According to a Dec. 31 report from Bloody Elbow, Semmy Schilt won the Glory 4 Tokyo 16-man heavyweight tournament on New Year's Eve in Japan.
Schilt won four fights in one night to take home $400,000 in prize money.
“I’ve won many tournaments, but this is the best ever,” the towering (6-foot-11/2.12 meters) Schilt said afterwards. “It was a hard tournament with some very good fighters and some very hard fights for me and for everyone else. But, all the struggle is worth it to win a competition like this. GLORY is home to the best fighters in the worl! d and I am very proud to be the winner of (the league’s) first-ever Grand Slam tournament."
In the championship matchup, Schilt met Daniel Ghita, who had finished his semifinal fight in just 10 seconds by stopping the giant Ben Saddik with a left kick to the solar plexus.
As a result, Ghita was well-rested and less hurt than Schilt, who had persevered through a war with Saki. But near the end of a close first round, Schilt threw a perfectly-timed head kick and connected his shin cleanly across the side of Ghita’s head.
“This was not just a great New Year’s Eve event, it was a great martial arts event,” said GLORY Chairman Pierre Andurand. “I think that the skill and the courage that we saw in the ring tonight is really what the martial arts are all about. Perhaps it’s a bit of cliché seeing as we are in Tokyo, but I really do think we can say that the fighters tonight embodied the samurai spirit which all martial artists aspire to.”
The CBS Sports Network telecast of the GLORY 4 Tokyo – Heavyweight Grand Slam event will begin at 10:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. PST tonight, Monday, Dec. 31, with an immediate replay at 2a.m.EST/11p.m.PST.
CBS Sports Network is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 613 and Dish Network Channel 158. For more information, and to access the CBS Sports Network channel finder, go to www.cbssportsnetwork.com.
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