By Dwight Wakabayashi
Rising featherweight Rick (The Gladiator) Glenn is ready to step up to a bigger challenge this weekend as he will kick off the World Series of Fighting 2 card Saturday from Atlantic City, N.J. The 23-year old Roufusport-trained prospect from Iowa will take on undefeated Brazilian veteran Alexandre Pimentel in his first fight since running the table on his opponents last year.
Glenn looked like a man among boys in wins over Canadian prospects Tristan Johnson and Lyndon Whitlock in The Score Fighting Series in 2012, getting TKO stoppages over both. He also made waves by calling out Canadian and local favourite Chris Horodecki immediately after each victory. Fans were extremely excited and intrigued by a future Glenn-Horodecki clash, but SFS limbo made Glenn a free agent, and the WSOF quickly came calling.
It is a well earned step-up in calibre and profile for Glenn, who has a great opportunity to boost his profile in the world of MMA with a nice win over the unbeaten Brazilian grappling specialist Pimentel. Glenn is excited to make the next step and make a name for himself.
“It feels great, I’m finally moving up. I started fighting just after I turned 17 and have just been working my way up.”
The Iowa native trains at the famed and formidable Roufusport camp under the guidance of Duke Roufus and alongside the likes of UFC stars Erik Koch and Anthony Pettis. When many fans think of MMA in Iowa, they immediately think of the Miletich camp, and Glenn has six degrees of separation from there as well.
“I trained with Josh Neer for a while and he trained at Miletich,” Glenn said. “Then Erik Koch and I trained at Hard Drive and that was in Cedar Rapids and that’s not too far from Bettendorf, but I never did a chance to go to Miletich.”
Through training with Koch, Glenn was presented with a great opportunity to join Roufusport and train with the some of the very best fighters in the world.
It is always interesting to hear the differences and strengths of the many different, elite mixed martial arts camps out there. In Glenn’s eyes, technical training aside, it is pretty clear what Duke Roufus brings to his students day after day.
“Probably just the mindset and going in there like a Spartan. Duke is pretty crazy on the Spartan analogy of things, and we’re ready for battle. He really gets our minds right when it comes to fighting.”
The camp is also the home of Bellator welterweight champion and world class wrestler Ben Askren, and training with Askren will go a long way in rounding out Glenn’s extremely solid, all-around game. Glenn’s relationship with Askren runs a little deeper than just rolling in the mats, and he credits him for improving the level of everyone in the camp.
“He has helped us out a ton and he’s actually a good friend of mine too. It’s fun to spend time with him he’s a good guy too.”
While he’s focused on his opponent this weekend, Glenn still has his sights on a matchup with Horodecki down the line, if that could ever come to pass.
“If he signed with the World Series of Fighting I would still fight Horodecki, but I guess whatever they give me I’ll take,” Glenn said. “You know, I knew he was (the Score Fighting Series’) number one guy and I want to be the best so I need to fight good people and he would be a good person to beat.”
As an aside, I communicated with Horodecki as recently as last week and asked him if the WSOF would be an option for him and he replied “we shall see.” Horodecki is currently unsigned and Glenn vs. Horodecki would be a great match-up for a future WSOF event. Horodecki does have some ties to WSOF president Ray Sefo.
Back to Glenn, he is as physically gifted and tough as they come with a very long frame for featherweight, but his mental strength and ability to fight through adversity is not to be overlooked. Glenn fought Whitlock immediately after his dad had suffered a stroke, and he is facing more family adversity heading into this fight on Saturday.
“Now my sister is in the hospital, and she has cancer in her spine and it’s a tumour from her neck to her waist but they have to do radiation and stuff on it,” Glenn said. “My dad is doing okay now; he is recovering but now my sister has to deal with some stuff.”
Glenn has a warrior’s attitude towards the situation, and a plan on how to best deal with the adversity his family is facing.
“I just want to kick ass and go back and be with them.”
Glenn is considered one of the very best young prospects in the sport. With a win this weekend, you’d have to think it won’t be long before we see him on the biggest stage in the MMA world.
All quotes were taken from an interview with Carlin Bardsley on “In The Cage With Bards” on thenextsportstar.com.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report UFC and regular contributor to Sportsnet.ca’s UFC section. Follow him on Twitter @wakafightermma.
