Queensland-based heavyweight Junior Tafa is set to make his Glory debut in October after this week being added to the Glory 46 card which is set to take place at the Guangzhou Gymnasium in Guangzhou, China.
The 20-year-old fighter who currently trains out of Team Tafa in Toowomba, has been given the golden opportunity to impress on what is perhaps the biggest kickboxing promotion in the world. The move to Glory at such a young age can be attributed to his fast rise in the Australian kickboxing and muaythai scene over the last few years, creating many highlight-reel performances in a short period.
While collecting numerous title wins, including the Caged Muay Thai Super-Heavyweight title in December 2015, Tafa has also turned his hand to professional boxing, making his debut in June with a draw against Jayden Nichols.
Opposite Tafa in the squared circle will be the fast-rising Chinese fighter Xe Yiang who has fought in Chinese promotion Kunlun Fight and is considered one of the stand-out fighters in the Chinese Wushu Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) scene.
New Zealand will be well represented on the card as Hamilton-based Quade Taranaki will also be set to make his Glory debut taking part in the promotions four-man Featherweight tournament against Chinese fighters Chenglong Zhang, Chenchen Li and Masaya Kubo from Japan. The winner of the one-night tournament will potentially go on to meet Glory Featherweight Champion Robin van Roosmalen at a later date.
Also featured on the Superfight portion of the card will be a non-title matchup between Glory Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven and former Strikeforce and UFC Heavyweight Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva.
Glory 46 will the first time the US-based kickboxing promotion has held a show in mainland China as they set to take advantage of the ever-increasing Chinese interest in combat sports.
Fight Card:
GLORY 46
- Featherweight Tournament Final
- Simon Marcus vs Alex Periera (Glory Middleweight World Title)
- Chenlong Zhang vs Quade Taranaki (Featherweight Tournament Semi-Final)
- Chenchen Li vs Masaya Kubo (Featherweight Tournament Semi-Final)
GLORY SUPERFIGHT SERIES
- Rico Verhoeven vs Antonio Silva
- Khayal Dzhaniev vs TBA
- Junior Tafa vs Ye Xiang
- Wei Zhou vs Matt Baker
- Liu Jia vs Zaza Sor. Aree
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao vs TBA
- Qinghao Meng vs Nate Richardson
