Tag: Fedor

Daily Update: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wrestle Kingdom odds, Fedor

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

DAILY UPDATE

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

F4W NEWSLETTER: Recapping WWE TLC 2019 Joseph Currier gives his thoughts on WWE’s final PPV of the decade.

WWE’s final pay-per-view of the decade took place on Sunday night and exemplified some of the changes we’ve seen over the past 10 years.

TLC 2019 was very much a B-level PPV in the WWE Network era. Not only were the top men’s and women’s singles titles from each brand not defended, there were no singles titles on the line at all. Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens and AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton seemed like they were being built up as non-title matches that would help anchor the card, but they didn’t end up getting added. The show even ended with an angle instead of a match. After Asuka & Kairi Sane’s tables, ladders, and chairs match against Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair, a locker room brawl that featured Roman Reigns and Baron Corbin continued. The image that closed the show was Reigns spearing Corbin from an elevated area onto a pile of bodies. It felt like the ending of an episode of Raw or SmackDown instead of a major event.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

WON NEWSLETTER: December 30, 2019 Observer Newsletter: 2019 in review, more

A look at the industry as a whole as we end 2019 and go into 2020 is the lead story of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We go into the birth of AEW and its numbers thus far, the situation with Impact, ROH, New Japan in the U.S., value of AXS to New Japan, UFC moving to streaming PPV and the key to a value in this not talked about, why the big companies are falling upwards, Bellator numbers, AEW’s interest level peak and PPV demand, the change over the last two years in the non-WWE U.S. business, NXT business, shows with strong advances, ideas for AEW, NXT skewing older, the Wednesday night wars, attempts to make new stars, live viewing on Wednesday and where all the other shows with weekly TV stand at this point.

The issue also covers: 

A feature on the career of Mr. Niebla, his death, his troubles, and his biggest matches.

Live event business and how things changed from 2018 to 2019, looking at numbers of big shows, and average attendance for the different groups.

Royal Rumble show and ticket demand.

WWE injuries, a new football league with a name awfully close to XFL, a look at names at WWE tryouts, new events over WrestleMania week, current WWE market value and the most-watched shows on the WWE Network.

WrestleKingdom shows, the controversy over the women’s match on the card, why the match won’t air on New Japan World, the lineups, the main selling points, and the angles on the final show with full coverage of New Japan’s last event of the year.

UFC show in South Korea, the Korean Zombie, with match-by-match coverage.

Career of Rene Goulet, with his highlights, how he faded out, his bitterness over being let go by WWE, his career title history and highlights.

Biggest kickboxing match in years, and the back story that drew one of the largest television ratings for sports ever in Holland.  We look at The Baddest vs. The King and what happened.

This past week’s PWG show, including notes showing how the business is changing.

Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.

Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.

Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week. 

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.

In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.

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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE

Our weekend show is up here. On a side note, we are still in the process of getting our video site issues resolved so please bear with us in the meantime.

New Japan is pushing that Hiroshi Tanahashi will get a shot at the AEW title if he beats Chris Jericho on 1/5 at the Tokyo Dome. That’s a long way from a few months ago when nobody in New Japan was allowed to publicly acknowledge AEW’s existence.

Fedor Emelianenko qualified what he said last night saying that last night was part of his retirement tour but he was not retiring after the fight. That was a really pitiful performance by Rampage Jackson in that fight.

For those voting for match of the year, the David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin match that you should see can be found here.

Kambi has a ton of Wrestling Observer odds up.  

WrestleKingdom odds:

1/4

  • Liger’s team -400 vs. Sano’s team +250
  • Evil’s team -182 vs. Suzuki’s team +125
  • Fale’s team -192 vs/ Goto’s team +130
  • Tonga & Loa -143 vs. Robinson & Finlay +100
  • Archer  +125 vs. Moxley -182
  • Takahashi -300 vs. Ospreay +220
  • Naito -400 vs. White +300
  • Ibushi -130 vs. Okada +100

1/5

  • Liger’s team -143 vs. Lee’s team +100
  • Ishimori & Phantasmo +125 vs. Sho & Yoh -182
  • Sabre -111 vs. Sanada -125
  • KENTA +100 vs. Goto -143
  • Tanahashi -130 vs. Jericho +100

UFC

  • A story on Daniel Cormier coaching at Gilroy High, just outside of San Jose.
  • Mizuki Inoue vs. Tecia Torres has been announced for the 3/28 show in Columbus, OH.  

MISCELLANEOUS

  • AAW from last night in Merrionette Park, IL:  Myron Reed won six-way over Air Wolf, Colt Cabana, Clayton Gainz, Ace Austin and Josh Briggs, Kimber Lee b Hyan, Killer Kross b Matt Justice, Good Brother #3 b Jimmy Jacobs in a dog collar match, Kris Statlander b Jessicka Havok, Jake Something & Curt Stallion b David Starr & Eddie Kingston, Hakim Zane b Paco to win the Heritage title, Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega b Sami Callihan & Jake Crist to retain the tag titles, Mance Warner b Josh Alexander to win AAW title when Jacob Fatu no-showed without calling ahead.  This is the second time in recent months Fatu has missed an AAW show (thanks to Case Lowe)
  • Big Japan Pro Wrestling has had a really bad flu strain. Those who are out of action and will miss the 1/2 show at Korakuen Half are Abdullah Kobayashi, Ryuji Ito, Ryota Hama, Orca Uto, Yuki Ishikawa, Masaki Morihiro, Kota Sekifuda and referees Mac Takeds and Ryohei Nakatani.
  • CZW will start on PPV with a taped show called CZW’s Bloodiest Wars with DJ Hyde & Masada vs. Atsushi Onita & Matt Tremont and Mance Warner & Rickey Shane Page.
  • Mike Bailey is out of the next DDT tour. He said it was due to Fed Ex losing his visa paperwork in the mail and the replacement documents won’t arrive in time. Bailey & Mao were going to challenge Soma Takao & Daisuke Sasaki for the KO-D tag titles. Takao & Sasaki instead are defending against Keisuke Ishii & Kazuki Hirata.  Bailey was to face HARASHIMA for the DDT Extreme title. HARASHIMA will now defend against the DDT seal mascot on 1/12. (thanks to Patrick Tobin)
  • Bill Apter interviews The Nasty Boys.
  • Mike Mooneyham story on Randy Colley (thanks to Chris Cruise)

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Mick Foley wins his first WWF World title

CONTACT INFORMATION

Fedor Emelianenko stops Frank Mir at Bellator 198

Posted on by Josh Nason

If you like quick fights, Saturday’s Bellator 198 show was for you.

In the night’s main event, Fedor Emelianenko defeated Frank Mir by first round TKO in just 48 seconds to advance in the Bellator heavyweight title tournament against Chael Sonnen.

Mir attacked early, using his size and power to hurt the Russian with a punch. Emelianenko rallied quickly with a judo throw and kept Mir off guard, hitting a left uppercut while Mir was charging forward. Mir dropped to his knees and Emelianenko punched Mir out while he was in turtle position on the ground. 

This was Mir’s first fight in Bellator and the first time he’s fought since a USADA suspension following his March 2016 loss against Mark Hunt. He was released by the UFC in July 2017. This was Emelianenko’s first fight since losing via first round KO to Matt Mitrione last November.

In other action, the first four fights on the main card all ended in submission, three in the first round. Considering three of the fights featuring BJJ studs, that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

In the co-main event, Emmanuel Sanchez got former UFC veteran Sam Sicilia to tap out to an arm triangle choke in the first round (3:52) and made his claim at a title shot with his performance and an impassioned promo afterward. It’s his fourth straight win for Sanchez who is 9-2 in his Bellator career. 

The show began with Conor McGregor stablemate Dillon Danis making his pro debut by submitting Kyle Walker with a first round toehold in 1:38. The outspoken Danis got hit with a few punches early, but managed to get the fight down to the ground, working for a leg lock and transitioning to a toehold for the quick tap. This was a 175 pound catchweight fight, but welterweight will be Danis’ division of choice.

From there, the undefeated welterweight Neiman Gracie got into the submission mix by defeating Javier Torres with a second round arm triangle choke. The 29-year-old is now 8-0 with six of those coming in Bellator.

Another BJJ black belt making his presence felt was middleweight Rafael Lovato Jr. who submitted UFC veteran and late replacement Gerald Harris via first round armbar (1:11). He remains undefeated at 8-0 and has finishes in seven of them.

In the one prelim fight that made the main card, Eric Wisely submitted Morgan Sickinger by first round submission via armbar (1:11).

Bellator MMA releases bracket for heavyweight title Grand Prix

Posted on by Josh Nason

Two of the biggest talkers in the sport will face off in the first round of the Bellator MMA Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, announced Tuesday along with the rest of the first round fights and locations.

On January 20th at the Forum in Los Angeles, CA, Chael Sonnen will face former UFC light heavyweight champion Rampage Jackson to kick off the tournament as part of the undercard of Rory MacDonald vs. welterweight champion Douglas Lima. The show will go head-to-head with UFC 220 from Boston, MA.

Announced earlier this month, four heavyweights and four light heavyweights moving up in weight class will compete in the Grand Prix tournament with the winner becoming the new Bellator heavyweight champion.

A month after Sonnen/Rampage, Matt Mitrione will look to keep his win streak going against Roy Nelson at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena in February 2018. This will be a rematch of their December 2012 UFC TUF finale encounter. 

In April at Chicago’s Allstate Arena, Fedor Emelianenko will try to turn back time one last time against Frank Mir who will be making his Bellator debut after being released by the UFC while under suspension by USADA. 

Finally, the first round wraps up in May at San Jose, CA’s, SAP Center with light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader moving up in weight to face “King” Mo Lawal, a fight originally scheduled to happen at the promotion’s NYC show this year.

Dates and locations for the semifinals and finals weren’t announced, nor were alternates in case of injury. Sonnen vs. Jackson will air on the Paramount Network, the soon-to-be renamed Spike TV, but it’s unclear as to whether all fights will be on free TV. Depending on how 2018 plays out, the finals could be on the company’s return to PPV.

Bellator NYC Observer Panel picks: Chael vs. Wanderlei; Fedor vs. Mitrione

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

It’s the biggest show in the history of Bellator MMA tonight as they return to PPV with Bellator NYC. There are three world title fights on the card, but the show is headlined by a grudge match years in the making with Chael Sonnen taking on Wanderlei Silva in the promotional debut for the latter fighter.

Also making their Bellator debut is former Pride legend and the one-time top heavyweight in the world Fedor Emelianenko. He will step into the cage with Matt Mitrione, looking for his third straight win since joining Bellator.

The most high profile title fight will actually headline the prelims on Spike, called Bellator 180, as light heavyweight champion Phil Davis faces the debuting Ryan Bader. 

On the PPV main card, there are two title fights. Lightweight champion Michael Chandler, who in many ways is the face of the company, defends against little known but unbeaten Brent Primus while recent UFC free agent Lorenz Larkin challenges champion Douglas Lima for his welterweight belt.

If you’re new here, our panel picks are listed below and listed alongside the fighter’s names are their worldwide FightMatrix rankings, as well as BestFightOdds.com betting odds. The panelist’s 2017 records is in parentheses, and we also have panel consensus picks as well as a line where we show how the betting favorites did:

  • John Pollock (30-13; .698) — Fight Network analyst, Live Audio Wrestling co-host, MMA Report co-host
  • Dave Meltzer (30-13; .684) — Wrestling Observer publisher
  • Consensus Picks (28-13; .683)
  • Favorites (29-14; .674)
  • Mike Sawyer (28-15; .651) — Tough Talk MMA publisher
  • David Bixenspan (28-15; .651) – Deadspin pro wrestling columnist; Between the Sheets podcast host
  • Steve Juon (27-16; .628) — MMA Mania writer, Angry Marks publisher
  • Josh Nason (26-17; .605) — Host of Josh Nason’s Punch Out, WrestlingObserver.com assistant editor
  • Tom Lawlor (3-2; .600) – Co-host Filthy Four Daily; pro wrestling undercard fighter; UFC enhancement talent currently suspended due to wellness violation
  • Mike Sempervive (25-18; .581) — Wrestling Observer Live and Big Audio Nightmare co-host
  • Ryan Frederick (23-20; .535) — WrestlingObserver.com UFC writer
  • Paul Fontaine (22-21; .512) — MMADraws.com publisher, WrestlingObserver.com writer
  • Front Row Brian (20-23; .465) — MMA newsbreaker, beloved internet personality, podcast host

Chael Sonnen (28-15-1) vs Wanderlei Silva (35-12-1)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS

This fight was originally scheduled to happen in UFC in 2013, but both men had PED issues at that time and the fight never took place despite both guys building up the grudge match as TUF Brazil coaches.

Sonnen has already fought in Bellator, losing to Tito Ortiz earlier this year while “The Axe Murderer” will be fighting for the first time in Bellator. Both guys have been relatively quiet leading into this one and it’s hard to say where either guy goes from here, no matter what the result.

  • Sonnen #40; -149 betting favorite: Lawlor, FRB, Frederick, Sempervive, Fontaine, Nason, Bix
  • Silva NR; +155 betting underdog: Sawyer, Juon, Pollock, Meltzer

> Fedor Emelianenko (36-4) vs Matt Mitrione (11-5)
HEAVYWEIGHTS

This one was originally set to go down in February in San Jose, but Mitrione had to pull out that night due to kidney stones while Fedor elected to wait until Mitrione was healthy enough to compete rather than take on another opponent.

Fedor is on a five-fight win streak with no blemishes on his record since losing to Dan Henderson in Strikeforce back in 2011. However, he was retired for a few years and one of the wins on his comeback, Fabio Maldonado in EFN, was questionable at best. Mitrione has knocked out both of his Bellator opponents so far and a third KO in this one would make him the leading contender for the vacant heavyweight title.

  • Fedor #29; +110 betting underdog: FRB, Sawyer, Meltzer
  • Mitrione #21; -120 betting favorite: Lawlor, Frederick, Juon, Sempervive, Pollock, Fontaine, Bix, Nason

> Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler (16-3) vs Brent Primus (7-0)

Chandler has looked great ever since capturing the title vacated by Will Brooks. He knocked out Patricky Pitbull in the first round to win the belt and then won a decision over former UFC champion Benson Henderson in his first title defense. Primus will fight on a Bellator main card for only the second time in his career but he does have five stoppage wins in his young career, including each of his first three Bellator fights. Neither the oddsmakers or our panel is giving him much of a chance of escaping MSG with his perfect record intact.

  • Chandler #6; -714 betting favorite: Lawlor, FRB, Sawyer, Frederick, Juon, Sempervive, Pollock, Fontaine, Bix, Nason, Meltzer

> Bellator Welterweight Champion Douglas Lima (28-6) vs Lorenz Larkin (18-5)

Lima is a 2-time champion in Bellator, having won a tournament for the vacant title in 2015, later losing it to Andrey Koreshkov, and then gaining it back with a 3rd round KO last November. He’s a Bellator mainstay as this will be his 14th trip into their cage. Larkin fights for the first time in Bellator but he has worked for Scott Coker in the past. He started his career in Strikeforce, running up an impressive record there before moving over to UFC when that promotion was shut down. He won his last two fights in UFC and would’ve won five in a row if not for a split decision loss to Albert Tumenov.

Another ex-UFC vet in Rory McDonald awaits the winner.

  • Lima #15; +170 betting underdog: Juon, Sempervive
  • Larkin #10; -185 betting favorite: Lawlor, FRB, Sawyer, Frederick, Pollock, Fontaine, Bix, Nason, Meltzer

> Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Phil Davis (17-3) vs Ryan Bader (22-5)

This will be the first title defence for the veteran Davis, who won the title with a dominant performance over Liam McGeary last November. He has won all four of his fights in Bellator, including a one-night tournament in September 2015 which earned him the title shot.

Bader was long considered the top UFC 205-pound fighter to not receive a title shot. Like Larkin, he won his last two UFC fights and seven of his last eight fights there with the only loss being a first round KO at the hands of Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Bader beat Davis in January 2015 in what was a very controversial decision. The winner here will likely defend against King Mo next.

  • Davis #3; -115 betting favorite: Sawyer, Juon, Sempervive, Fontaine, Nason, Meltzer
  • Bader #5; +110 betting underdog: Lawlor, FRB, Frederick, Pollock, Bix

**********

Other notable fights on the card:

> Aaron Pico (pro debut) vs Zach Freeman (8-2)
LIGHTWEIGHTS

  • Pico NR; no betting odds for this fight
  • Freeman #506

> James Gallagher (6-0) vs Chinzo Machida (5-2)
FEATHERWEIGHTS

  • Gallagher #472; -200 betting favorite
  • Machida NR; +198 betting underdog

> Neiman Gracie (5-0) vs Dave Marfone (5-2)
WELTERWEIGHTS

  • Gracie #212; -833 betting favorite
  • Marfone NR; +702 betting underdog

> Ryan Couture (10-5) vs Haim Gozali (7-3)

WELTERWEIGHTS

  • Couture #253; -525 betting favorite
  • Gozali NR; +530 betting underdog

Action begins with the Spike.com prelims at 6:00 PM EST and moves over to Spike at 8 PM EST. The main card airs on PPV at 10 PM EST, and will be covered here.

WOL: Sunday Sempervive Solo Showcase!

Posted on by Mike Sempervive

Wrestling Observer Live with Mike Sempervive returns today with the 76-minute Super Sempervive Solo Sunday Showcase edition!

Mike shares more memories of the late George “The Animal” Steele, including a 2015 interview Bryan and Mike did with him. Plus, get Mike’s thoughts on the great Ivan Koloff, Fedor’s fight falling through at Saturday’s Bellator show, Cyborg’s TUE exemption in UFC, and more.

A fun show as always, so check it out~!

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Fedor’s Bellator MMA debut postponed as Matt Mitrione falls ill

Posted on by Josh Nason

First reported by MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani and later confirmed by Bellator president Scott Coker via Twitter, Saturday night’s main event of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione has been canceled due to an undisclosed illness suffered by Mitrione.

As of this writing, the cause for the illness hasn’t been disclosed, nor has any rescheduled date been announced. John Morgan of MMA Junkie said he has heard kidney stones were the reason.

Helwani tweeted that officials tried to find a last second replacement, but were unable to do so. Of note, there is another heavyweight fight on the show featuring Cheick Kongo and Oli Thompson but it’s unclear if either man was asked to fill the spot.

As a result, Josh Thomson vs. Patricky “Pitbull” Freire is now the new main event in San Jose, CA.

This was to be Fedor’s first fight in the U.S. since a July 2011 loss to Dan Henderson on a Strikeforce event. 

After retiring in 2012, Fedor returned to action in 2015 and was riding a five-fight win streak going into tonight’s show although his last performance against Fabio Maldonado was a controversial victory in which “The Last Emperor” looked anything but.

This was the biggest fight of Mitrione’s career and his third since signing with Bellator as a free agent in 2016. The 38-year-old is 2-0 in his new home with two T/KO wins.

RIZIN results from Saitama Super Arena: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jadeep Singh

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Results from today’s Rizin show from the Saitama Super Arena:

Rena beat Jleana Valentino in a women’s 112 pound fight with a second round flying armbar.

King Mo Lawal beat Teodoras Aukstuolis in the heavyweight tournament semifinal, dominating him everywhere and winning via decision

Jiri Prochazka beat Vadim Nemkov in the other heavyweight semifinal.  Very good fight going back-and-forth.  Nemkov had the advantage on the ground.  Both very tired by the end of the 10 minute first round and when it was over, Nemkov just couldn’t get up and didn’t answer the bell for the second round.

Brennan Ward of Bellator beat Ken Hasegawa with a belly-to-belly suplex and choke.

Soo Chul Kim beat Maike Linhares in a boring fight via unanimous decision.

Takeru beat Yang Ming under K-1 rules.  The ref stopped it after a barrage of punches in the second round.

Gabi Garcia beat Lei’d Tapa via knockout with a backfist that looked most like a reflex action than a planned punch.  Garcia looked tons bigger than Tapa, stunningly so.  Tapa was a lot lighter than her wrestling size and Garcia had the most ridiculous shoulders on a fighter, man or woman, that you’ll see.  Tapa knocked her down first and then both swung wildly with no technique.  The crowd was very into this as a freak show fight.

Bob Sapp beat Akebono.  This fight was so bad Spike couldn’t air it.

Baruto beat Peter Aerts via decision.  The 403-pound Baruto threw Aerts around pretty easily.

Andy Souwer, a kickboxing legend, beat Yuichiro Nagashima with a flurry of hard punches to the head and particularly the body and Nagashima went down.

Kron Gracie beat Asen Yamamoto via triangle.  He got the triangle, Yamamoto was able to power bomb Gracie but Gracie held on tight for the submission.  Yamamoto was too young and too small.  Gracie’s technique looked great.

Fedor Emelianenko beat Jadeep Singh via first round ground and pound as Singh tapped from strikes.  Fedor took him down and pretty much beat him up.  Hiroshi Hase made a cameo in the ring with Fedor.

King Mo beat Jiri Prochazka too win the heavyweight tournament. Prochazka landed a lot of kicks early, but Mo took him down.  Prochazka rushed in after getting up and Mo knocked him out cold with a right hand.

Rizin Fighting Federation weigh in results: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Fedor Emelianenko clocked in at 236 pounds.  Gabi Garcia and Lei’d Tapa in the women’s super heavyweight fight were more than 200 pounds.  This will be the second Rizin show of the week, which takes place on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena.

The show will air on Thursday morning at both 10 a.m. Eastern and Pacific time on Spike.  Not all of the matches will air on Spike, and some matches from the Tuesday event will be on Spike.

The show is a mix of celebrity fights and names from the past with the attempt to draw mainstream viewers in Japan into MMA with unique personalities.  While Emelianenko is who the show is built around in the U.S., in Japan the most interest revolves around the debut of former sumo star Baruto, the woman’s fight that includes former TNA wrestler Lei’d Tapa, the Bob Sapp vs Akebono fight and the Yamamoto wrestling family vs. Gracie Jiu Jitsu next generation battle with Asen Yamamoto, a teenage champion wrestler whose grandfather was an Olympic wrestler, whose mother was a world champion wrestler and whose uncle is Kid Yamamoto, facing Kron Gracie, the grandson of Helio Gracie and son of Rickson Gracie.

The show features five pro wrestlers in Akebono, Sapp, Tapa, Yuichiro Nagashima (the famed cross-dressing kickboxer) and Lawal.

Rena Kubota (112) vs. Jlena Valentino (112)
King Mo Lawal (214) vs. Teodoras Aukstuolis (216) in the semifinals of
the heavyweight tournament
Jiro Prochazka (211.5) vs. Vadim Nemkov (219.5) in the semifinals of the
heavyweight tournament
Brennan Ward of Bellator (178) vs. Ken Hasegawa (178.5)
Takeru (125.5) vs. Yang Ming (125.5) in a K-1 rules match
Soo Chu Kim (134.5) vs. Maike Linhares (134.5)
Gabi Garcia (216) vs. Lei’d Tapa (201) in a women’s fight
Kron Gracie (144.5) vs. Asen Yamamoto (144.5)
Akebono (419) vs. Bob Sapp (330.5) in a shoot boxing rules match
Andy Souwer (159) vs. Yuichiro Nagashima (158)
Peter Aerts (didn’t weigh in) vs. Baruto (403.5)
Fedor Emelianenko (236) vs. Jaideep Singh (233)
Finals of heavyweight tournament

Fedor finds a fighting date for New Year’s Eve

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

At Bellator’s September Dynamite show, it was announced that Fedor Emilianenko would return to MMA on New Year’s Eve for a new Japanese promotion which we later learned would be called Rizin Fighting Federation. Former Pride president Nobuyuki Sakakibara made the announcement but didn’t announce an opponent for the former Grand Prix champion.

Several names have been rumoured to be Fedor’s opponent with word first leaking out (and quickly denied) that the opponent would be former Super Fight League fighter Jaideep Singh. Seemingly every non-UFC heavyweight who didn’t already have a fight booked was linked at one point or another, and late Thursday night, the promotion held a press conference, to announce Fedor’s opponent on December 31st.

And that opponent is…Jaideep Singh.

At the time of the original rumours, Singh had only fought one in MMA, a 2013 bout in which he submitted 0-1 fighter Alireza Tavakoli. He’s since fought for the DEEP promotion in Japan, scoring a 2nd round KO over Carlos Toyota (6-6-1). Fedor and Singh will be the main event of  “Breakfast with Fedor” — a show that will be broadcast on New Year’s Eve on Spike TV at 10 AM Eastern. The show will feature fights from the three shows that Rizin will be running that weekend, two of which involve current Bellator fighters Brennan Ward and King Mo Lawal in separate fights.

Emilianenko was at one time considered the top heavyweight and pound-for-pound fighter in all of MMA. He had a 10-year winning streak snapped at the hands of current UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum in June 2010. He went on to get knocked out in his next two Strikeforce fights against Bigfoot Silva and Dan Henderson before returning to Russia and Japan. He won twice for M1 Global and once for Dream before retiring after a June 2012 KO of Pedro Rizzo.

WOR 11/6: Booking around Seth Rollins’ injury, every bad fight ever made in one day

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today with a very long breaking news audio show on a bunch of different stories — every bad idea fight you can imagine being put together all at once for Bellator and Rizin, how Seth Rollins going down may lead to a breath of fresh air for the entire company with so many booking options and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Fedor to face pro wrestler Tsuyoshi Kosaka on New Year’s Eve

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

In a night filled with trips back in time, Inside MMA reported tonight that Fedor Emelianenko’s opponent for the Rizin New Year’s Eve show would be Tsuyoshi Kosaka, a 45-year-old retired pro wrestler from Japan.  

After the report aired, Jerry Millen, who works with Emelianenko, denied that Kosaka was the opponent.  Observer sources in Japan say that Emelianenko’s opponent has not been decided and there were several different people under consdieration, Kosaka being one of them.

Kosaka who has a strong judo background, was one of the major stars with the RINGS promotion in the 90, where he had some classic pro wrestling matches, and also headlined a Tokyo Dome show for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He also competed as a regular in Pride, and went to the semifinals of an eight man UFC heavyweight title tournament after Randy Couture vacated the title, before losing a classic fight with Bas Rutten.

Kosaka won a controversial match over Emelianenko on December 22, 2000, in RINGS, the first loss of Emelianenko’s career.  It was in a tournament, and ended in 17 seconds when Emelianenko was too badly cut to continue from an illegal elbow.  The match would have been ruled a no contest normally, but being part of a tournament, they declared Kosaka the winner since Emelianenko wouldn’t be allowed to continue in the tournament.  Kosaka then lost in the next round via decision to Randy Couture.

It was one of the great “What if’s” in history, since, had Emelianenko not been cut and advanced, he and Couture would have faced in 2001. Fedor would eventually avenge the loss to Kosaka in a fight on April 3, 2005, in Pride, saw Emelianenko win via doctor’s stoppage at the end of the first round. Kosaka had been announced as coming out of retirement for the show last week.

*****

Dave and Bryan have a brand new Wrestling Observer Radio talking this story right now for subscribers along with the Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock 3 announcement and more!

New Japanese MMA promotion with Fedor: Rizin Fighting Federation

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Two-time Observer Awards promoter of the year winner Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced today in Tokyo the formation of his new promotion, the Rizin Fighting Federation, a new attempt to rekindle the heyday of Japanese MMA, complete with a New Year’s Eve show that will air in the U.S. in prime time on Spike TV.

What was announced is two shows, both at the Saitama Super Arena, one on 12/29 and the other on 12/31.

The biggest news is that Fuji TV, one of the major networks in Japan, will broadcast the event. Fuji TV was the network that broadcasted Pride until it was dropped in the wake of media stories about Yakuza influence in the promotion, which led to the group’s demise.  It was not made clear if the show would air live in Japan, with the indication that Fuji TV would air it as a special built around the fights of Fedor Emelianenko and New Japan’s Kazushi Sakuraba, who was the biggest name Japanese star announced as competing.

Among the plans for the promotion include an eight person heavyweight tournament with $500,000 going to the winner, which would be taking place at some point in the future.

The rules will be similar to that of Pride, with men’s fights being 20 minutes in length with rounds of ten minutes, five minutes and five minutes, and using the old Pride judging criteria.  Moves like soccer kicks and knees to the head of a downed opponent will be legal.  The fights will be fought inside a ring, but the ring would have five ropes instead of three or four.  Women’s fights will be three five minute rounds.  There will also be non-MMA rules fights, such as kickboxing fights, on the December shows.

Sakakibara was looking to link the world’s of amateur wrestling, pro wrestling, MMA, Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing.  Appearing from pro wrestling were Sakuraba and Nobuhiko Takada, who will be a figurehead officer such as in the heyday of Pride.  Tomiaki Fukuta, the chairman of the Japanese amateur wrestling association was also there.

Rena Kubota, a female star of kickboxing and Shoot boxing promotions in Japan will debut in MMA, as will Gabi Garcia, a ridiculously muscular world super heavyweight Jiu Jitsu champion.

The main event on 12/29 pits Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki in a battle of Japan’s original submission king against Japan’s current submission star.  Aoki, who is smaller than Sakuraba, is the current One lightweight champion.

Also at the press conference were Scott Coker from Bellator and Jon Slusser of Spike TV.  Coker said that Bellator fighters would be on the show and that Sean Grande and Jimmy Smith would be announcing.

Sakakibara said talent would come from Bellator, BAMMA, KSW, Bushido, Jungle Fight, Desert Force, Deep, Shoot, Pancrase and ZST promotions.

No opponent was named for Emelianenko.  MMA Fighting had reported Jaideep Singh, a kickboxer who has only fought once in MMA, as the foe.

Wrestling Observer Live 10/6: NXT Takeover preview, Iron Man or Iron Woman, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on Raw from Monday, Fedor Emelianenko’s alleged next opponent, IRON MAN or IRON WOMAN, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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