Varga: ‘I believe my team will win me the fight’

Gabriel Varga won the GLORY featherweight championship by way of a shutout performance against the world-class Mosab Amrani in April last year, but then lost the belt to Serhiy Adamchuk of Ukraine in his first defense. The decision was unanimous but the result did not reflect the closeness of the fight, nor the ineffectual nature of the refereeing. On Friday night, Varga gets a rematch with the man who dethroned him.

That first fight with Adamchuk, at GLORY 25 Milan in November, was marred by constant clinching from the then-challenger, who also had a habit of leading with his head when he went in to close up with Varga. One such instance early on opened a cut on the Canadian’s head.

Such things happen in fights, and he didn’t complain. But after then witnessing Adamchuk receive over twelve warnings for clinching without a point being deducted, Varga could be forgiven for wondering what was going on with the officiating.

“I’ve noticed inconsistency with that referee’s actions many times,” the soft-spoken karate black belt says of controversial official Stefano Valenti. “I couldn’t understand why a point wasn’t being taken off but I guess you can’t always rely on correct …

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