Gesias Calvancanti

Injury Forces Calvancante Out of DREAM.11

Just days after Fighting and Entertainment Group officials announced his participation for next month’s DREAM.11 event, former K-1 Hero’s standout Gesias Calvancante has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Daisuke Nakamura due to injury.

Calvancante suffered a knee injury during a training session this past week and won’t be ready in time for the October 6 event in Japan. MMA on Tap was able to confirm Calvancante’s status with his manager, Alex Davis of American Top Team. Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer was the first to report the news on Thursday.

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Fight Announcements: Hamill-Vera at UFC 101, Cavalcante to Return at DREAM.9 & More

A light heavyweight bout between Muay Thai expert Brandon Vera and “Ultimate Fighter 3” standout Matt Hamill will likely take place at UFC 101, which is slated to take place on August 8 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both fighters have agreed to the bout and the paperwork is expected to be finalized in the coming days. [MMA Madness]

Two-time K-1 Hero’s middleweight tournament champion Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante has reportedly agreed to face Japanese veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM.9 on May 26. Cavalcante has not fought since dropping a unanimous decision to Shinya Aoki in the first round of last year’s DREAM lightweight grand prix due to injury while Kawajiri last submitted Ross Ebanez at DREAM.7 earlier this month. [Sherdog]

Former professional boxer and American Top Team member Alessio Sakara will reportedly return to action at UFC 99, which takes place on June 13 in Cologne, Germany, against Brazilian grappler Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares. Sakara last competed at UFC Fight Night 15 last September, where he scored a highlight reel knockout of Joe Vedepo while Palhares recently decisioned Jeremy Horn at UFC 93 in January. [MMA Weekly]

Sakuraba-Tamura, Hansen-Calvancante Added to K-1 Dynamite!!

Fighting and Entertainment Group officials have announced two bouts that will take place at “K-1 Dynamite!! 2008” on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena: Japanese legends Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura will collide and DREAM lightweight champion Joachim Hansen will compete in a non-title rematch against Gesias Calvancante.

Sakuraba and Tamura will be meeting for the first time in their respective careers in a much-anticipated matchup for Japanese fans. Sakuraba recently had a three-fight winning streak snapped at the hands of Melvin Manhoef, who brutally stopped Sakuraba with strikes in the second round of DREAM’s inaugural middleweight grand prix.

Tamura meanwhile has won two out of his three bouts under the K-1/DREAM banner. He most recently competed at DREAM.2 in April, where he scored a quick, 57-second TKO of Pancrase icon Masakatsu Funaki.

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Report: Ribeiro, Calvancante to Return at DREAM New Years Eve Show

Two-time K-1 Hero’s middleweight tournament winner Gesias “JZ” Calvancanti and former Shooto and Cage Rage lightweight champion Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro will both reportedly return to action at Fighting and Entertainment Group’s annual “Dynamite!” show on New Year’s Eve in Japan according to MMA Weekly’s MMA Insider Blog.

Both Calvancanti and Ribeiro have been battling injuries for much of 2008. Calvancanti last took on Shinya Aoki at DREAM.2 in April, where he dropped an unanimous decision. Following the fight, the Brazilian was forced to undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus and ACL in one of his knees and was expected to be sidelined until the end of this year.

Meanwhile Ribeiro has battled an injury bug that has prevented him from competing since suffering a first-round TKO loss to Calvancanti at the K-1 Hero’s middleweight tournament finals in September 2007. “Shaolin” owns career victories over some of MMA’s top lightweights, including Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Joachim Hansen.

Torn ACL Sidelines Calvancante

Just over a week since suffering his second career loss at the hands of Shinya Aoki, two-time K-1 Hero’s lightweight tournament champion Gesias Calvancante will be required to undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus and ACL and will likely be unable to fight until the end of this year.

Calvancante revealed the extent of his injury to Greg Savage on Sherdog’s “Savage Dog Show” earlier today.

“The first time I was hurt in my career, it was my hand,” Calvancante said on the show. “That just after I won the (K-1 Hero’s) title so I was like alright, a little vacation. But now I lost so I don’t want that long of a break in between fights. I don’t want to wait 5-6 months without a fight.”

Calvancante’s knee troubles have now extended all the way back to last fall when the re-injuring of his surgically repaired knee during training prevented Calvancante from originally fighting Aoki at Yarennoka! on New Year’s Eve. It’s unknown if the tears were suffered in the same knee once again.

HT: Bloody Elbow

CKA: May 2, 2008

Shields vs Fickett Delayed Again

EliteXC has announced that the Welterweight Title fight between Jake Shield and Drew Fickett has been delayed once again.  Originally scheduled for the undercard of the Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le event, the bout was put off due to Shields suffering a back injury.  It had been rescheduled for EliteXC’s June 14th card in Hawaii, but now word comes that Drew Fickett suffered a knee injury. 

Just last week, Shields was quoted as saying he was not sure whether he’d be physically ready by June 14th.  Now this announcement.  Considering the need for EliteXC to start filling their second US network primetime show in late July, this is pretty convenient.  It would look bad for Shields to be the one who is injured again, so maybe EliteXC “encouraged” Fickett to ask for the delay.  It would certainly not be below EliteXC’s Gary Shaw to do something of that nature. 

At this point, the June 14th EliteXC show is still scheduled and will include a lightweight title fight between Yves Edwards and champion KJ Noons, as well as Nick Diaz.

Aoki? JZ? Anyone?

Fresh off his victory over JZ Calcavante in Tokyo on Tuesday at the Dream 2 show, Shinya Aoki’s further participation in the Lightweight Grand Prix is once again clouded.  Before the rematch with JZ ever occurred, Aoki has expressed concerns over whether he would be able to fight in the 2nd round of the GP just two weeks after the JZ rematch.  Now rumor has it that he suffered some facial injuries and will not be allowed to continue whether he wants to or not.  Originally this rumor of the injury was spread by Calcavante’s ATT team.  But it was confirmed by the FEG USA head, Mike Jogan, to USA Today.

Aoki “wants to go on, but it’s up to the doctors,” said Mike Kogan, head of U.S. promotion for Dream’s owner, Fight Entertainment Group. The examination is scheduled for later on Friday — keep in mind that Japan is 13 to 18 hours ahead of North America — so Aoki’s fate could be known several hours from now.

American Top Team made it known that JZ was asked to continue into the next round in place of Aoki but that the fighter and FEG could not come to a financial agreement.

Aoki Decisions Calvancante; Sakuraba Moves on at DREAM

A little more than a month after fans were left with a disappointing ending to a March matchup between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki, it was Aoki that finally came away the victor in one of the most-anticipated lightweights contests in recent memory earlier this morning in DREAM’s second-ever show.

The first fight between the two was ruled a no-contest after Calvancante struck Aoki with illegal elbows to the back of Aoki’s neck. Calvancante was warned and Aoki given time to recover, but after a few moments the esteemed grappler wasn’t able to continue. The two were also originally set to face off at Yarennoka! on New Year’s Eve but Calvancante was forced to pull out of the fight after suffering a knee injury during training.

Aoki quickly pulled guard at the start of the fight and negated any sort of offense his opponent tried to mount. However after stomping his way out of a heel hook attempt, Calvancante pounced on top of Aoki and began raining down an array of strikes, prompting the referee to give an even closer look at the action. Aoki was able to recover and eventually get back to his feet where he ended up taking Calvancante’s back and controlling him for the remainder of the round.

The second round saw Aoki pull Calvancante to the canvas once again and then quickly catch him in an armbar that nearly ended the fight. Calvancante was able to flip out of the hold and even scored with some ground and pound before Aoki went for another couple of armbars. Aoki transitioned into an inverted omoplata during the final minute of the fight, solidifying his win on the judge’s scorecards.

Aoki’s next opponent in just two weeks will now be former Japanese Olympic wrestler Katsuhiko Nagata according to DREAM officials.

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Aoki, Calvancanti to Rematch on April 29

Less than a month after fans were left with a disappointing ending to a much-anticipated matchup between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki, Fight Entertainment Group has announced that the two lightweights will rematch at DREAM’s next upcoming event on April 29th.

The show, which will take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, will also feature the opening round of DREAM’s first middleweight grand prix. Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba will return to action against Karate practitioner Andrews Nakahara in a quarterfinal bout. Additional scheduled fights include Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura and Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi.

Aoki and Calvancante’s bout last month was ruled a no-contest after Calvancante struck Aoki with illegal elbows to the back of Aoki’s neck. Calvancante was warned and Aoki given time to recover, but after a few moments the esteemed grappler wasn’t able to continue.

The two were originally set to face off at Yarennoka! on New Year’s Eve but Calvancante was forced to pull out of the fight after suffering a knee injury during training. The injury occurred on the same knee that he had surgery on this past fall.

FEG officials also revealed the next set of matchups for DREAM’s lightweight grand prix in May: Joachim Hansen will challenge Philadelphia Fight Factory product Eddie Alvarez, Tatsuya Kawajiri will meet Luiz Firmino, and Mitsuhiro Ishida will go up against Caol Uno, who has been added to the bracket as a late entrant.

The winner of Aoki-Calvancante will have no time to rest as they will go on to face Katsuhiko Nagata just twelve days later at the May 11th show.

Cro Cop Victorious; Aoki Injured in No Contest

SAITAMA - Returning to one of his favorite venues, Mirko Cro Cop made it look easy tonight. The cool but lethal Croatian mixed martial arts superstar required a mere 56 seconds to dispatch Tatsuya Mizuno by KO at the DREAM.1 Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 1st Round.

Held before a sellout crowd at the Saitama Super Arena—with millions of Japanese television viewers watching live—DREAM.1 featured seven qualification bouts in the DREAM Lightweight (70 kg/154 lbs) class, along with a trio of open-weight fights. This was the inaugural DREAM production—but such is the talent on tap that fans have already dubbed DREAM one of the world’s finest mixed martial arts productions.

All bouts were fought under Official DREAM mixed martial arts rules, with a 10 min first and 5 min second round.

Probably the most highly-anticipated fight on the card featured 33 year-old Mirko Cro Cop, who took on Japanese judo fighter Tatsuya Mizuno. Cro Cop wasted no time here, firing in the low kicks from the bell, stepping forward to lock up Mizuno’s right arm then pumping in uppercuts and straight punches to deposit his opponent on the canvas in a heap of pain. Cro Cop leapt atop the unresponsive Mizuno for a ground and pound finish, leaving the referee no choice but to jump in and call it.

“A lot of fighters refuse to fight me these days, but he had courage and he accepted,” said Cro Cop afterward from center ring. “For my next fight, I will need a stronger opponent, so anyone is welcome!” Who will answer the call?

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CKA: Jan 24, 2008

Good morning bitches! More coverage of last night’s UFC Fight Night to come later on this morning.

Calvancante and Aoki Set to Try Again; Masvidal Added to “Strikeforce At The Dome”

It seems like Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki will finally meet at a K-1 show in Japan in March. American Top Team’s manager Richie Guerrero (who manages Calvancante as well) announced the matchup yesterday during an interview on TAGG Radio.

The two were originally set to face off at Yarennoka! on New Year’s Eve but Calvancante was forced to pull out of the fight after suffering a knee injury during training. The injury occurred on the same knee that he had knee surgery on this past fall.

Guerrero also revealed that lightweight contender Jorge Masvidal will be competing at the “Strikeforce At The Dome” show next month as well. Masvidal does have an opponent but the name was unable to be announced at the time.

Aleksander Expects April Fight With Barnett

Aleksander Emelianenko, who will be fighting in M-1 Global’s first U.S. show in April along with his brother Fedor, expects to take on former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett.

Emelianenko made the announcement via his official website.

Fedor is expected to take on part-time K-1 kickboxer Semmy Schilt but Jeff Monson has also been rumored as a potential opponent. The show will most likely take place right outside of Chicago at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

Touch of gloves to MMA Junkie for the find.

Frank Edgar Returns at UFC Fight Night 13

I missed it and I’m sure a lot of other people did but apparently UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg stated that Frankie Edgar would be part of the UFC’s next “Fight Night” in Denver, Colorado in April.

Edgar, who has not lost yet inside of the UFC, still remains undefeated in his professional mixed martial arts career as well. Edgar is coming off of a dominating performance over Spencer Fisher en route to a unanimous decision win at UFC 78.

Props to Combat Hooligans for catching that.

Miscellaneous Notes

BodogFight has released the full card for it’s February 1st event in Las Vegas. The Sun is reporting that Brock Lesnar, win or lose, may be tapped to headline the UFC’s June show in London England due to his overseas popularity because of professional wrestling. Roger Gracie may be fighting Hidehiko Yoshida at Sengoku in March.

Radio Schedule

Radio Schedule

Fightlinker went live with The Low Blow last night, recapping UFC Fight Night 12. Hilarious.

12-1 PM EST - TAGG Radio
2-3 PM EST - The Lights Out Show
3-5 PM EST - The Jordan Breen Show
3-4 PM EST - The Fight Network Radio
9-10 PM EST - MMAWeekly’s Sound Off
11 PM EST - Knockout Radio