Sergei Kharitonov

Japanese Notebook: DREAM Releases 2009 Schedule

DREAM parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group today revealed the promotion’s schedule for the new year, with DREAM’s first show being held on March 8 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan and featuring the opening rounds of the organization’s inaugural featherweight and welterweight grand prix tournaments.

In total, DREAM will put on seven total shows in ‘09. Solidified dates for shows include April 5 at Nippon Gaishi Hall and December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena for the annual year-end K-1 Dynamite show. DREAM officials are also planning to hold shows in May, July, September, and October.

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DREAM.6 Live Results

We will be going live at 3:00 AM ET with live results of this morning’s DREAM.6 event, which takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. Those in North America will be able to watch the event live on HDNet. A replay of the show will air at 4:00 PM ET later today.

DREAM.6 will feature the final round of the promotion’s inaugural grand prix. Melvin Manhoef will take on Gegard Mousasi and Zelg Galesic will face Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza with the two winners meeting in the show’s finale. Mirko Filipovic and Alistair Overeem will meet in an anticipated grudge match that will serve as the co-main event.

Be sure to leave comments throughout the morning. Detailed live results are after the jump. 

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Three Bouts Added to DREAM.6 Card

Fight Entertainment Group has announced three more bouts for DREAM.6, which will take place on September 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

The most high profile fight made official today was a previously rumored bout between former PRIDE standout Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and reigning Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.

Overeem has long believed that Filipovic had been ducking a potential showdown with him for years. However will now get his wish against a fellow dangerous kickboxer.

Filipovic left the Ultimate Fighting Championship following a disappointing 1-2 stint in the organization, where he was defeated by Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo in consecutive fights. He bounced back to earn a first-round TKO of Tatsuya Mizuno at DREAM.1 in March.

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Affliction Considering Sylvia-LeBanner

Jerome LeBanner has been chasing Tim Sylvia for years, trying to get him to fight. He might be getting his wish.

Affliction VP Tom Atencio has told MMANews.com that the promotion is looking at LeBanner, a K-1 kickboxer, as a potential opponent for Sylvia for their planned third show that would likely take place in either January or February of next year.

“In terms of fighters we are looking at Jerome LeBanner,” Atencio said. “He is interested in doing MMA and apparently him and Tim Sylvia have some history between them so that is something that we are looking at right now. We are taking things one step at a time but we will see where it all goes.”

Another K-1 promoted fighter Atencio and company are apparently looking at is former PRIDE standout Sergei Kharitonov, whom Atencio “loves” from his days fighting in Japan.

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K-1 Premium Dynamite!! to Feature Kharitonov-Siliga

Sergei Kharitonov will return to action against “Mighty Mo” Siala Siliga at K-1 Premium Dynamite!! on New Year’s Eve.

Kharitonov confirmed the bout on his official website this week. The Russian heavyweight is undefeated so far in 2007, submitting Michael Russow at PRIDE 33 in February and stopping Alistair Overeem with strikes at K-1 Hero’s 11 in September.

Like his counterpart, Siliga is also 2-0 this year. “Mighty Mo” picked up impressive victories over Min Soo Kim and Ruben Villareal at separate K-1 events.

CKA: Sep 12, 2007

A news filled Coffee and Kick Ass today folks…

News and Notes

- Our rumors section has been updated…

- Mark Cuban will be holding a press conference and conference call concerning his new HDNet Fights venture. We will have a full report later today.

- If you haven’t already, please check out Randy Couture’s signed gloves from UFC 74 that are currently up for auction by the Ryan Bennett Memorial Fund. Bidding ends on Thursday night.

- K-1 Hero’s parent company FEG announced a rematch between PRIDE veterans Sergei Kharitonov and Alistair Overeem at the K-1 Hero’s show taking place on September 17th.

- Duane Ludwig will now face Mario Stapel at this Saturday’s Ring of Fire event after his original opponent, Dragan Baklua, broke his hand during a recent training session. Despite all of this, Ludwig has trained hard and is ready to face whomever is standing in front of him:

“I was getting ready to face a stand up guy, but Mario is much more well rounded,” stated Ludwig. “He is more of a true MMA fighter. I changed my game plan accordingly. For this fight, I tightened up my game by training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. The training was great and I feel prepared for whatever happens. I love fighting at home and can’t wait for Saturday.”

- Jeff Monson, Matt Horwich, and Tara LaRosa all won medals in last weekend’s World Grappling Championships in Turkey.

- Spike TV announced yesterday that UFC 75 was the most watched MMA event in the history of North America:

UFC 75 was the most watched mixed martial arts event ever in North America, drawing 4.7 million viewers, Spike TV officials said in a news release Tuesday.

The Sept. 8 event from the O2 Arena in London, England, featured UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson’s win over PRIDE champ Dan Henderson in a title unification bout. Airing delayed on Spike, the telecast peaked at 5.6 million viewers during Jackson’s battle against Henderson. The show’s ratings were particularly strong among men age 18-34 and men 18-49. For those audiences, UFC 75 beat everything on television, Spike officials said, including ABC’s NASCAR race and Michigan vs. Oregon college football game, as well as ESPN’s Virginia Tech vs. LSU and Notre Dame vs. Penn St. games.

Spike TV said its telecast of UFC 75 had an overall rating of 3.1 (3.0 million homes), including a 5.7 rating for men 18-34 (1.6 million), 4.5 for men 18-49 (2.5 million) and 6.2 for men 25-34 (1.0 million).

- The Honolulu Star Bulletin is reporting that Justin McCully has been forced to pull out of his scheduled bout against Christian Wellisch for undisclosed reasons. Wellisch will now face Scott Junk”

Kailua’s Scott Junk will make his UFC debut Sept. 22 against Christian Wellisch in a heavyweight fight at UFC 76: Knockout in Anaheim, Calif.

“It’s 100 percent going to happen,” Junk said. Wellisch (8-2) was originally scheduled to face Justin McCully.

Junk was notified about the fight yesterday, just 11 days before the event. He has put together six consecutive wins, including a TKO victory over Jimmy Ambriz back in June.

“It caught me off guard, but it’s good because I have been training this whole time,” Junk said.

Touch of gloves to UFC Mania for finding that interesting piece.

- The Governor of Illinois has signed legislation that will legalize MMA starting in 2008

- Michael Bisping’s father was apparently attacked in the parking lot of the O2 arena after the event.

Hat tip to Fight Opinion for that one.

- Sam Caplan of Five Ounces of Pain is reporting via Tagg Radio that Gilbert Melendez will be taking on Shooto’s Tetsuji Kato at Strikeforce’s Playboy Mansion event on September 29th.

Radio Schedule

12-1 PM - Tagg Radio
12:30-3 PM - The Savage Dog Show
3-4 PM - Fight Network Radio
3-5 PM - The Beatdown
9-10 PM - MMAWeekly’s Sound Off
11 PM - Knockout Radio

CKA: Sep 4, 2007

News and Notes

- Sherdog is reporting that Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and HDNet, is currently in discussions with officials connected to Fedor Emelianenko about signing the heavyweight free agent:

“I am in ongoing discussions with some of his people,” Cuban revealed in an e-mail interview that will be published on Sherdog.com later this week.

Cuban plans on possibly using Fedor in many of the MMA promotions he currently broadcasts events for on HDNet:

“We would work with his promoters to place him in fights from affiliated promoters or in fights we promote ourselves,” said Cuban, who plans on partnering with established MMA organizations to fill the weekly quota of bouts HDNet would need for its successful Friday Fight Night series.

- Sergei Kharitonov’s contract with K-1 states that he will be able to compete in both K-1 kickboxing matches and Hero’s MMA bouts.

- Masakazu Imanari and Zelg Galesic have both been removed from the Cage Rage 23 card set to take place on September 22nd.

Imanari was forced to pull out after suffering a shoulder injury during a recent training session. He will be replaced by Chris Brennan. Galesic pulled out of his bout after signing a new contract with K-1. Matt Ewin will be taking his place against Alex Reid. The bout will still be a title fight while Brennan-Silva will now take place at 155 lbs.

- The scheduled preliminary bout between Nate Quarry and Pete Sell at UFC Fight Night 11 has now been moved to the televised portion of the event after Mike Swick was forced to bow out of the event due to injury. Swick’s scheduled opponent, Jonathan Goulet and his fight against new opponent Dustin Hazelett, has now been changed to a prelim fight.

Radio Schedule:

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

CKA: July 12, 2007

News and Notes

- Our rumors section has been updated once again…

- Remember to cast your vote on our latest poll: Rock the Vote - Favorite UFC 73 Fight

- MMA on Tap would like to congratulate UFC Junkie’s Eric “Performify” Foster on being hired as a columnist for Fight! Magazine.

- For those of you that haven’t already heard, Wesley “Cabbage” Correira has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout with James Thompson at Cage Rage 22 this Saturday after suffering a broken ankle during a recent training session. Cage Rage has also announced that Correira will be replaced by Kimo Leopoldo in the bout.

- Full Contact Fighter is reporting that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Ron Waterman at HCF: Unfinished Business on July 21 because he has been denied admittance into the country of Canada:

Hardcore Championship Fighting promoter, Keith Crawford, informed FCF this afternoon that Ricco Rodriguez will not fight Ron Waterman on the July 21st, “Unfinished Business” card, in Edmonton, Alberta, as had been advertised. The fight was to be the card’s main event, which will take place at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Alberta’s capital city. According to Crawford, Canadian authorities have denied Rodriguez entrance into the country.

“Mr. Rodriguez’s bond to get into Canada has been revoked due to recent situations.” said Crawford, which was the extent to which he cared to comment. As of last week, Crawford had maintained in correspondence with FCF that he believed all American fighters that were scheduled to compete on the card would be granted entry into Canada.

Rodriguez’s lawyer and agent, James C. Gallo, told FCF this afternoon that “I’m not an expert in Canadian law, but I’m unaware of any reason as to why Rodriguez would be precluded from leaving the U.S. to enter Canada.”

- The Fight Network is reporting that Mirko Cro Cop has hired a talented group to be used as sparring partners in preparation for Cro Cop’s upcoming bout against Cheick Kongo at UFC 75. Sergei Kharitonov, Ricco Rodriguez and Zelg Galesic will all be participating in Cro Cop’s training camp.

- Randy Couture and Quinton Jackson fell short of their bid to become the first mixed martial artist to receive an ESPY for Fighter of the Year as Floyd Mayweather Jr took home the honor.

- Gracie Fighter is stating that Nick Diaz has been released of his contract with PRIDE and Zuffa because of his ties with Elite XC:

We will be running a series on a seldom seen look at the behind the scenes workings that ultimately lead to the ouster of Nick Diaz from the new Pride organization. In our opinion this ouster had everything to do with Nick’s participation in the EliteXC organization and nothing to do with Zuffa’s technical grounds. Everyday this week we will post corresponding emails and let you the reader be the ultimate judge.

Radio Schedule:

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

Media Links:

MMA Weekly: This Thing is a Unification Bout
NBC Sports: Sport, not savagery
CBS Sportsline: A look ahead at UFC championship picture
Fight Opinion: Thursday trash talk: Trigg and Toughman
Bloody Elbow: California and Oversaturation
411 Mania: Where Do The UFC 73 Fighters Go From Here

Pride 33 Wrap-up

Just some random thoughts from this past weekend’s Pride 33: The Second Coming show. 

It was a great show put on by DSE, which is great considering the amount of mismatches that most thought plagued the fight card.  Stunning KO upsets (Lil’ Nog especially), an absolute war between Nick Diaz and the Fireball Kid Takanori Gomi that saw the UFC vet Diaz choke out Gomi with a gogoplata, and another highlight KO of Wanderlei Silva by Dan Henderson highlighted the event.  While the production style of Pride may take some getting used to in the American market, the event was a much better representation of Pride than their first foray into the US this past October.

PRIDE 33 FULL RESULTS
Dan Henderson def. Wanderlei Silva by KO at 2:08, Round 3
Nick Diaz def. Takanori Gomi by Gogoplata at 1:46, Round 2
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua def. Alistair Overeem by TKO at 3:37, Round 1
Sergei Kharitonov def. Mike Russow by Armbar at 3:46, Round 1
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai def. Mac Danzig by TKO at 4:01, Round 2
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO at 0:23, Round 1
James Lee def. Travis Wiuff by Guillotine Choke at 0:39, Round 1
Frank Trigg def. Kazuo Misaki by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Joachim Hansen def. Jason Ireland by Armbar at 2:33, Round 3

That being said, there are some stories out there that claim the results of Pride 33 will hurt the promotion in the long run.  The first one by Zach Arnold was first printed on BoxingScene.com.

PRIDE 33 will go down as an event that, on paper, had a fight card line-up that looked like a turkey but produced some exciting fights. Short-term, the event was successful. Long-term, however, major damage was done to several of PRIDE’s key Japanese assets.

There is no turning back to Japan now for PRIDE.  *Read More*

Arnold goes on to intricately detail how the surprising results will hurt Pride, especially in their stronghold of Japan itself. 

A few days later, Al Yu, a Japanese columnist for MMAWeekly who specializies in covering the Far East MMA scene for the site, offered very similar setiments to Arnold.  He even called it a disaster, the same as Arnold.

Operating under financial turmoil, DSE continued forward with their second U.S. show in hopes to make a further impact in a market currently dominated by the UFC. Pride 33: The Second Coming produced many exciting fights and was easily one of the best events of the year. Of the nine scheduled fights, only one went to a decision. So why was it a disaster?

What makes an organization is its stable of fighters. Pride’s large roster consists of some of the best fighters in the world. Any time a marquee fighter loses, it can have an adverse affect on an organization. In this case, four of Pride’s stars faltered on a crucial night for the Japanese organization.
*Read More*

There is no question that the event itself was a huge success, especially fight wise.  The key will be where the PPV buy numbers end up, especially considering how poor the PPV numbers for the October event turned out.  Let’s hope for the best.

Finally, for the first time ever, Pride CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara made a comment that did not deny that Pride may be up for sale.  In the past, he has always firmly denied the sales rumors.  From Loretta Hunt’s article on the Fight Network…

“Maybe,” PRIDE CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara answered of rumors that the PRIDE organization could go up for sale. “Today[‘s] show is very good [though].”

 

Kharitonov vs. Russow Added to PRIDE 33

PRIDE FC has officially announced that Sergei Kharitonov will be fighting Mike Russow at PRIDE 33: The Second Coming.

Kharitonov was originally scheduled to face Dutch striker Gilbert Yvel but the fight was dropped when the NSAC denied Yvel’s VISA application. Yvel’s application was denied due to an incident that took place in the past where is punched, then kicked a referee. Kharitonov who is currently on a two fight losing skid will now be facing Mike Russow who is 3-0 with 1 NC.

It has also been announced that Yoshido Dojo member, Kazuhiro Nakamura, has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Travis Wiuff due to a knee injury suffered while training. To this point PRIDE still has not found a replacement for Wiuff.