Andy “The Machine” Ristie (44-3-1, 23 KOs) came, saw and conquered all before him to win the Glory Lightweight World Championship Tournament at the Theater in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. The 31-year-old Dutch-Surinamese kickboxer, who pocketed a tidy $150,000 in the process, made a huge statement in the semi-final when he knocked out the much-fancied Giorgio Petrosyan with a straight left in the third round that floored the Italian-Armenian, who was in no shape to continue.
It was Ristie’s left hand that also did the damage in the final against Robin van Roosmalen. In the second round, Ristie backed up van Roosmalen with series of left uppercuts that put “Pokerface” on the ropes. A hard right knee staggered van Roosmalen and then another perfectly timed left uppercut from Ristie ended proceedings.
“I told everybody before this tournament that I would be number one. I knew I was going to win. I trained really hard for this fight. I have a difficult style for people to fight against and I have the power to knock anybody out,” said the new Glory Lightweight Champion. “When Petrosyan went down I knew he was finished. I could feel it as soon as I hit him. I was really happy. People didn’t give me a chance in this fight but I proved them wrong. And I had the right tactics to beat Robin.”
Check out this post-fight interview with the new champion.
And check out this video of our photo shoot with the gorgeous girls of GLORY.
For Ristie, all the blood, sweat and tears is worth it for this moment:
