Golyaev Enters K-1 MAX! Hunt Vs. Schilt II?

The opponent of Yoshihiro Sato at the K-1 MAX event in February will be SENGOKU veteran Sergey Golyaev. Of course Golyaev is being marketed as the man who defeated Gomi. It seems that K-1 fighters vs. MMA fighters will be one of the focuses of FEG in 2009. Add to this that FEG president Tanigawa has said that he wants a rematch between Kawajiri and Kozo in February and I imagine that the FEG dislike among hardcore Japanese MMA fans keeps growing.

Mark Hunt might rematch Semmy Schilt in 2009. However, this time it would be under MMA rules.

Kanehara stomping Ninomiya. - GBRing.com

Team ZST fighters Masanori Kanehara and Tokuaki Ninomiya held an open training session today in preparation for their February 1st fights in Pancrase. Look for the winner of Kanehara and Kenji Arai to end up in the SENGOKU GP.

Ishii Vs. Couture Sparring Footage! Zuffa And FEG Talent Exchange?

A Japanese TV clip of Satoshi Ishii’s visit in Las Vegas for UFC 92 has been uploaded on YouTube. The video includes footage of Ishii sparring with Randy Couture at Xtreme Couture among other things.

In preparation for their debut in Germany, the UFC have approached a few FEG fighters. A recent Sherdog.com article tells about the UFC 93 visits of Semmy Schilt and Alistair Overeem and a possible talent exchange between FEG and Zuffa. The article also includes some information on what Mirko might do next and possible opponents for him if his next destination becomes the event in Germany.

Melvin Manhoef talks with FightLine.com after one of the biggest wins in his career. The interview includes issues such as comments on the fight and his “retirement” from a while ago.

DREAM Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi speaks about his ambitions to move up in weight classes in a recent article at FightLine.com.

March Participation Doubtful! KID Still Not Completely Healed

Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto says that his knee has not completely healed yet so a March participation in the DREAM Featherweight GP is doubtful. He can’t train at 100% now so even if his knee heals until then he won’t be at his best. His plan is to come back in April and after. Will he get seeded into the second round?

SHOOTO Tradition 5! Rumina Sato In Shootboxing

SHOOTO Tradition 5 is taking place right now and the announcement by Rumina Sato is that he will be joining his fellow SHOOTO fighter Mamoru and participate on the Shootboxing card on February 11th.

In the important fights for DREAM/SENGOKU, KODO defeated Takahiro Kosoi by KO in the 2nd round and the other two have not started yet. There is a live result post at Japan-MMA where you can check the results live.

Update: Omigawa vs. Ishiwatari ended in a draw. However, it was only a two round fight. Hopefully Omigawa gets a spot in the SENGOKU GP after a good debut at Featherweight (Lightweight in SHOOTO).

Update #2: Boku vs. Endo also ended in a draw. Both of these guys deserve to be in one of the big organizations.

Pre 2009 Featherweight GP’s! Rumina Sato To Make GP Announcement On Sunday?

The GP’s are getting closer and a lot of rumors and news have started to emerge. Rumina Sato just posted on his blog that he is planning to make an announcement about a fight outside of Shooto at the Shooto event on Sunday.

Pre 2009 Featherweight GP’s! Sandro Confirms SENGOKU Participation

A lot of news today. Another one from Tatame where Featherweight King Of Pancrase Marlon Sandro confirms his participation in the SENGOKU GP. I’m not sure but I think he says something about Takaia (Hiroyuki Takaya?) also participating at the end of the article. If anyone reads Brazilian Portuguese please help.

He also says that WVR will bring fighters from Pancrase, SHOOTO, DEEP, and the WEC.

SENGOKU VII
Date: March 20th, 2009
Place: National Yoyogi Stadium 2nd Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan

Possible GP Participants:
Alexandre Franca Nogueira
Marlon Sandro
Hiroyuki Takaya

Possible Fights:
Roger Gracie vs. Jeff Monson

Possible Participants:
Pawel Nastula

April Return For J.Z.?! Monson Vs. Roger In March?

J.Z. Calvan To Return In April?

J.Z. Calvan talks in a new article at Tatame. The most interesting part of it via Google translate:

The expectation now is to Gesias to fight for the Dream in April. “I must return to fight in March or April. The most certain is that in April, more so I do not have a date and not the opponent. With Hansen I know that is not because he will be away for at least six months and this year also will not have a GP in my category, because the Dream will make a GP’s featherweight category (63kg) and the welterweight (77kg) ” , Gesias finalized.

Jeff Monson Vs. Roger Gracie In March?

According to a guy from ESPN The Magazine at MMA Live #36, Jeff Monson might be fighting Roger Gracie at SENGOKU VII in March. However, Monson probably has some other things on his mind at this moment. You can read about that here and here.

You can watch the whole MMA Live episode here.

SENGOKU VII
Date: March 20th, 2009
Place: National Yoyogi Stadium 2nd Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan

Possible Fights:
Roger Gracie vs. Jeff Monson

Possible Participants:
Pawel Nastula
Alexandre Franca Nogueira

Puroresu! Minowaman Vs. Minoru Suzuki

Pancrase Veterans Clash! - Kamipro.com

The first match for the DEEP & CMA Fan Thanksgiving card was announced today and it is a Pro Wrestling match between Pancrase veterans Minowaman and the 2nd King Of Pancrase, Minoru Suzuki. I think this might be Minowaman’s Pro Wrestling debut. Also announced as participants were Ryushi Yanagisawa, Kousei Kubota, Dynamite!! participant Yukio Sakaguchi, Daijiro Matsui, and Makoto Kato. This card will feature matches with many different rules such as MMA and Pro Wrestling.

DEEP & CMA – Fan Thanksgiving 2009
Date: February 10th, 2009
Place: Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

Puroresu Rules:
Minowaman vs. Minoru Suzuki

Participants:
Kazuo Takahashi
Ryushi Yanagisawa
Kousei Kubota
Yukio Sakaguchi
Daijiro Matsui
Makoto Kato

Pre 2009 Featherweight GP’s! Brazil

News

In a new Tatame article, Alexandre Franca Nogueira once again talks about being close to signing with WVR. Google translation:

“I’m hoping to finish my suspension, which has now in March, to return to fight, but I want to return to Japan My career was born there, where there was conquered my biggest wins and I go back to the land of the rising sun and stay there until the end of my career, “said the king of the guillotine. And everything suggests, Small may be going to the Sengoku, which this year intends to hold a GP to 65kg, where the weight brazuca made the most of their struggles. “The Sengoku came into contact and my manager is negotiating my return to Japan,” revealed.

Realistic Participants

Alexandre Franca Nogueira – Former SHOOTO champion “Pequeno” Nogueira hasn’t fought much in the last 3 years and when he has fought it hasn’t gone well for the most part. However, with hsi experience and deadly guillotine he will be one of the guys to look out for in the SENGOKU GP where it looks like he will end up.

Bibiano Fernandes – The HERO’S veteran fought two of the best fighters in the world in his first three professional fights and did well (many in Japan even thought he defeated KID). Now he has fought a couple of fighters that are a little closer to his level in Canada and won. Hopefully we will see him in the upcoming DREAM GP.

Dark Horses

Rafael Assuncao – With victories over Joe Pearson and Jorge Masvidal and with his only loss being an arguable decision loss against Jeff Curran, Rafael Assuncao is someone to look out for if he takes a spot in one of the GP’s.

Renan Barao – The exciting Nova Uniao fighter Renan Barao has won 13 fights in a row in Brazil. It might be time for this prospect to move on to one of the bigger stages and with his exciting style and ground game, he could become one of the next popular fighters in Japan.

Monma Vs. Ikemoto! Winner Enters DREAM?

Ikemoto Vs. Monma. - GBRing.com

Hidetaka Monma Vs. Seichi Ikemoto

DREAM veteran Hidetaka Monma vs. Seichi Ikemoto was announced for the DEEP 40 IMPACT event on February 20th today. Seichi Ikemoto is the DEEP Welterweight champion but the fight will not be for the title. However, DEEP boss Saeki said that he wants it to be a fight in which the winner enters DREAM.

Could we see one of these fighters in the DREAM Welterweight GP this year?

Update: They’re hinting that the winner of this fight will be in the GP on the DREAM site. So expect the winner of this fight to be one of the participants.