Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong and Dylan Salvador had met in the ring on two occasions prior to tonight's GLORY 39 SUPERFIGHT SERIES main event lightweight title showdown and were tied at one win each.
That made this bout both a tie-breaker and a title fight, adding an extra edge to it for both participants as they sought to emerge the best-of-three winner and prove themselves the better man. And with Salvador being the winner of the most recent of the two fights, there were plenty of pundits who felt that he was the favorite going into this one.
Sitthichai certainly wasn't taking him lightly. In pre-fight interviews he observed that Salvador being a fellow southpaw meant that many of the advantages he enjoys against orthodox opponents were negated. He had also learned to respect the Frenchman's leg kick abilities after taking a lower-limb hammering in their second encounter.
The Thai champion was right to be wary; Salvador turned the heat up early in the fight and gave him one of the hardest first rounds he has had from any opponent in GLORY. Being a Muay Thai stylist and a southpaw himself, Salvador is able to play Sitthichai at his own game in many respects.
One interesting result of that was the clinching. Instead of ending in stalemates which had to be separated by the referee, the two would work knees in the clinch and keep it fluid, allowing the referee to sit back and let the situation resolve itself.
Knees are the Sitthichai key weapon. They have won him many a fight and they proved pivotal in this encounter too. Salvador's output was frequently proving as effective as Sitthichai's, if not more than, but Sitthichai was landing frequent hard knees to Salvador's body and they would turn out to be money in the bank.
Three rounds in Salvador began to tire a little, possibly as a result of the constant attacks on his midsection, and Sitthichai started being able to overpower him. Sitthichai turned the pace up, hammering Salvador's body with punches, kicks and more knees.
The relentless pressure from Sitthichai continued in the next round and Salvador started wilting. He found himself on the ropes and Sitthichai stepped in to lock up a clinch and hit him in the body with a knee. It had a visible effect; the knee that followed a second later had even more of an effect. Salvador slumped to the canvas.
It was immediately clear he would not be beating the count. The referee counted to ten and Salvador stayed down, ending the fight with a knockout that called to mind his finish of Davit Kiria at GLORY 22.
Sitthichai remains the holder of the lightweight crown. The question now is, who can challenge him?
