M-1 Announces First Matches For It's New Year's Eve Card

Russian based M-1 Global organization has announced the first two bouts on what looks to be the best card of New Year's Eve, now that the UFC no longer has a title fight occurring on their upcoming card.

The first two bouts were set up when M-1 and K-1 Heroes agreed to cooperate to put together the best card possible, and they have announced that the venue for the fight will be the world class Saitama Super Arena, the home of many Pride Fighting Championship cards over the years. The move is, without a doubt, a move to show the Japanese fans how serious they are about offering a quality product.

The first bout announced was for two time K-1 Lightweight tournament champion Gesias "JZ" Calvancante to take on legendary lightweight and master of the triangle choke Shinya Aoki. While this is a fight between two athletes that most American fight fans don't understand the value of, Calvancante and Aoki are both in good position to move to the top oof the world lightweight rankings, with the liquidation of Pride, the recent loss of former #1 man Takanori Gomi and the steroid scandal surrounding UFC Champion Sean Sherk. It will be a fight that puts even more on the line than just a W or an L, it's also about who is the best 155 pound fighter in this new M-1 organization and, while there is no belt on the line yet, there is alot of value on this fight.

Calvancante is coming off of his second consecutive win of the K-1 Heroes tournament, where he defeated Vitor "Shaolin" Ribiero to take the title. Calvancante is currently sitting at the top of the mountain of K-1's lightweight MMA division.

Aoki has been inactive since his fight with Pride back in April, immediately before the organization was bought out by the UFC. He has, though, fought in DEEP in a grappling match, where he showed the dominance of his Tobukan Judo.

This is more than just a classic grappler/striker matchup, as JZ brings a very interesting style of striking and groundnpound along with some versatility in submissions, and Aoki has shown some improved striking along with one of the two best submission games at 155 pounds. (the other comparable fighter is UFC top contender BJ Penn)

The other fight is Japanese organization DEEP's contribution to the card, of their champion Hidehiko Hasegawa, who will fight MMA staple and veteran of every major organization, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai. Sakurai is a warrior who's history in the sport intersects with every major organization, and Hasegawa is a fighter who has a great deal of fame in Japan. While Hasegawa's name isn't one American fans hear to often, it's one that is well known in Japanese MMA circles, where DEEP is one of the most established organizations (basically the Japanese equivalent of King of the Cage, or World Extreme Cagefighting).

If the Sakurai v Hasegawa matchup is setting the tone for the undercard of the fight, it is clear that M-1 is serious about rounding up as many top tier fighters as they can from smaller Japanese shows, especially one's like DEEP and K-1, which already have long histories and strong rosters. These could all make for a very solid event, and make it worth throwing a party to watch live MMA in the afternoon so we can catch the New Years Eve card.

Great Fedor Highlight Reel

For those still questioning what Fedor Emelianenko is about in MMA, I figured that show might be better than tell. This highlight reel does a pretty good job of summing up his fighting style and providing an overview of some of his best moves, though some are left out.



Thanks to Roberto Bardini for putting the video together.

M-1 Makes a Move, Brings in Serious Management

M-1 Global has made it's first major move since announcing signing Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko. This move, though, wasn't a single fighter signing, it was an entire staff and concept change.

While many were curious as to whether M-1 was going to adopt the old Pride style of competition or the newer style that the UFC is using, which focuses less on tournaments. It seems linke they will be taking the Pride route.

M-1 announced the instalation of the M-1 executive commitee, which includes Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, Emelianenko's manager Vadim Finklestein, along with the head honchos at Pride FC: President Nobuhiko Takada, Pride PR man Keiichi Sasahara and Pride matchmaker Shigeru Saeki.

The commitee announced that Fedor's first fight will be against Korean kickboxer and giant Hong Man Choi. While many will call this a freak matchup, as it is certainly below Fedor's caliber, it isn't like there's been much quality coming out of the other top organizations.

The commitee has also announced a who's who of international MMA fighters including Shinya Aoki, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen and Kazuo "The Grabaka Hitman" Mizaki. The names of former Pride superstars Aleks Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov have also been mentioned.

Josh Barnett Signs with M-1

Well, it's official, Russian organization M-1 has solidifed it's courting of top 5 heavyweight fighter Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Barnett. With the signing of #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, the Barnett signing shows that M-1 is serious about being more than a one-fighter organization.

Barnett was the only top heavyweight fighter in Pride who never fought the champion Emelianenko, and this signing promises on of the greatest matches that the heavyweight division, and the sport at large, has to offer.

As a matchup, this fight is unequalled. Fedor is famous for a powerful ground-and-pound attack, that he usually delivers standing in his opponents guard, and his boxing skills, as well as the submission skills he has developed in sambo are very solid. His combination of quick hands, both on the ground and standing, aggressive attack, precision head movement and a handful of very effective submissions (namely the armbar and the kimura) have made him a force that hasn't been pushed to the breaking point ever in a fight.

Barnett has submission skills unlike any other fighter in the sport. While he lacks for the technical Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backround of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, his violent and versatile game (which contains a larger arsenal of attacks than Nogueira's) is quick and aggressive. His raw strength and Roman-Greco wrestling has made him a challenge for anyone trying to land on top of him to attack, and if Fedor goes that route he may find that Barnett's experience is wrestling is too much.

The dimensions of this fight are very interesting and promising.

Fedor has the better standup, as he's traded with top tier heavyweight strikers like Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, but chances are this fight will end up on the ground, either with Fedor going for a clinch and one of his crafty takedowns that come from his hybrid Judo/Sambo backround. Whether he'll surprise Barnett, who has fought top Judoka in MMA before pretty successfully, is doubtful, but even so he may be able to get to a top position against Barnett.

If Fedor dominates the standup, we may see Barnett initiate the clinch and go for a takedown. Barnett's wrestling backround is not something that Fedor has ever dealt with. While he's fought tough folkstyle wrestlers like Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Matt Lindland, Barnett's folkstyle wrestling is a different deal. It's much less traditional and Barnett is really fairly unique, incorporating techniques that we really only see in professional wrestling entertainment as a way of displaying his strength.

Once the fight hits the ground, we will see someone in their element. Both fighters thrive on the top and love to attack, but both are very solid off of their backs. Barnett has leglocks that have proven very effective in his wrestling and he got to display them in his fight against Pawel Nastula not to long ago. We could see him do what no one else has really tried and attempt a leglock on Fedor from under Fedor's ground-and-pound. If Fedor ends up on his back, it will be interesting to see how Barnett handles Fedor's incredibly fundamental submission skills with his less conventional backround.

It's a matchup of the technically perfect versus the unconventionally saavy. Fedor is a total cyborg in the ring, his focus is all on victory, and he can attain it from anywhere. Barnett is a monster and he's always looking to attack, always trying finish.

Thanks for M-1 for putting this matchup together and I'm hoping for the best in their talks with Mark Hunt, Aleksander Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov and the other guys who are hanging in the balance with the Pride buyout.