Tonight (Friday, February 6, 2015), GLORY Kickboxing returns to the airwaves on Spike TV with GLORY 19. GLORY 19 is primed to be another quality offering from the company with a huge GLORY Heavyweight Championship match between champion Rico Verhoeven and GLORY 16 Heavyweight Contender Tournament winner Errol Zimmerman. Also on the card is a Welterweight contender’s tournament and the return of conquering hero Joe Schilling against Canadian Robert Thomas. Starting things off in the GLORY Welterweight Contender’s tournament is Jonatan Oliveira (20-3-0) squaring off against Raymond “The Real Deal” Daniels (25-1-0). Daniels is sitting pretty as a comfortable favorite with the lines placing him at -280 compared to Oliveira at +200. A lot of this comes off of the spectacular knockout victory that Daniels racked up back in May at GLORY 16 against Francois Ambang. The two-touch spinning kick was one for the highlight reels, for sure. Daniels also has a lot of experience in the world of sport martial arts and Chuck Norris’s WCL league. Oliveira is a more traditional kickboxer, though, and these odds make him a good pick for those willing to take a risk. On the other side of the bracket for the Welterweight tournament sits tournament favorite Nieky “The Natural” Holzken (85-11-0) facing the very tough Alexander Stetsurenko (51-10-0). Holzken is, by far, the runaway favorite on this show with the lines sitting at -705 for Holzken and +435 for Stetsurenko. Stetsurenko is a tough, top level fighter, but the reality here is that Nieky Holzken has already defeated the GLORY Welterweight Champion Joseph Valtellini and is just biding his time for a chance to fight for that title. Holzken’s skills are undeniable and he has some of the best hands in the business. It’s hard not to see him walking out victorious at GLORY 19. In one of the featured fights of the night, two-sport phenom Joe Schilling (18-6-0) will return to the GLORY ring against the young and tough Canadian Robert Thomas (7-2-0). Schilling is the favorite heading into this fight at -530 to Thomas’s +350, a lot of that because of his victory at the GLORY 10 Middleweight tournament, making the finals of the GLORY Last Man Standing tournament and even his recent foray into MMA where he knocked out Melvin Manhoef. Thomas is a tough, crafty fighter though with nothing to lose and some serious tricks up his sleeve. Joe is experienced on this level and has only been improving, but the fire that Thomas showed against Artem Levin and Mike LeMaire makes this fight a must-watch even if the lines don’t reflect that. The big match of the night is for the GLORY Heavyweight Championship between the champion Rico Verhoeven (44-10-0) and the challenger Errol “The Bonecrusher” Zimmerman (103-11-1). These men have met twice before, each one walking away with a victory. Rico Verhoeven, the champion, sits slightly as the favorite at -210 to Zimmerman’s +160 but this fight could really go either way. Rico is a patient, technical fighter with great wins over some of the biggest names in the Heavyweight field, but Zimmerman’s power is undeniable, especially with Zimmerman being more driven right now. For many fans GLORY 19 is a return to form, bringing the big names back out and into the mix. The Welterweight tournament should provide some big, exciting moments for fans across the world, the return of Joe Schilling is definitely newsworthy and the GLORY Heavyweight Championship fight is very important for the company.
