According to Stefan Van Erp at MMA DNA, Badr Hari, the #3 ranked heavyweight for Glory Kickboxing, has suffered a nose injury. As a result subsequently, Glory 78 has been postponed. The event was originally supposed to be held on July 18th at the Rotterdam Ahoy Arena. However, it is now likely being pushed back until September. Hari was lined up to compete against Arkadiusz Wrzosek, the #8 ranked heavyweight in the main event.
Glory 78 Postponed Due to Badr Hari Injury
Hari suffered a loss back in December when he was stopped by Benjamin Adegbuyi. Arguably the biggest star in kickboxing, Hari has headlined two of the last four Glory events. In the Glory 78 co-main event, a rematch for the light heavyweight championship was scheduled to take place. Alex Pereira and Artem Vakhitov were set to square off after their closely contested matchup at Glory 77. It is unclear if this fight will be rescheduled for the September event at this time.
Two more title fights were on the Glory 78 card as the middleweight and lightweight championships were being contested. The #1 and #2 ranked middleweights, Donovan Wisse and Yousri Belgaroui were scheduled to fight for the middleweight championship. Alex Pereira is the previous middleweight champion. He is expected to compete regularly at 205lbs going forward. The vacant lightweight championship was expected to take place between Tyjani Beztati and Elvis Gashi as well.
Glory is still recovering from the pandemic, only holding two events since February of 2020. They held 12 events in the year prior, along with the biggest show in history at Collision 2 on December 21st, 2019. Heavyweights Rico Verhoeven and Badr Hari have been the two biggest stars driving Glory for the past few years.
The future of the kickboxing promotion seemed bleak in July of last year, but with the addition of Alistair Overeem this month, it would appear the company is back on track financially. A debut for Overeem has yet to be announced.
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