Plazibat and Rajabzadeh meet fans face to face at GLORY 107
Antonio Plazibat and Bahram Rajabzadeh won't be behind glass or surrounded by security on April 25. One hour before the first bell at GLORY 107 in Rotterdam, both fighters will stand in the same room as the people who came to watch them — shaking hands, signing autographs, taking photos. No barrier between athlete and fan. That almost never happens in combat sports. On this night, it does.
The hour most promoters throw away
Most fight organizations treat the hour before an event as dead time. Fans trickle in, the atmosphere hasn't built yet, and nobody quite knows where to put their energy. GLORY 107 turns that hour into something deliberate. Between 17:00 and 18:00, RTM Stage in Rotterdam opens an official fan zone — exclusively for ticket holders — where five fighters will be available in person. No rope line pulling you past them. No handler cutting the interaction short. Just fighters and the people who showed up to watch them compete.
The two names anchoring the experience tell you everything about the level GLORY is operating at right now. Antonio Plazibat has spent the last few years quietly becoming one of the most dangerous heavyweights in European kickboxing. His reputation has been built fight by fight, with a physicality and precision that makes opponents look unprepared even when they aren't. Bahram Rajabzadeh brings a different kind of electricity — the sort of explosive pressure that turns a good seat into a memory you carry home.
Joining them are Mory Kromah, Milos Cvjeticanin and Anis Bouzid. Another promoter would build an entire main card around those three names alone.
What the fan zone actually offers
Beyond the fighter access, the zone includes a strength machine called the Kraken, a championship belt available for photos, and official merchandise. None of these elements are revolutionary on their own. Together, though, they create something most combat sports events genuinely lack: a reason to feel connected before the action even starts.
That connection matters more than it might seem. A fan who shakes Rajabzadeh's hand before the fights begin watches his bout differently that night. There's a personal stake that a broadcast or a highlight clip simply cannot manufacture. GLORY seems to understand the difference between someone who watches a fight and someone who was there.
Why this reflects where kickboxing is heading
Kickboxing is pulling new audiences faster than most people in the sport expected. Champions from GLORY have been brought in to prepare UFC fighters for major bouts — a quiet acknowledgment from the mixed martial arts world of the technical standard these athletes carry. Social media has accelerated the growth, but a clip on a timeline fades. An evening in Rotterdam where you stood next to one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the sport does not.
GLORY 107 takes place on April 25 at RTM Stage. The fan zone opens at 17:00. The card that follows it is already one of the strongest the organization has announced this year. The doors open to a quiet venue. That won't last long.
