Fedor vs Ishii off. Fedor vs Kharitonov rumored for DREAM NYE

http://twitter.com/#!/MarloesCoenen

MarloesCoenen:
GG-management just told me that Sergei Kharitonov will fight in DREAM December 31.

I hope so...Fedor/Kharitonov is a good fight.

This would be awesome...but I'll believe it when I see it is the attitude I take towards Dream and Fedor these days

I would approve

That would be an awesome fight!

I'm guessing Sergei got the red tag from Strikeforce? that's a shame but at the same time Fedor can use the opponent.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

I'm guessing Sergei got the red tag from Strikeforce? that's a shame but at the same time Fedor can use the opponent.

I dunno, SF has usually let guys do their own thing, and with SF in a holding pattern(at best) this may just be letting Sergei stay busy.


Sweet fight though.

Good to see Fedor staying at it, and this is the level of guy he should be fighting.

At this point I have a hard time seeing Fedor winning that fight. Kharitonov is relatively hard to get to the ground and you have to think his striking is going to better than Fedor's at this point.

Ludo wrote:

At this point I have a hard time seeing Fedor winning that fight. Kharitonov is relatively hard to get to the ground and you have to think his striking is going to better than Fedor's at this point.

Fedor can and probably will get him to the ground. and i think Fedor is much too quick for Sergei on the feet

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Fedor-Ishii-Confirmed-for-Dream-NYE-Event-in-Saitama-38025

Fedor Emelianenko will make his return to the Land of the Rising Sun on New Year’s Eve.

Sherdog.com confirmed with a source close to the event Monday that “The Last Emperor” will lock horns with Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at Dream “Genki Desu Ka! New Year! 2011.” The bout had been teased previously by a number of sources, but it remained unconfirmed until today.

Going down Dec. 31 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, the event will also feature the semifinal and final rounds of Dream’s ongoing bantamweight world grand prix. Four men currently remain in the tournament draw, which features Antonio Banuelos, Masakazu Imanari, Bibiano Fernandes and Rodolfo Marques.

The Dream lightweight and featherweight titles will also be up for grabs, as company 155-pound king Shinya Aoki will put his belt on the line against former Sengoku champion Satoru Kitaoka, and 145-pound pacesetter Hiroyuki Takaya will defend his strap against two-time Shooto champion Takeshi Inoue. The event is expected to air live on HDNet.

Long considered the best heavyweight in the world, Emelianenko returned to his winning ways in November after suffering three consecutive losses. Following his defeats to Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson in the Strikeforce cage, the Russian outpointed former UFC title challenger Jeff Monson on Nov. 20 in Moscow. The face of M-1 Global, Emelianenko last competed in Japan four years ago, submitting massive South Korean kickboxer Hong Man Choi in 2007.

Ishii, 24, holds but a fraction of Emelianenko's professional experience. A superior judo practitioner, Ishii took home the gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. After falling by unanimous decision to fellow Olympic champion Hidehiko Yoshida in his MMA debut, Ishii rattled off four straight wins before drawing with former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho in a controversial verdict at Amazon Forest Combat 1 on Sept. 14.

yawn

Ishii said on his blog a couple of weeks ago that he wasn't going to take the fight because he wasn't being paid enough. Guess they gave him more money...I wonder who Sergi is fighting then? Probably some can unless he is fighting in K-1.

In a recent interview with Vadim Finkelstein at championat.com
From the interview (transcribed on The Underground by judom):

- There is information that Fedor will get 500,000$ for the Ishii
fight. This is a solid sum considering the financial problems DREAM has
experienced lately.

The sum 500,000$ is incorrect. This is all nonsense. At this moment,
for us, the key thing is the level of the opponent, and not how much we
get paid. I can say that if we were unable to agree with Ishii, we
wouldn't participate in this tournament. We had concurrent offers with
other DREAM fighters, but this is not for Fedor's level, and we didn't
want to have a fight with mediocre fighters, taking a step backwards. We
want to be taking steps forward and we will follow this in the future.

- So, these steps forward, likely implies that next year will be rich in events. What will that be for Fedor ?

We want to have 3 fights. One in Russia, one in Europe, and one in
the USA. We really want to get a rematch with Werdum, but he is locked
up in the prison called UFC, and because of that arranging for him to
fight Fedor would be very difficult.

Dana White is like a dog on hay -- he neither eats it himself, nor
lets the others eat it. There are many other good fighters, whom we are
considering. For instance, Josh Barnett. We need to wait for the StrikeForce HW's tournament to end and then we can see how likely it is that we can arrange a fight.

jesus i hate fedor's management. Sergei was a GP participant and much better than Ishii who is a shade above freakshow. Stick your judo gold medal up your ass.

Yep, they're losers

No doubt.

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

No doubt.

LOL

http://www.mmamania.com/2011/12/20/2649792/josh-barnett-the-pro-wrestler-added-to-genki-desu-ka-fight-card-for
Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix semifinalist Josh Barnett has been added to the FieLDS 'Genki Desu Ka!!' fight card for Dec. 31, 2011, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

But he won't be fighting.

Instead, "The Warmaster" will be facing off against Hideki Suzuki in a
pro wrestling bout under the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) banner as
part of the New Year's Eve extravaganza that will include Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii and the DREAM bantamweight grand prix finals, among others.

Awesome!!!!

This is what you call foreshadowing. Fedor's management expressed interest in fighting Barnett, SF squashes the HW division, Josh shows up in Japan when Fedor is on the card...

Josh Barnett is going to get back in the UFC, get famous and then go to the WWE once he retires from MMA.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Josh Barnett is going to get back in the UFC, get famous and then go to the WWE once he retires from MMA.

Naw man, you got the wrong book.