Benjamin Adegbuyi (20-3) has been steadily rising through the kickboxing ranks the last few years, winning his first three GLORY match ups to earn a crack at current Heavyweight champion, Rico Verhoeven.
Unfortunately for the Transylvania native, he fell to the champion via unanimous decision in the main event at GLORY 22 in Lille, France, this past June. Adegbuyi looked great early on, but wilted as the fight grew longer and Verhoeven took command for the rest of the bout en route to his second straight title defense.
Adegbuyi, 30, chalks up the loss to lack of experience.
"It was my first five-round fight and I didn't know how to handle it," Adegbuyi told MMAmania.com. "I was maybe scared to not get tired and so my mind played a trick and nothing went right. I entered his gameplan and everything was not good. I respect him as a fighter, but I didn't feel him as so strong. He's a good fighter and had some good combos on me, but if I was in one of my best nights I could win that."
"Mr. Gentleman" was disappointed at his performance because he "really wanted it," but he has another chance to earn a rematch against the champion at GLORY 24 if he wins the the four-man Heavyweight "Contender" tournament tomorrow night (Fri., Oct. 9, 2015) inside Magness Arena. The winner is guaranteed a future title shot against Verhoeven.
Adegbuyi is matched up against Mladen Brestovac (49-9-1) -- who he has beaten once before -- in the semifinal bracket.
"I fought him like three years ago," said Adegbuyi, who defeated Brestovac in the semifinals at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III via unanimous decision in 2012. "It was my seventh or eighth professional fight. He had more experience than me. Even now he has more experience than me because he's been fighting for a long time. It's a tough fight, but I think I can handle it."
In the opposing bracket, Australia's Ben Edwards will square off against Jahfarr Wilnis. GLORY's No. 1-ranked Heavyweight is prepared for two fights, but for now his sole focus is on the rematch against the Croatian known as "The Scorpion Sting" first and foremost.
"I just worry about the first fight," he explained. "I always do it like this. I'm working different strategy for both because Mladen is a southpaw, you know. We did a lot of stuff even for the other fighters. But now, I try to focus on the first fight with Mladen and then after that I can focus on the other."
Adegbuyi has changed up his conditioning training because of the loss to Verhoeven and won his last bout against Alexandr Soldatkin at Tatneft Cup 2015 in Russia via technical knockout in round three. He noticed an improvement saying, "I was feeling very good. So I think I will be better now."
He has made the trek from Romania to Denver, Colo., and has his heart set on winning the "Contender" tournament and Ramon Dekker's trophy because he wants to prove things will be different when he meets Verhoeven for a second time.
"Now I have to win this tournament," he said. "If I win and they give me another chance against Rico and I have two months to prepare I really could give him the best fight of his life and win it."