Christian Baya

Born in Germany but resident in the Netherlands from a young age, Chris ‘Bad News’ Baya fights under the flag of Angola, which is his mother’s home country.   These days Angola, the seventh-largest nation in Africa, is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. But when Baya’ mother left, it was wracked by civil war and upheaval.   Maybe fighting is in his blood. When he was a child, he was so boisterous and so loved scrapping with other boys, his parents nicknamed him ‘Tyson’.   Despite that, he wasn’t allowed to train in fight sports because his mother forbade it. It was only when he reached his teens that he was able to take matters into his own hands and begin covertly training in Muay Thai and kickboxing.   Baya is said by his team mates to be “a lightweight who hits like a heavyweight” and several GLORY opponents have testified in similar fashion.   He came into GLORY on a few days’ notice, accepting a late notice call up to face Josh Jauncey at GLORY 35 NICE.    They had a war before he came away with the decision win; it was only afterwards that he noticed he had suffered a broken arm from a Jauncey kick at some point in the fight.    These days he’s a contender in the GLORY lightweight division, a fighter in the aggressive, explosive style which is the trademark of Mike’s Gym, his home team.