Updated Golden Glory World Series Line-Up Disappoints

A few weeks ago we reported on the line-up Golden Glory had released for their upcoming World Series of MMA and Kickboxing, featuring names like Errol Zimmerman, Gokhan Saki, Shinya Aoki, and Paul Daley.  There had been talk for a few months about this event, but the line-up came out of nowhere, and particularly on the MMA side was stacked with some names that sounded almost too good to be true. 

Well, they were.

Now Golden Glory has a new line-up released, and the MMA side has been hit pretty hard.  Confirmed for the event now are just 3 names: Siyar Bahadurzada, Roan Carneiro, and Tommy Depret.  Aoki?  Gone.  Daley?  Gone.  As are Marius Zaromskis, Nick Thompson, and Diego Gonzalez.

Over on the kickboxing side, 6 names remain: Zimmerman, Saki, Stefan Leko, Anderson "Braddock" Silva, Brice Guidon, and Mourad Bouzidi.  Both Ruslan Karaev and Ashwin Balrak have been removed.

They also scaled back the schedule.  Originally announced was a quarter final event in October, semi finals in February, and finals in April.  Now the are looking at just the quarter finals in October and then a one night semi-finals and finals event in February.

I said when this was announced that Aoki's inclusion in particular stuck out to me as a bit worrisome, and unfortunately, I was right.  Whether Golden Glory announced these names before the contracts were finalized, or whether they were forced to make changes for some other reason, this is a pretty big bait and switch.  It's early enough that it's not a huge deal, but it definitely is not the best way for the company to launch what they hope to be a major event, as now every announcement will be in question. 

Personally, I still think at least this October event will happen, and given Golden Glory's strong stable of kickboxers, I think it will have a solid line-up on the kickboxing side.  But at this point, I'm not going to hold my breath for the planned February finale, or much big name non-Golden Glory talent.