NYE Rumors! Who Will Sakuraba’s Opponent Be?

Kazushi Sakuraba

From Gryphon’s twitter:

Annonimous post “SAKU vs MISAKI in NYeve(Dynamite!)”.news source is”anonimous fighter said”..It is nothing but rumor,rumor,and rumor but …

this is from kamipro—-SAKU’s NY eve opponent is list uped two japanese.”A” is it looks not serious for usualfan,but for mania,very serious

Kazuo Misaki announced that he has left Grabaka two days ago so if WVR has some kind of contract with the whole gym and not Misaki himself, he could be out of the contract. Though that is just speculation for now. Misaki did say though that he will “start from zero”, is that in regards to his training or something else?

Gegard Mousasi

Possible participation on the Dynamite!! card.

Andrei Arlovski

Andrei Arlovski might participate at either Dynamite!! or SRC 12 on NYE.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is looking to fight by the end of the year and could be competing at Strikeforce: Evolution on Dec. 19 or in Japan with Sengoku or Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year’s Eve.

Kazunori Yokota

WVR PR Kokuho thinks that Yokota will be the challenger for Hirota at SRC 12.

Marlon Sandro

Sandro reveals to GracieMag that he will most likely fight on NYE:

So you already have a fight scheduled for the end of the year?
It’s almost 100% done. They told me that, if I win, I’ll be back on the 31st. It would be for the title or to line me up to challenge for the title. But my managers want it to be for the title.

I think that he deserves the title shot but don’t know if that’s the best move for the promotion.

DREAM-Side Dynamite!! Card Announcement This Week?! Confidence

DREAM EP Sasahara, DEEP Boss Saeki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Katsuyori Shibata were present at the 6th Kakuto Treasure House (a martial arts talk with different guests each volume) yesterday.

Kawajiri appealed for a fight with Shinya Aoki on NYE. Receiving this, Sasahara said that on one hand he wants to make Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri in a pure DREAM event, but on the other hand a lot of people will be watching on NYE, so that is the current situation. He thinks that they’ll be able to announce if this fight happens on NYE or not soon.

About Shibata, Sasahara definitely wants him on the NYE card, and the strong direction they’re going for is another fight below Middleweight, similar to last years fight against Sakurai.

Shibata says that he would like to have a go at a fighter with red tights. Is he looking for a fight with Kiyoshi Tamura?

Sasahara said that at the earliest he wants to make a card announcement next week (this week). He can’t say anything right now but he thinks that he can announce an unbelievable card. Saeki next to him is also confident, saying that people had better buy tickets and that he has one hundred million percent confidence. It’s that kind of a card.

Aoki To America Early 2010?! Ninja In Dynamite!!?

Sherdog reports that Shinya Aoki could make his debut in a cage in early 2010:

“He’s fought for Dream and we’re hoping he’s one of the guys that we can bring over to our stable in the first quarter,” said Coker.

Coker mentioned Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson and interim champion Gilbert Melendez as two potential opponents for the fighter known for his colorful leggings and pretzel-bending submissions.

Aoki will be present at today’s Strikeforce event.

In other DREAM-related news, Tatame reports that Murilo “Ninja” Rua might fight in DREAM in December, which would mean a fight on the Dynamite!! NYE card.

Krush! Masato’s Opponent TBA Within This Week

Takeuchi, Yamamoto, and Ishikawa - GBRing.com

The Krush Lightweight GP 2009 Finals were held today in Japan. Krush is a young organization (4 events old I think) that is very close to FEG and fighters who do good there will get a chance in K-1.

In today’s event the great Masahiro Yamamoto (31-7-5) won two fights to become the champion of the 16-man Lightweight GP (around 60 kg I think). He avenged a past loss in the finals where he defeated Yuji Takeuchi, who got the a spot in the final after Naoki Ishikawa, who defeated him in the semifinals, wasn’t allowed to continue by the doctors.

After the fight, Yamamoto called out New Japan Kickboxing Federation’s Hiroki Ishii (44-9-10), saying that any fight location is fine for what would be a dream fight between two Japanese fighters.

Also on the event was the final of the 70 kg Road to MAX tournament where 21 year old Hiroki Nakajima defeated Yutaro Yamauchi by decision in the second extension round. Nakajima is now 10-0 with 7 (T)KO’s and as can be figured out by the name of the tournament we should see him in K-1 MAX in the future.

After the event, reporters caught up with FEG president Tanigawa. Tanigawa talked about Masato’s retirement opponent and said that they want to decide on an opponent this week.

Of course a candidate is this years champion Giorgio Petrosyan, but Tanigawa says that after visiting a doctor for a detailed check after returning home, it became clear that Petrosyan has a bone fracture in his right hand.

Other candidates are Andy Souwer, Buakaw Por.Pramuk, and Yoshihiro Sato. Tanigawa himself, not surprisingly, wants Sato as Masato’s opponent.

They want to make an announcement on Thursday or Friday this week.

Japanese MMA Magazines! Some Content

Students Of Muscle

A little of the content from the upcoming issues of the Japanese MMA magazines.

FEG President Tanigawa (Dynamite!!): “There’s a surprise only I can make this year again.”

Alistair after Glory fight: “I’ll train tomorrow and the day after that, and in three days I’m heading to Osaka.”

Hiroyuki Takaya (Bibiano fight): “In the final minute. Hiroyuki Takaya returned.”

Masanori Kanehara: “Tokoro, let’s both win on NYE and then dive into Tokyo bay together. (laugh)”

FEG President Tanigawa: “Will Ishii vs. Yoshida be aired by TBS? That definitely won’t happen!!”

Shinya Aoki: “I’m considering NYE. The fighter I’d like to fight more than anyone else is BJ Penn!”

Tatsuya Kawajiri irriated at the difficult voyage of getting a fight with Aoki: “Mine and Aoki’s ideologies are completely different.”

Katsunori Kikuno also wants a title match on NYE: “When the event in Osaka is finished, who the appropriate challenger is will be known.”

Both Masanori Kanehara Hiromitsu Kanehara and Sanae Kikuta want Kiyoshi Tamura. Kanehara says that a fight between himself and Kikuta is completely fine as well.

Subtitle Set! FieLDS Dynamite!! ~Power Of Courage 2009~

The subtitle for this years Dynamite!! event was announced today and it’s the same as last years, power of courage (yuuki no chikara).

Dynamite!! 2009! Trailer

Dynamite!! 2009! Masato’s Fight Possibly A 10 Rounder

At a press conference today, FEG’s Tanigawa talked about this years Dynamite!! event. The event is planned to be on around the same scale as last years, which consisted of 18 K-1 and MMA fights.

Masato’s fight is currently the plan for main event of the night. However, it isn’t sure that the fight will be against this years MAX champion. A potential opponent is also Andy Souwer (winning the MAX GP or not), who Masato has never beaten in K-1.

About the rules of the fight, Tanigawa wants it to be at least a 5 rounder and if it’s OK with Masato and his opponent, he’d like to make it a 7 or even 10 rounder.

The event will take place at the Saitama Super Arena and Tanigawa expects an attendance of 40,000. Because of the large attendance, the event will consist of an all-star cast. Tanigawa mentioned Kazushi Sakuraba, Kiyoshi Tamura, Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Badr Hari, and Jerome Le Banner as a few possible participants.

The event will be broadcasted on TBS for 5 and a half hours without break. The first card announcement will take place sometime after the next DREAM and K-1 MAX events.

DEEP CAGE IMPACT! FULL MMA Rules

DEEP CAGE IMPACT - GBRing.com

DEEP 44 IMPACT took place today in Japan. Hiromitsu Kanehara, who has had good results this year, faced MAX Miyazawa at the event and improved his 2009 MMA record to 2-0-1 when he KO’d MAX with a right hook as fast as 25 seconds into the first round.

After the victory, Kanehara took the mike and said that he wants to fight his U-International and RINGS senior Kiyoshi Tamura on NYE.

Also at the event, Yuya Shirai took his second victory since the DREAM Welterweight GP when he defeated Shigetoshi Iwase by unanimous decision.

On December 19th, DEEP will hold a cage event called DEEP CAGE IMPACT…

• Octagon, 8-sided cage
• Elbows, stomps, soccer kicks allowed
• Current plan: Annually, at the end of the year
• A lot of fights between Japanese fighters
• DEEP will rent out their cage for promotions who need one

DEEP CAGE IMPACT
Date: December 19th, 2009
Place: Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan

Planned Participants:
Nobuhiro Obiya
Masakazu Imanari
Koichiro Matsumoto
Eiji Ishikawa
ISE
TAISHO
Takeshi Yamazaki
Bernard Ackah

Possible Participant:
DJ.taiki

D&S Fighters Around The World! Tim Sylvia To Japan On NYE?

Tim Sylvia’s manager Monte Cox has revealed that he is pretty confident that Tim Sylvia will fight on either FEG’s or WVR’s upcoming NYE cards. Possible opponents at Dynamite!! would be Alistair Overeem or Hong Man Choi.

A lot of DREAM and SENGOKU fighters and participants have fights coming up outside of those two promotions in the near future…

Pancrase

Yuki Kondo will look to take his second victory in a row as he has been announced to face Yuji “The Pink Typhoon” Hisamatsu at Pancrase on October 25th.

Also on the card, Seiya Kawahara, who will probably be the face of SENGOKU’s Bantamweight division when they get it going, will take on Ryota Sasaki, who after going 0-2-1 in the beginning of his career is now on a 4-fight winning streak. KEI Yamamiya is also on the card fighting Ichiro Kanai, who has also improved a lot since the beginning of his career.

DEEP

DREAM Welterweight GP participant Yuya Shirai will fight in DEEP 44 IMPACT today against Shigetoshi Iwase. Yesterday at the weigh-ins he said that he’ll definitely win to get another possible shot in DREAM.

Strikeforce

On November 7th in Strikeforce, a fight which was supposed to happen in DREAM will instead take place outside of it as former DREAM Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi faces Super Hulk Tournament finalist Sokoudjou in a non-title fight.

Also, on the same card, SENGOKU Heavyweight front-runner, Antonio Silva, will take on Fabricio Werdum, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will battle Jake Shields for the Strikeforce Middleweight title.

Cage Force

At Cage Force on October 24th, DREAM Lightweight GP quarterfinalist Katsuhiko Nagata will have a tough task breaking his non-winning streak as he takes on Daisuke Hoshino.