GLORY 87 took place from the electric Rotterdam Ahoy arena in the Netherlands on Saturday evening, August 19, and it proved to be another big night of kickboxing with a lot of breakout performances and big victories.

Taking center stage of the night was the four-man heavyweight tournament, where the winner booked his spot in the historic end of year, eight-man GLORY heavyweight grand prix.

The honors went to the explosive Bahram Rajabzadeh (65-1, 58 KO), as the Azerbaijani put on two equally stellar performances to win the tournament. In the semifinals, he defeated Mohamed Amine (29-6, 16 KO) thanks to two knockdowns and showcasing a dazzling display of offense before using his superior skill and speed against Estonian giant Uku Jurjendal (19-8, 15 KO) in the finals.

Rajabzadeh will now go up against the likes of Tariq Osaro, Sofian Laidouni, and five other yet to be determined heavyweights – which will include either Badr Hari or James McSweeney, who meet at GLORY 88 in Paris next month – this December. The winner will walk away with a life-changing $500,000 prize.

In the co-main event, Tyjani Beztati (25-4, 9 KO) retained his GLORY lightweight championship as he cruised to a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Japanese superstar Kaito Ono (48-7-1, 21 KO). This is the 25-year-old’s fourth title defense and, arguably, his most impressive as he truly establishes himself as the king of the lightweight division.

Ghana’s Michael Boapeah (16-3-1, 7 KO) avenged his 2022 loss to Germany’s Sergej Braun (43-13, 27 KO) with his most mature and all-round impressive performance to date. It has been a breakout year for the No. 1-ranked middleweight thanks to three victories on the bounce as he declares himself ready for a title shot.

Elsewhere on the main card, former champ and GLORY legend Murthel Groenhart (70-26-3, 40 KO) rolled back the years to put on a vintage display against German prospect Cihad Akipa (49-12, 18 KO) and rising Dutch star Jan Kaffa (20-3, 7 KO) enjoyed his second GLORY victory as he rallied from behind to score a victory over Mohamed El Hammouti (7-2, 4 KO).

In the GLORY 87 prelims, it was third time lucky for Morocco’s Imad Hadar (25-2, 9 KO) as he finally registered his first victory in GLORY thanks to a hard-fought decision victory over durable Pole Bartosz Muszynski (26-4, 5 KO). And in the opening bout of the night, Serbian heavyweight Nikola Filipovic (11-2, 6 KO) handed Romania’s Cristian Ristea (44-11, 21 KO) a decision loss on his promotional debut.

GLORY 87 results include:

• Bahram Rajabzadeh def. Uku Jurjendal via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – heavyweight tournament final

• Champ Tyjani Beztati def. Kaito Ono via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45, 50-45, 50-45) – to retain lightweight title

• Michael Boapeah def. Sergej Braun via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

• Murthel Groenhart def. Cihad Akipa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 29-28)

• Jan Kaffa def. Mohamed El Hammouti via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

• Uku Jurjendal def. Martin Terpstra via TKO (two knockdown rule) – Round 1, 2:23 – heavyweight tournament semifinal

• Bahram Rajabzadeh def. Mohamed Amine via TKO (two knockdown rule) – Round 2, 2:59 – heavyweight tournament semifinal

• Imad Hadar def. Bartosz Muszynski via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

• Nikola Filipovic def. Cristian Ristea via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29) – heavyweight tournament reserve bout