Fighting & Entertainment Group (FEG) has confirmed the participation of Japanese MMA pioneer Kazushi Sakuraba as he takes on fellow aging veteran Kiyoshi Tamura for the promotion’s New Year’s Eve supershow featuring combatants from DREAM, K-1, K-1 MAX and K-1 Koshien.
The ‘Gracie Hunter’ (24-11-1) is looking to rebound from his loss at Dream 4 back in June where he was nearly beheaded by the now un-retired Hollander Melvin Manhoef. Sakuraba will finally get the chance to throwdown with Tamura (32-13-2) after publicly calling him out for a fight several years back at PRIDE Shockwave 2005, also scheduled on New Year’s Eve.
Tamura is coming off an impressive first round TKO over Masakatsu Funaki at Dream 2 last April.
Joining them will be Shooto and PRIDE veteran Tatsuya "Crisher" Kawajiri (22-5-2) as he faces K-1 World MAX finalist and Shin Nihon Kickboxing Association welterweight champion Kozo Takeda (43-18-7).
Kawajiri is a powerful striker with 10 (T)KO victories but in a K-1 rules match I have to see him as the underdog against Takeda, who not only has the K-1 experience but also a scary Muay Thai arsenal.
Also signed is the K-1 bout featuring DREAM’s 2008 Middleweight World Grand Prix champion Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1) slugging it out with four-time K-1 Japan Grand Prix Champion and former WAKO Heavyweight Muay Thai Champion Musashi (49-28-5-1).
Expect fireworks in that one.
And for those of you who enjoy watching young children kick each other in the face, K-1 Koshien will be holding the finals and semifinals of its ‘King of Under 18′ tournament.
FieLDS Dynamite!! ‘Power of Courage’ will take place on December 31, 2008 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and could feature as many as 20 fights.
Here is the official card thus far:
MMA RULES :
Middleweight: Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-2)
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen (19-7-1) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (14-2-1)
K-1 RULES :
Middleweight: Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1) vs. Musashi (49-28-5-1)
Lightweight: Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-5-2) vs. Kozo Takeda (43-18-7)
K-1 KOSHIEN RULES :
U-18 Tournament Semifinals: HIROYA (9-1) vs. Shota Shimada (3-0)
U-18 Tournament Semifinals: Ryuya Kusakabe (2-0) vs. Koya Urabe (2-0)
U-18 Tournament Finals: Winner of HIROYA/Shimada vs. Winner of Kusakabe/Urabe
Stay tuned as this massive event continues to take shape.
22 Comments »
i enjoy watching children kick each other in the face! yee-haw!
man, i can’t wait for hellboy and JZ to rumble!
Cro Cop is officially nOT fighting at this event, so I hear that Alistar will face sergie for a 3rd time!
yeah im hearing the same..
and im glad alistar is not fighting cro copper!
that dink blew the main event with all his nut~kneeing!
feed this loser to sergie so he can try fighting
a guy who is not mentally weak right now!
i know that sergie will win a rubber~match with this tool.
sergie via tko 2nd round!!!
i am a huge sergie fan!
make this fight happen! im pumped already!
wow? i actually got the mod?
usually its like mexi’s mumma was beside me~
i get up right away
and u guys put this one up^???
usually it is the other way around.
i always get up right away ~ unless i finger mexi. then the mod hits.
i must be in bizzaro land?
Dsmn right stink! Big Sergei fan over here 2. I actually agree with your prediction. Slister is getting Ko’ed in the 2nd
Kharit Top FTW!
yeah Hansen/JZ should be awesome. whats everyone’s take on Gegard Mousasi’s fight? he was my pick to win the DREAM gp, i like the guy, hope he ko’s this dude.
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen (19-7-1) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (14-2-1) that is gonna be an awesome fight
I said it in the Mousasi post, Kawajiri’s striking is just OK even by MMA standards so i don’t get what the hell he’s doing in K-1 even against a possibly over the hill Takeda.
this card is looking good i can’t wait for hansen vs cavalcante
thats the real superfight on this card. i like jz in this one, but it should be a war.
Salivating over the thought of this match up!
I wish they would book Aoki vs. Alvarez, but I wont count on it!
yeah, aoki/alvarez would be sweet, but i think eddie is fighting in jan already. aoki vs nick diaz would be cool if diaz can get out of his zombie elite contract.
TRUE that BW! I would actually even like to see Diaz vs. Aoki under grappling rules…or mma. Either one would do!
why in the world is a wrestler like Kawajiri booked to fight in a K-1 rules match? I cant picture Tatsuya fighting without shootingkedowns.
WEIRD!!!!!
Kawajiri loves to bang.
Reference the Alvarez/Kawajiri fight from the DREAM Grand Prix.
This will be a stellar event on HDnet. If there is going to be close to 20 fights, they need to start getting more fights added. But then again, this is Japan, so fight can easily be added an hour before the event…
i am so glad hdnet got that deal with k1 and dream
The real fighting will be done after the show as the participants try to get a paycheque for their efforts.
Nick Daiz got paid, as did everyone else. Why would people keep fighting there if they didn’t? “I know they didn’t pay me last time, but I’ll give them another shot!”
Artur Kyshenko better be on this card.