Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic wins decision at Glory 17
Jarrell Miller wanted revenge Saturday in the Glory 17 main event against Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic but instead ended up with his second decision loss to the Croatian legend. Scores were 29-28 (twice) and 30-27 for Cro Cop after three rounds of heavyweight kickboxing action in Los Angeles.
Much of the fight happened in close quarters, with Miller appearing to be the busier fighter, mostly with knees to the body. However, Cro Cop landed the more significant strikes, including two of his trademark head kicks in the final round.
Cro Cop also had to fight through several apparent accidental low blows from Miller. The brash New Yorker appeared to be wobbled by the first head kick from Cro Cop but regained his footing and fired back each time his older opponent landed with power.
A clearly disappointed Miller seemed to disagree with the decision in the close-fought fight after it was announced. Despite a lot of insults from the American all week long, Cro Cop embraced his opponent after the bout and brought him close to share some words.
Featherweight Tournament
In the Glory 17 featherweight tournament final, Shane Oblonsky faced off against Gabriel Varga. Varga advanced with a unanimous decision won on the strength of punch combinations against Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai.
Shane Oblansky sealed a fast-paced victory over Marcus Vinicius with a knockdown in the third round over his Brazilian opponent to advance to the finals. The pair met after about an hour of rest to decide the featherweight tourney winner.
A furious first round ensued with man having their moments. Oblonsky ended the round on his back from a sweep but landed his share of hard shots prior, as did Varga.
The second round saw Varga land numerous hard kicks to the body. Oblonsky fired back with punches but began backing up, apparently fatigued with his mouth open. However, Oblonsky refused to go away and finished the round firing back with all his might, though a bit off-balance.
The third round saw more of the same, with Varga landing more frequent and powerful shots while Oblonsky fired back his own punches gamely.
The American was hurt badly in the last fifteen seconds of the round, grimacing and limping, but made it to the final bell. In the end, Varga earned the unanimous decision with scores of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28.
Earlier in the night Andy Ristie ended his lightweight bout against Ky Hollenbeck in just thirty five seconds with two consecutive left hooks that knocked the American out.
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