Former NFL player and WWE champion Bill Goldberg has teamed up with Glory World Series to bring kickboxing to the forefront of the combat sports world. Goldberg, who practices muay-thai at 272 pounds, recently hosted Glory’s Top Ten Knockouts on Spike TV and will definitely be watching the kickboxing league’s first event in the middle east; Glory 20: Dubai. The event will feature two championship bouts, one of which is the first-ever featherweight world title match and a middleweight No. 1 contender tournament.
It’ll be quite a show, as a leadup, M&F caught up with Goldberg, the self proclaimed “face and mouth of Glory,” to talk training, his kickboxing debut, and much more.
M&F: What is your role with Glory right now?
Goldberg: We are actively seeking the most appropriate position for me in the company. I am a member of Glory’s family right now but as far as a title I don’t have one. I am stepping in as the face of Glory and I want to openly be both the face and the mouth of Glory. I’d love to head this company, run it into the future, and be more successful than any combat league other there. That’s my goal.
Why was now the time for you to step in? How long have you been a fan?
I’ve been a fan of the Glory concept since the K1 days and beyond, so for a very long time. I would love to see more Glory on television and I’m fighting to make that happen. I’m a huge fan, whereas sometimes you get people who have a disconnect with the company that they represent and you can see through their spiel and know they are just a figurehead. I know these fighters. I see their struggles and I want to help.
M&F: What’s your training routine like?
I train 3-6 days a week at Extreme Power Muay Thai in Oceanside, CA. I do muay thai during the day then I lift at night at my house. Yesterday was an hour of boxing and today we’re going to do the “hour of power.” It’s an hour of throwing 100% heavy, full power shots. You start with a jab, follow with a right cross, follow that with a hook, follow that with another right cross then you deliver a kick all at 100% and that goes on for an hour. Don’t think for two seconds that I’m training 3-6 days a week if I don’t intend to ultimately fight.
M&F: When can we expect to see Goldberg in a Glory fight?
Two months after the first conversation I had with Glory I was offered a fight, and it was just way too soon. If Goldberg is going to fight there has to be the proper build up. I’m seriously considering taking a fight at Glory but it sure as hell isn’t going to be within the next couple months. I got to have the proper training camp and it’s not a one shot deal; there’s a very strategic plan that we are trying to put into place.
M&F: How does Glory set itself apart from other combat sports brands?
Once that bell rings there is not a second where the opponents are not trying to knock each other out, as opposed to mixed martial arts where strategy is employed to win the fight using other techniques. Everything that you get in a wonderful MMA fight pinning two stand up guys together is what you are going to get every single fight on a Glory card. It’s three, 3-minute rounds. In that period of time, you either knock out or you get knocked out.
M&F: How does Glory expand its reach within the U.S.?
We haven’t had an American heavyweight boxing champion in a while, and I see that becoming a problem in MMA and Glory too. To get the U.S. fans more interested you have to have more shows on U.S. soil and you have to build U.S. fighters so that the general public here have more people to cheer for. Making the fighters more relatable is a critical part of expansion.
