Video: The K-1 Glory 80 tournament was cancelled during the evening. The reason for this was a riot in the stands during the evening’s

A kickboxing gala called Glory 80 held in Belgium had to be cancelled due to a riot in the auditorium . In an official statement, the organisation regrets that the decent fans were not given a proper completion of the tournament.

The Glory 80 kickboxing tournament was supposed to be a celebration of the sport

Another Glory 80 kickboxing tournament was scheduled to take place on Saturday night in Hasselt, Belgium, but had to be cancelled due to security reasons. The reason for the cancellation was due to riots among fans during the main pre-fight of Hari vs. Wrzosek.

The atmosphere in the Trixxo Arena in Hasselt was tense from the very beginning. Especially the large groups of fans of the two featured fighters of the night, Dutch fighter Badr Hari and Polish fighter Arkadiusz Wrzosek, were loud.

Expectations were high for the rematch after the legendary first fight between these two men in September 2021, when Poland’s Wrzosek recovered from three knockdowns from his opponent to deliver a devastating head kick in the second round to score a historic victory.

In Saturday’s rematch, Hari again scored an opening round knockdown, but was again knocked to the floor in the second after a crushing knee from the Pole. Although the Dutchman of Moroccan descent got back to his feet, the expected third round was not to be.

The gala had to be cancelled due to a riot in the audience

It is not known exactly what caused the riot in the auditorium, but garbage, drinks and even chairs were flying through the air. Despite several warnings from the event organisers or pleas from the duel participants themselves, the situation did not calm down. Although security tried to bring the situation under control, police reinforcements had to arrive at the scene.

According to the website Planetsport.com, Wrzosek was supported in the arena by fans of the Legia Warsaw football club, which the fighter himself supports. They were allegedly joined by supporters of the friendly Dutch club ADO Den Haag. There were also a large number of Hari’s fans known as the “Badr Army” who followed the 37-year-old kickboxing and MMA legend to Belgium.

In a statement, the Glory organisation said it regretted the decent fans and athletes

The organisation has issued a statement saying it deeply regrets the unfortunate situation. “We deeply regret that Glory 80 was interrupted by people who exhibited dangerous behaviour,” said the statement from the Glory organisation, which has been organising kickboxing tournaments for a decade.

“We never condone or accept behaviour that endangers other fans who come to our events to enjoy an evening of top sport,” the statement continued.

“We apologize to the fans who did not see the end of this fight and the main event of Ben Saddik vs. Rigters,” bemoaned the organization, which canceled the event at the request of police. “We also apologize to the athletes who trained so hard and were unable to compete. Martial arts is a sport of respect and fair fighting in and out of the ring,” Glory added.

Videos of the incident can be seen below.

The riots by groups of “fans” obviously cast a dark shadow over martial arts, which is one of the top sports at this level. Let’s hope we see as few images like this as possible at these sporting events.

Source: The Planet Sport