The most spectacular kickboxing fight of 2025 took place on June 14th 2025 at Glory 100 at Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam between Sergej Maslobojev and Tarik Khbabez. This fight was a rematch, as the two have previously fought on October 8th 2022 for the Glory Light Heavyweight Title at Glory Collision 4 at GelreDome in Arnhem, Netherlands. Then, Maslobojev managed to overcome Tarik by beating him via split decision.
This rematch, like the previous fight, was for the Glory Light Heavyweight Title and became a complete masterclass offered by Sergej Maslobojev.
Without further introduction, let’s move straight into the analysis of the fight itself.
Round 1: Maslobojev starts the round by throwing the first strike of the fight, a middle kick to the liver. Few seconds later, the Lithuanian pieces Khbabez with a quick series of jabs followed each time by a calf kick, to which the Moroccan responds with some shy calf kicks too. By the end of the first minute of round 1, Maslobojev already pieced Khbabez up with straight punches and devastating calf kicks to which Tarik had very few answers and was more on the back pedal. Sergej kept having this pace throughout the whole first round while Khbabez froze until the last minute of the round, when he finally channeled his inner aggression and started to swing at Maslobojev. In the last 30 seconds, Maslobojev managed to put Tarik down via a leg kick, but this strike was not scored a knockdown.
Result of round 1: 10-9 for Maslobojev on all 5 judge’s scorecards.
Round 2: Khbabez quickly starts the round by trying to strike with his left hand, but is immediately countered by Maslobojev’s right hook. Maslobojev stays pacient afterwards by landing a couple of inside low-kicks, calf kicks and a middle kick. Khbabez got warm and starts to wildly exchange out of anger wild combos with Maslobojev. Sergej responds, but he is put into some difficulty by the wilderness of Khbabez. Maslobojev then lands a beautiful jab-left hook-jab-inside back leg low-kick 4 piece combo on Khbabez and the Moroccan accuses Sergej that he threw the low-kick of that combo into his groin area. Maslobojev and Tarik exchange few hard strikes, Sergej clinches and is warned by the referee of the fight ,Youssef Akhnikh, that it is the second time that he clinched and that his next mistake of this kind could lead to a 1 point deduction. Round 2 ends with both getting a little bit tired and exchanging heavy blows.
Result of Round 2: 4 judges see it as 10-9 for Maslobojev, while the last fifth judge scores it 10-9 for Khbabez, which means the total scores are now 20-18 on 4 judges for Maslobojev and 19-19 for the remaining judge.
Round 3: Maslobojev starts the round by punishing Tarik with a series of fast jabs followed by calf kicks, to which Tarik responds by desperately clinching. Sergej is starting to feel confident and lands a solid right cross followed by a fast right cross left hook and right knee to the belly of Tarik, to which Khbabez responds by clinching again. Youssef separates them, and Tarik throws a series of punches ending with a low-kick on the back leg of Sergej, which Maslobojev blocks while seeming unfazed by it. Maslobojev responds by landing a very solid inside low-kick on the back leg of Tarik, which makes Khbabez almost go down. Sergej seems to be a little bit tired, as Tarik lands a solid right cross on his face and Maslobojev is cornered and forced to clinch, but the clinch is broke by Youssef. Khbabez gains confidence and tries to land more shots on Sergej, one of them is what he wanted to be a spinning back fist, but he manages to hit it with his his elbow, instead of his arm, so Youssef warns him to not do that again. The round ends by both swinging wildly, because they are visibly exhausted by the intensity of this fight, with both having their hits landed sometimes.
Result of round 3: 3 judges score the round 10-9 for Tarik and 2 judges score the round 10-9 for Sergej. The totals are now 30-27 for Sergej on 2 judge’s scorecards, 29-28 for Sergej also on other 2 judge’s scorecards and 29-28 for Tarik on just one judge’s scorecards while we approach the championship rounds.
Round 4: Khbabez, visibly affected by the fight, tries to unload on Maslobojev, but Sergej moves from the danger. Sergej then lands three extremely powerful calf kicks which make Tarik almost go down, again. After 30 seconds into the 4th round, Maslobojev lands a solid calf kick, which finally makes Tarik go down and is counted by Youssef. Maslobojev now is in complete control of the fight and goes after Tarik. Sergej puts him down again via a left hook to the body a few seconds after the half point of the round. Tarik impressively gets up, but only to get pieced up by another combo which includes a devastating left hook to the body and the final blow, another calf kick, which ends the fight as Tarik is counted for the 3rd time.
Result of the fight: TKO for Sergej Maslobojev !
Beyond the purely technical aspects of the fight, we had the opportunity to see the exponents of two almost diametrically opposed personalities. On one side we had the athletic, highly technical and precise Maslobojev, on the other side we had the warm-hearted, ultra-resistant and fearless Tarik. It was almost like a confrontation of essential principles, not between two people: technique versus endurance, high precision versus endless resistance. This time technique won out over endurance, but Tarik later had the opportunity to get his revenge, fighting against another great fighter, Bahram Rajabzadeh. But, more about this fight in a future article.
Unfortunately, Maslobojev was later accused by the gala organizers of doping, an accusation he categorically denied.
Until things are officially clarified, we are left with the memory of a spectacular, intense and at times unpredictable fight, the kind we rarely get the chance to see.
