Saint Petersburg, Russia (December 12, 2011) –
M-1Global and DREAM officials announced today that legendary heavyweight Fedor “ The Last Emperor” Emelianenko will be facing Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo Satoshi Ishii on December 31, 2011 as part of FIELDS presents FIGHT FOR JAPAN “Genkidesuka!! Oomisoka!! 2011! The event, which takes place from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, will be broadcast in North America onHDNet.
The event marks the return of Fedor Emelianenko to Japan after a 3-year absence.
“M-1 Global in cooperation with Dream is very pleased to announce the bout which will bring the world’s attention to Japan on December 31” – said M-1 Global Director of Operations Evgeni Kogan, “Fedor has been in great shape, and is ready for what we think will be a hard and competitive fight.”
Emelianenko ( 32-4-1 NC ) enters the bout on the heels of a commanding victory over Jeff Monson on November 20th in Moscow at the sold out M-1 Global presents: Fedor vs. Monson. The contest with Ishii will mark the sixth time “The Last Emperor” has entered the ring as part of mixed martial arts year-end festivities in Japan.
Satoshi Ishii enters the contest with the hope of continuing his winning ways on New Year’s Eve. Ishii defeated Jerome Le Banner by decision to end 2010, and has lost only once as a professional. The Olympic gold medalist made his MMA debut in 2009 and has since won 4 bouts with only one loss and one draw on his record.
The official lineup:
FIELDS presents FIGHT FOR JAPAN “Genkidesuka!! Oomisoka!! 2011!
1 Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii – DREAM Heavyweight match (DREAM MMA rules)
2 Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka – DREAM Lightweight title match (DREAM MMA rules)
3 Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi “Lion” Inoue – DREAM Featherweight title match (DREAM MMA rules)
4 Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata – DREAM Featherweight one match (DREAM MMA rules)
5 Yuichiro “Jien-Otsu” Nagashima vs. Katsunori Kikuno – Mix rule one match (1R – 3min kickboxing rules, 2R – 5min MMA rules)
6 DREAM Bantamweight Tournament final (Winner of semi-final 1 vs. semi-final 2)
7 Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo Marques Diniz – DREAM Bantamweight Tournament semi-final 1 (DREAM MMA rules)
8 Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos – DREAM Bantamweight Tournament semi-final 2 (DREAM MMA rules)
9 Hideo Tokoro vs. Yusup Saadulaev – DREAM Bantamweight Tournament reserve match (DREAM MMA rules)
10 Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan – DREAM Welterweight one match (DREAM MMA rules)
11 Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Aerts – IGF one match (IGF rules)
For information on M-1 Global, go to the official M-1 website, www.M-1Global.com and
