Antonio Plazibat nearly scored the wrong kind of knockout on Saturday.
In a wild scene, Plazibat accidentally dropped referee Edward Strijkert with a wicked right hand at the end of the second round of his main-event battle against Tariq Osaro at GLORY Collision 5. Plazibat and Osaro were trading leather against the ropes in the closing seconds of the round when the bell sounded and Strijkert dove in to separate the fighters, only for him to eat a late punch from Plazibat, which immediately dropped Strijkert to his knees.
Video of the scene can be watched below.
The ref went down during the #COLLISION5 main event pic.twitter.com/04Bo5Iur3O
— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) June 17, 2023
Fortunately, Strijkert was able to escape relatively unscathed and GLORY officials brought in a new referee to finish out the match.
In the end, Osaro (25-2-1, 13 KO) defeated friend and teammate Plazibat (22-5, 16 KO) with a fifth-round knockout to capture the interim GLORY heavyweight title.
Check out the replacement referee and Osaro’s finish below.
Got a new ref #COLLISION5 pic.twitter.com/bEKHgjCPNc
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 17, 2023
Cookie Osaro capped off a flawless performance at #COLLISION5 with this finish... pic.twitter.com/7C5RzgPQMv
— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) June 17, 2023
