GLORY 10 results recap: Joe Schilling defeats Artem Levin in controversial sudden victory round to capture Middleweight title

Hometown favorite Joe Schilling captured the GLORY Middleweight championship at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., last night (Sat., Sept. 28, 2013), defeating No. 1-ranked Artem Levin in the finals of the one-night, four-man tournament.

The fight was an action-packed affair that saw both men show moments of dominance.

Levin got the better of Schilling in the first round thanks to superior technique. However, the second frame belonged to the American in a big way after he rocked Levin with a Superman punch that knocked down the Russian. The knockdown was enough to give "Stitch 'Em Up" a 10-8 on all three judges scorecards. After Levin took the third with a score of 10-9, the first three rounds were declared a draw and the fight went into overtime.

In the fourth round Levin once again controlled the action and landed the cleaner shots. Then midway through the round Schilling threw an overhand right that in real time appeared to knock down Levin again. A replay after the bell revealed Levin's legs had gotten tangled up in Schilling's after the punch, thus meaning his tumble to the mat counted as a slip rather than a knockdown.

However, by that point the judges had already rendered their decision.

Schilling was announced the winner by unanimous score of 10-9 for the sudden victory round (the cumulative scores for the three preceding rounds weren't announced).

"I love belts," Schilling glibly remarked after the fight. The Californian, who has trained with mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters such as Nick Diaz and Dan Henderson, appeared to be overcome with emotion as he mentioned his plan to use the $150,000 in prize money from his tournament victory to put a down payment on a house for his family.

Schilling defeated Kengo Shimizu in the opening semi-final round of the tournament. It was a dominant performance by the American, who stayed several steps ahead of his Japanese counterpart throughout all three rounds en route to a unanimous decision.

Levin punched his ticket to the finals by solidly outclassing opponent Jason Wilnis. The Dutch fighter was unable to find an answer for the Russian's relentless attack, and as a result Levin took an easy unanimous decision.

In the co-main event No. 2-ranked Robin van Roosmalen won a closely contested bout with Shemsi Beqiri via unanimous decision. The fight was a highly entertaining affair that saw Bequiri attempt several spectacular jumping kicks and van Roosemalen repeatedly connect with hard power punches.

Elsewhere on the card rookie Wayne Barrett defeated a fellow professional kickboxing neophyte when he landed an overhand right on Robby Plotkin. With the victory Barett improves his professional record to 3-0, whereas the loss gives the late replacement Plotkin an even (1-1) record in kickboxing competition.The Team Serra-Longo trained Plotkin is also the owner of a 1-1 record in professional MMA, too.

Speed was the key to victory for Georgian-born Davit Kiria as he beat opponent Murthel Groenhart to the punch for the majority of their three round bout. Kira's higher offensive output was enough to give him the nod on all three judge's scorecards.

For complete GLORY 10: "Los Angeles" results, including blow-by-blow coverage of the entire online pay-per-view (PPV) kickboxing card, click here.

Meanwhile, GLORY returns to action Oct. 12, 2013, with GLORY 11: "Chicago" live from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The show marks the promotion's debut on Spike TV in the United States, featuring a Heavyweight world title tournament.