GLORY 52 Odds: Van Roosmalen, VanNostrand Bring Melee to LA
- GLORY 52 takes place in L.A. this Saturday (March 31) at 11 PM ET.
- Featherweight champ Robin van Roosmalen looks to build on his legendary career.
- Can interim champ Kevin VanNostrand shock the kickboxing world?
GLORY 52 will be bringing its brand of high-octane kickboxing action back to Los Angeles this weekend, and it features a main event that should have every fan in the Long Beach Arena standing.
GLORY featherweight champion Robin van Roosmalen will be going up against the interim champ, Kevin VanNostrand, in a title unification bout between two aggressive fighters who love to throw bombs.
Also on the main card, former middleweight champ Simon Marcus returns to action to take on Zack Wells, while UFC veteran Chris Camozzi goes for two consecutive wins in the GLORY ring when he faces Mike Lemaire.
It should be a great night of kicks to the body and punches to the skull. Following on the heels of our successful GLORY 51 picks, let’s get to our official predictions for the GLORY 52 main event.
The main card streams live at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN3. Additionally, GLORY content can now be found on XUMO.
Van Roosmalen (c) vs. VanNostrand (ic): Featherweight Championship
| FIGHTER | SBD’S ODDS TO WIN | IMPLIED PROBABILITY |
|---|---|---|
| ROBIN VAN ROOSMALEN | -400 (1/4) | 80% |
| KEVIN VANNOSTRAND | +400 (4/1) | 20% |
Robin van Roosmalen (39-7) is already considered one of the greatest to ever step foot in a kickboxing ring and this Saturday the only GLORY fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes (lightweight and featherweight), is looking to add another notch to his historic rise when he faces the interim featherweight champ Kevin VanNostrand (17-1).
As the old adage goes, styles make fights, and everything that VanNostrand does well, the champ does better.
The interim title was created when featherweight champ van Roosmalen was thought to be facing extended time off to recover from an eye injury. Fortunately for the champ, his demise was greatly exaggerated and has recovered in time to face a man who fights a similar “fast and blast” style of kickboxing.
American kickboxer VanNostrand won the interim featherweight championship after knocking out Anvar Boynazarov with a nasty left knee to the liver. He looks to become the first American to win GLORY gold, but there are many who don’t give him a chance to complete what would be a massive upset.
VanNostrand definitely deserves to be in the championship spotlight but he is at both a skill and experience disadvantage against van Roosmalen. As the old adage goes, styles make fights and everything that VanNostrand does well, the champ does better.
VanNostrand brings explosive power and a karate background that has made him a great counter puncher. Like the champ, he loves to pressure his opponents, but what makes him truly dangerous is his penchant to throw strikes from a variety of weird and unorthodox angles. It’s that kind of unpredictability that could benefit the American, plus the fact that he holds a higher striking accuracy at 52.8% and landing ratio at 12.85 strikes per minute.
The problem is that, as talented as VanNostrand is, for him to be effective he needs space to work, and van Roosmalen’s style is to pressure his opponent until they break and then he finishes them. Nobody does it better than “Poker Face” and, along with his world-class cardio, all he needs is short punches to generate the power to knock his opponents out.
VanNostrand doesn’t really offer much the champ hasn’t seen before, there is a huge difference in experience in that van Roosmalen has faced tougher competition and has a resume with a kill list full of the who’s who of the sport’s pound-for-pound rankings. He holds wins over Artur Kyshenko, Marat Grigorian, Murthel Groenhart and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, and he’s undefeated since dropping weight classes, too.
Betting Advice: Van Roosmalen has given VanNostrand “a 0.01% chance of winning this fight” and although we think it’s higher than that, the best VanNostrand can hope for is a lucky strike or getting this fight to the scorecards in hopes to squeak out a controversial decision. The smart money is on van Roosmalen.
Predicted Winner: Robin van Roosmalen (-400)
Trevor was Sports Betting Dime’s resident geek (aka: entertainment writer) from 2016-18. He also moonlights as a national film reviewer for other publications. He comes equipped with diplomas in marketing and broadcast journalism with a PHD in couch lounging.
