Aoki-Calvancante Fight Taken Off M-1 Card

The highly anticipated match up between Shinya Aoki and JZ Calvancante, two IWF-ranked fighters, has been canceled, according to this Sherdog report. Don't fear, MMA fans! The card still features two IWF-ranked fighters in Gilbert Melendez (also #9 P4P) and Hayato Sakurai in separate fights.

It's still unclear as to why the fight has been taken off the card, although it's possible that recent surgery performed on JZ may be the case. As recently as December 5th, both fighters were still talking as though it was going to happen. Despite these conjectures, nothing has been confirmed.

The event still features, in addition to the Fedor-Choi laughstock, a collection of some of the brightest Lightweights and Welterweights in the world.

Gilbert Melendez and Hayato Sakurai will have more than their hands full when they meet Mitsuhiro Ishida and Hidehiko Hasegawa, respectively. In another interesting fight, formerly ranked Lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri will look to rebound from a recent loss and gain his place back on our top ten.