DREAM.13 Press Conference News, including Fedor Rumors, K.J. Noons Return and Other Japanese MMA News
Japanese fight promotion, DREAM, held a press conference (watch part 1 & part 2) today where they announced several fights for DREAM.13 on March 22nd.
For a full breakdown of the press conference head over to Head Kick Legend.
There are two large stories coming out of the press conference. Most sites are grabbing on to a definitive one--that former EliteXC lightweight champion, K.J. Noons, will make his return to MMA against Andre "Dida" Amado (please make this a precursor to a re-match between Noons and Diaz!).
The other story is far more speculative or in other words "interesting". Thankfully Head Kick Legend wades through the rumor-filled fog:
At the DREAM presser, [Sasahara] went out of his way telling the press that Andre Dida vs. KJ Noons will be one of two bouts on the DREAM.13 card with a theme of Strikeforce vs. DREAM. The other fight, still unannounced will be a heavyweight showdown, featuring a DREAM heavyweight and a Strikeforce heavyweight. Innocent enough, right? The level of fighter Sasahara mentioned was a "Fedor-level" heavyweight, quoted in some Japanese news sources as "super-heavyweight" (not meaning heavy, like Bob Sapp, but a superstar).
Ah, Fedor rumors. They have to be the best guilty pleasure in MMA.
For those not familiar with the big rumor WKR will provide the abridge version. Fedor will fight Overeem in Japan (possibly for Strikeforce's heavyweight title) and not be apart of Strikeforce's April card, which in turn will cause CBS to bail placing the card on Showtime.
Head Kick Legend goes on to point out that until Strikeforce, or some MMA promotion makes an official announcement rumors regarding Fedor will continue to fester like a gangrene wound.
It is far more likely that the heavyweight in question is someone like Andrei Arlovksi, Tim Sylvia, Brett Rogers, Antonio Silva or even Josh Barnett. That's a lot of heavyweights to choose from though.
In other Japanese MMA news...
Sengoku announced several more fights for their Raiden Championship event.
Nick Denis (9-1) will step in for Wilson Reis to fight Yuji Hoshino. Reis is slated to compete in Bellator's upcoming featherweight tournament and will fight on April 15th in Chicago, Illinois.
Featherweight, Marlon Sandro (15-1), who did well in Sengoku's 2009 Grand Prix, will fight Tomonari Kanomata (15-4-5).
Finally Maximo Blanco (4-2-1) will meet Chang Hyun "Armbar" Kim (15-5)
The card is being headlined by a rematch between Sengoku middleweight champion, Jorge Santiago, and Mamed Khalidov. These two fought before in a non-title fight though Khalidov won with a first round TKO. This time the fight will be for the title and Santiago says he is not going to underestimate Khalidov again.
Below is the fight card for the March 12th show:
Sengoku 12 Fight Card
- Jorge Santiago (21-8) vs. Mamed Khalidov (20-3-1)
- Nick Denis (9-1) vs. Yuji Hoshino (16-7-7)
- Kyung Ho Kang (4-2) vs. Shigeki Osawa (4-1)
- Tomonari Kanomata (15-4-5) vs. Marlon Sandro (15-1-0)
- Kiuma Kunioku (34-22-9) vs. Leonardo Santos (6-3)
- Maximo Blanco (4-2-1) vs. Chang Hyun Kim (15-5)
- Akihiro Gono (31-15-7) vs. Diego Gonzalez (13-3)
- Henry "Sentoryu" Miller (6-9) vs. Yoshihiro Nakao (8-2)
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