tears of joy celebration in winning the Lightweight belt.
But Ristie made a statement and he’s going after that title again. As Duke Roufus put it, this fight with Hollenbeck is a big exclamation mark to the lightweight division. Expect to see a rematch between Kiria and Ristie very soon.
Later on in this preliminary card, Gabriel Varga won the featherweight contender tournament. Cro Cop beat Jarrell Miller with “punch and clutch,” — not much need for a breakdown, just check out this wonderful article from Jack Slack’s fightsgoneby days.
The main-card (pay-per-view) was as great as the preliminary card. In short, it was one of the greatest nights in kickboxing. If this isn’t enough to convince you to watch Glory, I don’t know what will. Maybe the Glory girls?
Stay tuned for a breakdown of the spectacular main event and middleweight tournament!
