A bevy of former PRIDE fighters will meet tonight in a joint venture between M-1 and old PRIDE executives. In another twist of joint programming, the fights will be shown on Mark Cuban's HDNet.
Even though JZ Calvancante was forced to pull out of the event, top fighters Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Shinya Aoki, and Hayato Sakurai (three of which are IWF ranked) will be at the event, although none facing one another. Wins on their parts should help their rankings, which have recently fallen due to inactivity.
Top HW Fedor Emelianenko will also be in attendance, facing Hong Man Choi in the night's main event.
(Heavyweight): Roman Zentsov vs. Mike Russow
(Lightweight): Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luiz Azeredo
(Middleweight): Makoto Takimoto vs. Murilo Bustamante
(Lightweight): Gilbert Melendez vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
(Middleweight): Kazuo Misaki vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
(Lightweight): Hayato Sakurai vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa
(Lightweight): Shinya Aoki vs. Bu-kyung Jung
(Heavyweight): Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong-Man Choi
Monday, December 31, 2007
Yarennoka! Preview
Saturday, December 22, 2007
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.
