GLORY Kickboxing’s Last Heavyweight Standing tournament is not officially a double-elimination format, but pre-tourney favorite Jamal Ben Saddik is officially out of the mix after suffering his second loss.

At the GLORY 103 pay-per-view on August 23rd, Phase 2 of the LHS tournament got underway, which included some fighters who had previously lost in Phase 1 as well as new competitors making their tournament debuts. The main event featured a Phase 2 clash between Levi Rigters, widely considered the No. 1 contender for heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven’s title, and Ben Saddik, a Muslim from Morocco who has twice challenged Verhoeven for the title. Beyond Kickboxing has Rigters ranked No. 2 in the world and Ben Saddik ranked eighth.

Rigters and Ben Saddik were supposed to meet in the main event of GLORY 80 back in 2022, but that fight was scrapped when, during an undercard bout between Badr Hari and Arkadiusz Wrzosek, a riot broke out in the crowd and the rest of the show was cancelled. Three years later, they finally made it happen. Ben Saddik, the bigger man at 6-foot-9 and 270 pounds, won the first round by tagging Rigters (6-foot-7, 245 pounds) with powerful right hands and a stiff jab. Rigters took the second round by utilizing his signature low kicks. In the third round, Rigters unleashed a spinning back kick that caught Ben Saddik in the liver and dropped him to his knees for the 10-count.

After the knockout loss, Ben Saddik posted on Instagram:

Al Hamdoulilah

Thank you all for the support.
Congratulations to @levirigters on the victory. After two strong rounds I went down to a perfectly executed backspin liver kick. The fight in August came a bit early for me due to my shin injury, but I’m grateful I was able to step in and fight.

Now my focus is on October I can’t wait to be back, In Sha Allah. 🔥👊🏽

Respect in defeat, hunger in the comeback.

It was Ben Saddik’s second loss in the Last Heavyweight Standing tournament. In April at GLORY 99, Ben Saddik won his opening tournament match against Cristian Ristea by unanimous decision. He advanced to the next round of Phase 1 at GLORY 100 in June, where he lost to Sofian Laidouni due to doctor stoppage after Ben Saddik sustained a deep gash on his shin. Perhaps due to the nature of that loss (he wasn’t exactly outdueled), or more likely due to his popularity, Ben Saddik was among the fighters who lost in Phase 1 but were brought back for Phase 2 and given a second chance to win the tournament. Following a second straight loss, he’s now out of contention.

However, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ben Saddik is tapped to meet Verhoeven again if the champion wants to fight between now and when he’d inevitably be contracted to defend his title against the Last Heavyweight Standing tournament winner. (Maybe Ben Saddik already knows something we don’t know, given his statement that he’s focused on October — GLORY 104 is on October 11th, and so far it hasn’t been announced whether Verhoeven is fighting on that card.) Ben Saddik, who is 38-11 (30 knockouts) with two no-contests, lost by TKO to Verhoeven in 2017 and 2021, with the latter being named GLORY Fight of the Year.

Also on the GLORY 103 card this past Saturday, welterweight champion Chico Kwasi successfully defended his title via decision over French-Moroccan challenger Mehdi Ait El Hadj; Moroccan heavyweight Nabil Khachab defeated Nathan Cook to advance in the LHS tournament; Turkish welterweight Tayfun Ozcan lost via decision to Don Sno; Laidouni, a French-Algerian Muslim, won his heavyweight tourney match against Turkey’s Cihad Kepenek; and Algeria’s Naim Hebbar lost a LHS match to Alin Nechita.