Murthel Groenhart KO's Harut Grigorian and then gets assaulted in the ring. Protect yourself at all times. Chaos. #GLORY42 pic.twitter.com/LraVpsL8HL
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 10, 2017
Today’s Glory 42 kickboxing card in Paris, France didn’t quite go as expected, as a welterweight fight between Murthel Groenhart and Harut Grigorian ended in confusion and chaos. And with fans assaulting one of the fighters.
During the second round of the fight, Harut Grigorian dropped his hands and turned his back on his opponent. Whether he was dazed from an earlier strike or had simply had enough, he unfortunately let his guard down. That led to Groenhart throwing a punch from behind that caught Grigorian unaware. He was instantly floored, bloodied. The crowd clearly felt a foul had been committed, though as the Glory announce team pointed out, “protect yourselves at all times.”
What happened next was even more shocking, as fans rushed into the ring to attack Groenhart. Whatever your thoughts on striking an opponent with his back turned, fan interaction of this kind is clearly unacceptable and should never happen, and “fans storm ring, assault fighter” should never be part of a headline. Sadly, that’s the case today.
You can witness the chaos yourself in the video above.
Thus far there’s no word on whether any charges have been laid. Talk immediately arose of a possible injury sustained by Groenhart as a result of the assault. The end result on the scorecards, once the chaos was over, was that Groenhart was awarded a KO victory, as the strike was ruled legal (much to the displeasure of fans in attendance). Per Glory, Groenhart has also secured a title shot with the win.
Glory 42 aired live on Fight Pass/ESPN from Paris, France at the Accorhotels Arena. The event also saw a light heavyweight tournament, and a headliner featuring a welterweight title fight between Cedric Doumbe and Nieky Holzken.
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