United Glory: 2010-2011 Glory World Series 2nd Round - Jan. 30th

Dutch MMA and kickboxing promotion United Glory will be hosting a fairly impressive event in Charleroi, Belgium on January 30th. The Glory World Series 2nd Round will feature semifinal bouts in both the promotion's ongoing welterweight MMA and heavyweight kickboxing tournaments. Competitors in both tournaments secured their semifinal positions at United Glory's last event on October 16th. The welterweight MMA tournament promises some interesting match ups going forward, as John Alessio, Siyar Bahadurzada, Roan Carneiro, and Tommy Depret remain. Meanwhile, Gokhan Saki, Wendel Roche, Brice Guidon, and Mourad Bouzidi are to be featured in the heavyweight kickboxing tournament. The preliminary card will feature a number of Dutch, French, and Belgian fighters competing in both MMA and kickboxing bouts.

A quick look at the tournament bouts and a listing of the full fight card after the jump.

John Alessio vs. Siyar Bahadurzada: Alessio and Bahadurzada will meet in the first of the welterweight MMA semifinal matches. Since working Sergey Golyaev on the ground and securing his semifinal spot with a kimura, Alessio has also become the Tachi Palace Fights welterweight titleholder. Bahadurzada, the Afghani Golden Glory product and current Shooto 183lb. champion, floored Derrick Noble and forced a stoppage in his preliminary bout. Alessio's experience and well-rounded skill set could help provide some indication as to where Bahadurzada stands. Bahadurzada's last two losses came in 2008, as he was submitted by both Jorge Santiago and Kazuo Misaki. It will also be interesting to see how Alessio, whose only knockout loss came to Paul Daley in 2008, can manage Bahadurzada's size advantage and solid striking.

Roan Carneiro vs. Tommy Depret: UFC veteran Roan Carneiro will meet Belgian Tommy Depret in the other semifinal bout. A BJJ specialist training at American Top Team, Carneiro advanced to the semifinals after taking a decision victory over fellow Brazilian Luis Ramos. Golden Glory representative Tommy Depret surprised most everyone with his submission victory over David Bielkheden in the preliminary round of the tournament, catching Bielkheden in what looked a powerful guillotine choke. Depret has a few other wins via guillotine on his record, but a strong grappler such as Carneiro should present a very real challenge for Depret if the contest reaches the mat.

Gökhan Saki vs. Wendell Roche: I know what you're thinking - what about Saki's injuries?!? Well, in between talking about wanting to submit Manhoef and how awesome Khamal-Amrani was on Twitter (@gokhantherebel), he did say he should be good to go. So there. Moving on. Saki is a destroyer. He took Nikolaj Falin out with a liver shot in the preliminary round of this tournament. In a six month span prior to that, he took it to Singh Jaideep, and scored TKO wins over both Melvin Manhoef and Freddy Kemayo. Saki put it all out there against Daniel Ghita at the K-1 World Grand Prix before injury forced a stop to his bout with Alistair Overeem. Roche will meet Saki after scoring a TKO win over Stefan Leko in his preliminary bout. Since then, Roche has split two bouts, dropping a bout Dzevad Poturak in K-1 and topping Greek  fighter Andonis Tzoros at It's Showtime 44. While the result here may seem readily apparent, Roche does have it in him to compete with top fighters. In all, this may end up being a showcase bout for Saki.

Brice Guidon vs. Mourad Bouzidi: Guidon had a solid 2010, sporting an extra round decision over Hesdy Gerges in Milan last March. He also had solid showings in Muay Thai bouts both in Thailand and his native France, picking up two WPMF titles along the way. Guidon also holds a previous victory over Bouzidi from just over a year ago. Since the two met, Bouzidi has gone 3-1, losing against Badr Hari for the It's Showtime heavyweight title while also picking up a pair of consecutive victories over Anderson "Braddock" Silva.

MMA Welterweight Glory WS Tournament:
John Alessio vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
Tommy Depret vs. Roan Carneiro

Kickboxing Heavyweight Glory WS Tournament:
Gökhan Saki vs. Wendell Roche
Brice Guidon vs. Mourad Bouzidi

GLORY WS Super Fights:
Kriss Larcin vs. TBA (MMA)
Diallo Lassana vs. Tarek Mahillon (kickboxing)
Mike Wiatko vs. TBA (MMA)
Robin van Roosmalen vs. TBA (kickboxing)
Ismael Padavia vs. Olivier Pastor (MMA)
Frédéric Sinistra vs. Filip Verlinden (kickboxing)
Dion Staring vs. TBA (MMA)

GLORY WS Pre Fights:
Mustapha Asmaoui vs. Pierre Parmentier (MMA)
Rudy Demoulin vs. Sébastien Grandin (MMA)
Damien Berteaux vs. Christophe Chapuis (MMA)
Allan Gozdzicky vs. Hidouche Lahoucine (kickboxing)
Salvatore Casili vs. Danny Covyn (MMA)