HAMPTON, Va. -- With a win over Australian Steve Moxon tonight (Feb. 6, 2015) in the featured match of GLORY 19's "Superfight Series" -- which will air next Friday on CBS Sports Network at 11 p.m. ET (more details here) -- Andy Ristie will most likely earn a the next crack at Lightweight champion, Robin van Roosmalen, next.
"I think I get a chance because I know it belongs to me already," the soft-spoken fighter told MMAmania.com this morning at Embassy Suites Hampton Roads Hotel. "But, now they give me a fight before the title."
In his first crack at the GLORY lightweight title at GLORY 14: "Zagreb," Ristie looked great early, but faded late and lost via technical knockout to Davit Kiria in a "Fight of the Year" candidate. Ristie bounced back with a vicious knockout win over Ky Hollenbeck at GLORY 17: "Los Angeles," while Kiria would go on to lose the belt to van Roosmalen at GLORY 18.
For Ristie, the title is a high priority, but he would like to face Kiria again at some point down the road.
"For now, I go only for the title because that is the most important thing," said Ristie, who defeated Samuel Paiva in his last bout in Dec. 2014 in his home country of Suriname. "I would still like a fight with Kiria because I know I had this guy for 4.5 rounds. It doesn't matter if we fight 10 rounds, I win them all. Maybe he wins one, but I know I can beat him."
The Surinamese fighter said he learned his lesson from the loss to Kiria and he has "trained harder and better" since then. "I changed my conditioning work and now I train for more rounds, too," he said.
"The Machine," who is now 7-1 in GLORY and 44-4-1 overall has "taken his rest" and "he is ready" for his battle with Moxon, he said.
"I don't take him by the look," he said, not underestimating his opponent. "I know his style and I think it will be a good fight."
Moxon is 38-10-1 and most recently defeated Aikpracha Meenayothin. The fight versus Ristie will be his promotional debut.
This will be the No. 1-ranked GLORY lightweight's fourth trip to the United States. He called the fans "great" and said "it is a very nice place."
When told of the news that CBS Sports will air his fight next week, he was happy to hear that more Americans will now be able to see him fight.
"That is very nice that people can see who I am and know me and I'll gain more fans."