Long running Chinese martial arts promotion Wu Lin Feng presented Glory of Heroes 2 on Saturday featuring a mix of kickboxing and mixed martial arts bouts from Shenzhen, China.
Kiwis Israel ‘The Style Bender’ Adesanya and Brad ‘Quake’ Riddell both competed on the card in MMA and Kickboxing respectively.
Competing for the second time on Glory of Heroes, the Nigerian-born Adesanya who calls New Zealand home improved his professional MMA record to an impressive 8-0 with a first round TKO victory. The talented middleweight made short work of the more experienced Andrew Flores Smith of Peru (15-10) using his height and reach advantage to hurt his opponent continuously through the first round.
Smith never looked in the contest as Adesanya used his long jab and perfectly timed kicks to keep the distance and stay away from the power of Smith. Despite being primarily a striker Adesanya looked confident on the ground securing a takedown mid-way through the first round and inflicting damage from the top position. ‘The Style Bender’ once again showcased one of his biggest strengths which is his timing and accuracy with perfectly placed shots as Smith got back to his feet including a well-placed soccer kick to the body. Upon getting to his feet Smith’s resolve appeared to be all but gone as Adesanya continued to pepper him with shots. He then secured another take down at the end of the round and imposed more damage before earning the TKO victory (full fight video).
Adesanya once again showcased why he is one of the hottest talents not yet signed to a major organisation. With his fan friendly fighting style and entertaining character it should not be long before he gets the attention of the UFC brass.
In the only other fight of the night with a kiwi flavor Brad Riddell (44–5–0) took on Frenchman and 5th ranked Glory welterweight Cedric Doumbe (57–4–1). Riddell looked outstanding in a hard-fought split decision loss that could have gone either way.
In a great display of technical kickboxing both fighters fought hard throughout the scheduled three rounds. On several occasions Riddell landed his powerful left hook while Doumbe landed some strong kicks and a number of impressive flying knees. Doumbe looked to slow down in the third and final round as Riddell started to increase the pace. Riddell came out extremely aggressive throwing more punches and cutting some great angles to counter with his left hook.
Although Riddell lost by split decision the bout was very close and really could have gone either way. With Doumbe being the 5th ranked welterweight on Glory’s rankings it is only a matter of time before Riddell is also fighting for the premier kickboxing organisation in the world.
