Robin van Roosmalen

Robin van Roosmalen held GLORY titles in two divisions on the back of the most committed body attack in the lighter weights. Where most fighters invest in the body as a setup, van Roosmalen treated it as the primary target — repeated hooks to the ribs and liver that made opponents stop moving by the third round.

It is a strategy that only pays under a ruleset like GLORY's. With the clinch broken instantly and passivity penalised, a pressure fighter cannot be tied up or slowed, so the accumulation goes uninterrupted. Under Thai stadium rules the same approach would be smothered in the clinch.

His rivalry with Sitthichai defined the GLORY lightweight division for several years, and the two of them together are the clearest illustration of pressure-versus-counter as a strategic problem in the modern sport.