Junior Tafa with TKO victory on Glory Debut

PICTURED: JUNIOR TAFA & QUANCHAO LUO (CREDIT: JAMES LAW, GLORY SPORTS INTERNATIONAL)

Co-headlining the main card of Glory 46: China, Queensland based Junior Tafa has made the perfect start to his Glory career, stopping Chinese fighter Quanchao Luo via the three-knockdown rule in the first round of their bout.

Training out of Team Tafa in Toowomba, Tafa came to China looking to put on a show and leave himself in a position to be called up to future Glory cards with the impressive result. Both fighters went into the bout looking to land some heavy leather and fans in attendance were not left disappointed. Tafa was able to knock down Luo for the third time following a series of strong jabs, uppercuts and a crafty head kick to take the win. Under Glory rules, knocking an opponent down three times in one round calls for an automatic stoppage to the fight.

With plenty of talent already in the Glory heavyweight division, it will be interesting to see who Tafa’s next opponent will be and whether he can continue to ride the wave of momentum that has propelled him all the way to kickboxing’s biggest stage.

Successful debut for @JuniorTafa! The Samoan powerhouse knocks down Luo 3 times in the first round and gets the W! pic.twitter.com/8UcL0mqqTV

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) October 14, 2017

Also on the card, Hamilton-based New Zealand fighter Quade Taranaki made his unsuccessful Glory Kickboxing debut in the promotion’s four-man featherweight tournament. His opponent Chenlong Zhang took the unanimous points decision win in their semi-final bout before going on to win the tournament beating Masaya Kubovia in the final.

In the main event of the Glory Superfight portion of the event, Glory Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven predictably overcame aging UFC and Strikforce veteran Antonio Silva, via TKO in the second round. With the outcome of the fight never really in doubt, Verhoeven ended the exchange following a strong series of strikes that culminated with an impressive head kick. The referee stepped in to thankfully put a stop to the bout in the second round.

*Main image courtesy of Fight Network / James Law & Glory Sports International

RESULTS:

Main Card:

• Alex Pereira def Simon Marcus via Decision (Unanimous) – Glory middleweight title
• Chenglong Zhang def Masaya Kubovia Decision (Unanimous)
• Junior Tafa (Australia) def Quanchao Luo via TKO (Rd 1)
• Chenlong Zhang def Quade Taranaki (New Zealand) via Decision (Unanimous)
• Masaya Kubo def. Chenchen Li via KO (Rd 1)

Superfight Series:

• Rico Verhoeven def Antonio Silva via TKO (Rd 2)
• Wei Zhou def Andrew Walker via Decision (Unanimous)
• Alan Scheinson def Shanghai Gao via Decision (Unanimous)
• Honxing Kong def Yang Sun via KO (Rd 1)
• Liu Jia vs. Zaza Sor. Aree – No contest 
• Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao def Lei Xievia Decision (Unanimous)
• Pascal Schroth def Qinghao Meng via Decision (Split)