“It’s one fight I really wanted and now we are here,” Benjamin Adegbuyi is aiming to get revenge against Jamal Ben Saddik at GLORY 81, “It’s one very important fight for me… In the fight, I want to not be one hundred percent, but one hundred and ten percent.”
Benjamin Adegbuyi vs Jamal Ben Saddik – GLORY 81
The GLORY 81 headliner sat down with Tim Wheaton with VechtSport to discuss the upcoming heavyweight match on August 20. The fight will feature two top-ranked heavyweights with the Nigerian-Romanian Adegbuyi meeting the towering Belgian-Moroccan Ben Saddik. Whoever wins this fight will face Antonio Plazibat later this year for an Interim GLORY Heavyweight Championship fight.
“The Plazibat fight is the fight I really wanted before Jamal,” Adegbuyi had lost to Plazibat in 2021 and wanted an instant rematch to avenge this loss. With a win at GLORY 81 he will get his chance. “I’m the better fighter, I want to show that I’m the better fighter. I’m happy if I stop Jamal then I face Plazibat.” Adegbuyi said, “When Plazibat comes I will show him that I’m the better fighter.”
Catch the full interview below:
Benjamin Adegbuyi on training with Rico Verhoeven
If ‘Benny’ Adegbuyi avenges his losses to Ben Saddik and Plazibat, he will then hold the Interim Heavyweight title and that sets him up to fight against the reigning heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven. It would be a precarious scenario as Adegbuyi and Verhoeven are currently training partners. Verhoeven and ‘Mister Gentleman’ had fought twice before with the Dutch-born Verhoeven getting his hand raised in both bouts. After these championship losses, Adegbuyi began to train alongside the heavyweight champion.
“When number one and number two train together they can only become better.” And potentially could these two fight? “I need to step up first, Jamal then maybe Plazibat, then we can think about how it’s going to be fighting Rico. But until then it’s a long road.” ‘Benny’ Adegbuyi says it is very much a possibility he would face Verhoeven again if the opportunity comes.
‘Benny‘ Adegbuyi is no stranger to main event fights. He has fought as the main event in many GLORY Kickboxing cards including against Rico Verhoeven and Badr Hari. The Nigerian-Romanian fighter says he likes to be in the main event position and is used to being the underdog. He explained, “Badr is a big name, is a legend. So I know how to handle these situations. Honestly, I like to be the underdog always. Even with Badr I was the underdog. Now I’m pretty sure that with Jamal I’m the same, underdog… But I like.” In 2020 Adegbuyi had one of the best fights in heavyweight kickboxing history against Badr Hari.
Benjamin Adegbuyi is looking to avenge his loss to Jamal Ben Saddik at GLORY 81 on August 20. He will then next face Antonio Plazibat for the Interim heavyweight title on GLORY Collision 4, headlined by Badr Hari vs Alistair Overeem 3, on October 8. After that, he could potentially face long-time reigning champion Rico Verhoeven.
