Fighting Mixed Combative 1! Korea Vs. Japan

Seven fights of Fighting Mixed Combative’s first event in Seoul on August 16th have been announced. As previously reported, the card will consist mainly of South Korea vs. Japan fights. While the Japanese fighters aren’t exactly the country’s strongest, FMC have managed to sign some solid Korean fighters such as DREAM and HERO’S veteran Dae Won Kim, SENGOKU Featherweight GP participant Kim Jong Man, Jang Yong Kim, and Hyun Gyu Lim. An exciting fighter in the Japanese side is Pancrase’s Hiroki “AB” Aoki.

Definitely some solid names considering it being their first event, with the Korea vs. Japan theme (the best Japanese fighters have no reason to fight in Korea as MMA looks today), and now being so close to August 16th. If someone can help with the names I don’t know/am unsure about, I would appreciate it.

Fighting Mixed Combative 1
Date: August 16th, 2009
Place: Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea

양동이 vs. Yuta Nakamura
Dae Won Kim vs. Yuji Hisamatsu
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. 메다 케이타로
Hoon/Hun Kim vs. Shuji Morikawa(?)
길영복 vs. Daisuke Endo
Whi Gyu Kim vs. 아사토 하시모
Bae Yong Kwon vs. Hiroki “AB” Aoki

Participants:
Du Jae Jeong
Jang Yong Kim
Jong Man Kim

K-1 Updates! Asia GP Complete

Both upcoming K-1 cards have been updated. The final participant of the Asia GP on August 2nd is Korean Yang Rae Yoo who will be taking on Takumi Sato.

K-1 World GP 2009 In Seoul -Asia GP-
Date: August 2nd, 2009
Place: Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea

Superfight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
9. Gohkan Saki vs. Pavel Zuravliov

Superfight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
6. 60kg: Jae Hee Cheon vs. Kim Tae Han

K-1 Asia GP 2009 Reserve Fight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
5. KOICHI vs. Yusuke Sakashita

K-1 Asia GP 2009 Fights (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
4. Ko Taisei vs. Min Ho Song
3. Park Yong Soo vs. Singh Heart Jaideep
2. Takumi Sato vs. Yang Rae Yoo
1. Kin Taiei vs. Sun Wu

Opening Fights (3×3):
-1. Hyun Man Myung vs. Nae Chul Kim
-2. 60kg: Joung Hyun Koh vs. Ik Hwan Chang

Three opening fights and the reserve fight for the August 11th final chance K-1 event have also been announced. Japanese karateka Yuki Nimura will take on United Kingdom’s John Love in the reserve fight while six Japanese fighters will look to become mainstays in K-1 in the opening fights.

K-1 World GP 2009 In Tokyo -FINAL16 Qualifying GP-
Date: August 11th, 2009
Place: National Yoyogi Stadium 2nd Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan

Superfights (3×3, 2×3 Ext.):
Keijiro Maeda vs. Jan Soukup
Peter Aerts vs. Yosuke Nishijima

World’s Last Preliminary GP (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
Melvin Manhoef vs. Ramazan Ramazanov
Daniel Ghita vs. Alex Roberts
Sergei Lascenko vs. Sebastian Ciobau
Rico Verhoeven vs. Brice Guidon

World’s Last Preliminary GP Reserve Fight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
Yuki Nimura vs. John Love

Opening Fights (3×3):
Katsuharu Ebisawa vs. Kazuo Doi
Kengo Shimizu vs. Shinkyu Kawano
Yuto Watanabe vs. Nobuhiro Ko

Semifinals Announced! Miyata And DJ Clash

DREAM.11 Taking Off - GBRing.com

The semifinal pairings of the DREAM Featherweight GP as well as the GP reserve fight were today announced for DREAM.11 in October. Hideo Tokoro will take on Hiroyuki Takaya in one semifinal and Joe Warren will face Bibiano Fernandes in the other. In the reserve fight, DJ.taiki, who had to pull out after the first round of the GP with an injury, will take on Kazuyuki Miyata, who has two straight victories since beginning his move to Featherweight.

Update: It seems that a survey at the event hall was made and that Tokoro facing a Japanese fighter got the most votes.

Update #2: Takaya wants to win both fights by KO. He’s not looking past Tokoro at all, he is very vary of his grappling, and he says that his summer is over now. Until October he wants to train mainly grappling and wrestling. He will train with members of WK who have a Wrestling background.

Update #3: On the other hand, Tokoro will go on a training camp with WBC Flyweight Champion Daisuke Naito in August.

Update #4: DREM EP Sasahara revealed that he is currently considering Tatsuya Kawajiri and Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto in single fights on DREAM.11. He is thinking seriously especially about “KID” since he lost by KO in his last fight.

HEIWA DREAM.11 Featherweight GP 2009 Finals
Date: October 6th, 2009
Place: Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan

DREAM Featherweight GP Final:
Tokoro/Takaya vs. Warren/Fernandes

DREAM Featherweight GP Semifinals:
Hideo Tokoro vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Joe Warren vs. Bibiano Fernandes

DREAM Featherweight GP Reserve Fight:
DJ.taiki vs. Kazuyuki Miyata

Super Hulk Tournament Semifinals:
Minowaman/Choi Hong Man/Sokoudjou/Gegard Mousasi

Possible Fights:
DREAM MW Title Fight: Ronaldo Jacare vs. Jason “Mayhem” Miller
DREAM LW Title Fight: Joachim Hansen vs. Shinya Aoki
Andrews Nakahara vs. Zelg “Benkei” Galesic

Possible Participants:
J.Z.Calvan
Kazushi Sakuraba
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto

Fighting Mixed Combative! Some Details Out

An FMC representative was interviewed by Russian site valetudo.ru recently. In the interview some more details of the organization came to light. This is what I got from translating with online translators and comparing them, if anyone who reads Russian could translate or confirm that what I write is correct, please go ahead.

It seems like the first event will take place on August 16th and be a Korea vs. Japan card (as previously reported) since August 15th is the day Korea got independent from Japan. Don’t expect much of this card if most fights are Korea vs. Japan.

The second event will take place at the end of September (25-26).

All contracts for the first card are already set, and they are currently working on completing the second one.

They plan to hold FMC events in Russia, Japan, and other countries next year.

It seems like soccer kicks will be prohibited but stomps will be allowed. The fights will take place in a ring and be 3 5 minute rounds (why!?).

It seems like they will use a GP system to crown champions similar to some Japanese organizations.

The representative says that there will be doping tests, and also health checks 7 days before the fight.

It seems like the participation of Igor is now not as sure as before. Ivan and Aleksander are signed though.

In Korea they will work with big TV channel MBC, and they have contacted foreign channels, but they don’t know what will become of that yet.

In 5 years they want to be an organization with many fans who like the organization.

K-1 Asia GP 2009! Jae Hee Cheon Returns

The fights for August 2nd’s K-1 World GP 2009 In Seoul event were announced today. In the 8-man Asia GP, DREAM veteran Kin Taiei will take on Sun Wu of China, Kyokushin Karateka Takumi Sato will take on an opponent yet to be announced, Taekwondo fighter Yong Soo Park will face J-NETWORK Heavyweight champion Singh Heart Jaideep, and Boxer Min Ho Song will battle Japanese Karateka Taisei Ko.

In a superfight on the card, the second man to have KO’d “KID” Yamamoto, Jae Hee Cheon, returns to take on Kim Tae Han in a 60 kg fight. In the second superfight, Gohkan Saki takes on Pavel Zuravliov of Ukraine.

K-1 World GP 2009 In Seoul -Asia GP-
Date: August 2nd, 2009
Place: Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea

Superfight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
9. Gohkan Saki vs. Pavel Zuravliov

Superfight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
6. 60kg: Jae Hee Cheon vs. Kim Tae Han

K-1 Asia GP 2009 Reserve Fight (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
5. KOICHI vs. Yusuke Sakashita

K-1 Asia GP 2009 Fights (3×3, 1×3 Ext.):
4. Ko Taisei vs. Min Ho Song
3. Park Yong Soo vs. Singh Heart Jaideep
2. Takumi Sato vs. TBA
1. Kin Taiei vs. Sun Wu

Opening Fights (3×3):
-1. Hyun Man Myung vs. Nae Chul Kim
-2. 60kg: Joung Hyun Koh vs. Ik Hwan Chang

WVR PR Speaks! Some SENGOKU Plans Come To Light

WVR PR Kokuho had an interview with sports site Sportsnavi which was put up today. Besides talking about the upcoming card, some future SENGOKU plans came to light.

Regarding a middleweight title fight, if Nakamura defeats Misaki the plan is to have him face Santiago in November.

When asked about the Light Heavyweight division Kokuho said that King Mo is the one who stands above the rest, and it seems like they are currently in talks about him fighting in SENGOKU’s September card. Mo is in the center of the division and a time for a championship fight is currently being thought about. Other names that are up there in the division are Kevin Randleman, Xande Ribeiro, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

About a future Gono vs. Takimoto Welterweight fight, Kokuho said that it has to be done eventually.

About the next SENGOKU NO RAN card, Kokuho said that the month isn’t decided yet, it’s either December or January.

MMA In Japan! Gono Blogs

New SENGOKU fighter Akihiro Gono wrote on his blog that SENGOKUG! on TV Tokyo will end in September. Some might remember an article from a month ago where there were rumors of TBS/other channels and SENGOKU. That article also said that SENGOKUG! would end in September. Could a possible reason for Ishii’s “late” debut be wanting a bigger and better TV deal beforehand?

However, WVR’s Kokuho told MMA magazine Gonkaku that he doesn’t want a TV deal just because of Ishii, he wants all SENGOKU fighters to be behind it. In the same interview Kokuho asserted that there won’t be any union with DREAM this year.

In FEG news, Sadaharu Tanigawa told Gonkaku that DREAM.12 will take place on October 25th in Osaka, one day before the K-1 World MAX 2009 Finals and less than three weeks after DREAM.11.

As for the cancellation of Affliction, it was going to be aired on PPV in Japan, a few hours before SENGOKU IX by the same PPV provider (the undercard for free on a pay channel). It was overshadowing SENGOKU by hardcore fans. DREAM even announced on their website yesterday that Shinya Aoki and Tsuyoshi “TK” Kohsaka were going to commentate the event, something I think people were looking forward to. So this could be a blessing in disguise for SENGOKU.

Update: A video of Gomi training for Affliction was uploaded on his site today. He hasn’t made a blog post or commented the cancellation yet. He actually hasn’t posted anything since the fight was announced, so he could have been in serious training for the fight (he felt like the same winds as the Bushido days were blowing in interviews after the Shooto fight and before this one).

Ishii X Baroni! Beach Training

Satoshi Ishii’s training in the U.S. is moving forward and it seems like he’s continued to work with Phil Baroni. At MMAJunkie.com a new gallery of recent training photos are available, and Ishii looks to be in even better shape than after his training in Brazil.

Check out the whole gallery of training pictures here.

Bellator FC Season 2! Bang Seung Hwan To Participate?

Bellator FC CEO Bjorn Rebney tells Korean site MFight about Bellator’s interest in Korea for their second season which will start in September or October. They want to invite more than one Korean fighter for the second season and are currently searching.

Fighters mentioned are SENGOKU veteran & Former DEEP Lightweight champion Bang Seung Hwan, SENGOKU Featherweight GP participant Jong Man Kim, DREAM Middleweight GP participant Dae Won Kim, and Neo Fight 12 tournament winner Doo Won Seo.

A possible Alvarez vs. Bang fight down the line is definitely something to be excited about. Alvarez could be in big trouble if Bang’s hand touches his face (thanks to GoForkYourself for the animations).

Source: Kamipro Korea Column

Final Preparations! The Ninth Unsheathing

I’ll be gone for around a week. So don’t worry if there aren’t any updates.

#14: “The Man Who Defeated Fedor” Has Arrived

Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov arrived to Japan yesterday and talked with the Japanese press today. Since he has trained in South Korea for this fight, there’s no jet lag. He says that his first impressions of Japan are good.

When talking about his victory over Fedor, Ivanov says that his life hasn’t really changed much and is as always. However, he says with a smiling face that he was happy to have been able to beat Fedor in the 70th year anniversary of Sambo.

Ivanov doesn’t really think that he has a strong point. He says that he’s OK if it goes to the ground or if it stays standing. He doesn’t mind whether he wins by KO or by submission.

Ivanov has seen Fujita’s old fights, especially impressive were his fights against Fedor and Karam Ibrahim. He thinks that Fujita’s right punch is strong and will be watching out for that in the fight. When asked about Fujita’s weak point, Ivanov said: “You’ll know after the fight”.

While his current objective is to defeat Fujita, his objective in SENGOKU is to try his hands on its Heavyweight division (he mentions Travis Wiuff, who defeated Fujita last year).

#13: Kitaoka Owning People

Footage of Satoru Kitaoka owning some other professional fighters like Caol Uno in grappling training at Lotus PARAESTRA.

#12: Gono – Better Than Ever

Better than ever. - GBRing.com

Akihiro Gono had an open training session at GRABAKA in Tokyo today. He says that his weight cut is going according to schedule, and that he only has 6 kg left to cut to get to 76 kg.

Since March of this year Gono has had “Strongest Referee” Ryogaku Wada as a physical trainer. Gono says that the quality of his muscles has gone up. Gono didn’t really see much difference in the mirror in the beginning, but fellow GRABAKA member Yuki Sasaki told him: “You didn’t have any strength around the time you fought John Fitch, but now it’s different”.

To show his new confidence, Gono not only displayed his strong point (striking) in his public training session, he also displayed middle kicks as well as front kicks.

All preparations for his entrance is ready (costumes, meeting with staff, etc.). All that’s left is to perform. He didn’t reveal anything about the performance though.

About his opponent, he has only seen his one SENGOKU fight, but Gono thinks that if he (Gono) fights as normal, he can win. Gono ends by talking about how he doesn’t want to lose to Professional Baseball and that MMA will catch up.