GLORY 71: Van Soest Finally Beats Meksen, Regains Gold
Anissa Meksen was denied her 100th win and another successful title defense, as Tiffany Van Soest, the inaugural GLORY women’s super bantamweight champion, won the trilogy fight and regained the title in the main event of GLORY 71 in Chicago.
#ANDNEW!!!@TiffanyTimeBomb is back on top! #GLORY71 pic.twitter.com/EaVgDWhzet
— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) November 23, 2019
The fight got off, yet again, to a very even start. Meksen worked her distance by trying to make Van Soest miss before going in with her own attack. Van Soest, however, landed a couple of clean strikes with spectacular technique, including a high kick that connected late in the round.
Van Soest mixed things up in the second, consistently changing levels and landing when she could find an opening. By the end of this round, all three judges had things even.
The back-and-forth exchanging continued, though Meksen suffered a mousse around her right eye in the third. And by the next round, it was Van Soest who turned the tables and had better distance work, and she continued to bruise up the area under Meksen’s eye. While Meksen still kept an active pace in the later stages of the fight, Van Soest’s strikes looked sharper.
Van Soest, however, was warned multiple times throughout the fight for spinning elbows. After an exchange in the fifth round, and already being threatened with a potential point deduction, the referee warned her it was “getting close” but did not take a point away.
Ultimately, the judges gave the contest to Van Soest, with two scoring it 48-47 and one 49-46.
Main Card results:
GLORY women’s super bantamweight championship: Tiffany van Soest def. (c.) Anissa Meksen via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
Benjamin Adegbuyi def. D’Angelo Marshall via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Mike Lemaire def. Malik Watson-Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Lowrant-T Nelson def. Ammari Diedrick via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
SuperFight Series results:
Arkadiusz Wrzosek def. Demoreo Dennis via TKO (Rd. 2, 2:59)
Nick Chasteen def. Seijo Imazaki via TKO (corner stoppage) (Rd. 2, 3:00)
Aline Pereira def. Crystal Lawson via TKO (strikes) (Rd. 1, 0:59)
Thomas Jenkins def. Andrew Navickis via KO (Rd. 2, 2:18)
Arthur Sorsor def. Matt Zilch via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Prelims results:
Justin Moss def. Kuchlong Kuchlong via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)