Jason Wilnis

Early career and It's Showtime title win

Wilnis was born in Utrecht, Netherlands to Surinamese parents. He was keen football player until he followed his older brother, Jahfarr Wilnis to The Colosseum Gym in Utrecht to train kickboxing at the age of 17. He had his first fight not long after he started training.^[6]

When Sahak Parparyan vacated his It's Showtime title, Jason jumped in and challenged Alex Pereira on 10 November 2012 for the It's Showtime 85MAX championship in São Paulo Brazil at It's Showtime 60 event, becoming last It's Showtime champion by 2nd-round TKO. He dropped Pereira three times in round with low kicks.^[7]

On 28 September 2013 he participated in Glory 10: Los Angeles - Middleweight World Championship Tournament, losing in the semi-finals to Artem Levin by judges unanimous decision.^[8][9][10]

He fought Sahak Parparyan in the semi-finals of the Glory 14: Zagreb - Middleweight Contender Tournament in Zagreb, Croatia on March 8, 2014, losing by split decision after three even rounds.^[11][12][13]

Glory Middleweight Contender tournament

He was expected to face Miroslav Cingel at FFC11: Sanchez vs. Bekavac on April 4, 2014, but replaced with Sahak Parparyan because of back injury.^[14] He next fought Tomáš Šenkýr at Gibu Fight Night, winning the fight by unanimous decision. Returning to Glory, Wilnis was scheduled to fight the #2 ranked Wayne Barrett at Glory 18.^[15] Wilnis won the fight by unanimous decision.^[16] He next took part in the 2015 Glory Middleweight Contender tournament, held during the Glory 20: Dubai event. He won the semifinal bout against Alex Pereira by unanimous decision, but lost the final against Simon Marcus by split decision.^[17]

Moving briefly away from Glory, he fought David Keclik at FFC 19 - Linz.^[18] He won the fight by TKO, after Keclik retired at the end of the second round.^[19]

Glory Middleweight title reign

In his next fight, Wilnis fought Joe Schilling in a GLORY Middleweight title eliminator, coming into the fight as heavy underdog.^[20] Schilling won the fight by TKO due to injury, as Wilnis was forced to withdraw due to a broken toe.^[21] He rebounded from this loss with a majority decision win against Wang Chongyang at Kunlun Fight 37. He then fought Filip Verlinden at Glory 28: Paris,^[22] and won by unanimous decision.^[23] At Glory 30: Los Angeles, he fought a rematch with Joe Schilling,^[24] whom he beat by majority decision.

This three fight winning streak earned Winis the chance to challenge Simon Marcus for the Glory Middleweight championship at Glory 33.^[25] Despite a slow start to the fight, Wilnis began to take over as the fight went on and won the fight by TKO in the third round, managing to knock Marcus down three times in the third round.^[26]

For his first title defense, Wilnis was scheduled to fight Israel Adesanya at Glory 37.^[27] Wilnis won the fight by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47), although the fight results were considered controversial by many media members.^[28][29][30]

For his second title defense, Wilnis was scheduled to fight a trilogy match with Simon Marcus at Glory 40: Copenhagen.^[31] He lost the fight by split decision.^[32]

Post title reign

Wilnis' losing streak extended, as he lost the next two fights as well, losing by TKO to Yousri Belgaroui^[33] and losing by split decision to Simon Marcus.^[34] He arrested the losing streak with a third round TKO of Jacob Rodriguez at Glory 63.^[35]

He then fought Alex Pereira at Glory 65 for the Glory Middleweight Championship. He lost the fight a flying knee knockout,^[36] which was later named by Combat Press as the 2019 "Knockout of the Year".^[37]

Wilnis then fought Donovan Wisse at Glory 70: Lyon.^[38] He lost the fight by unanimous decision.^[39] His losing streak extended to three, as he lost to Vladimir Idranyi by unanimous decision.^[40]