...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor I haven't done a full preview of this show because it's unlikely most of us will get to see this event. EventMagic.tv might provide a delayed stream but HDNet won't show the event. The show takes place New Year's Eve in Saitama, Japan and looks to have several great fights. The two headlining fights are Joachim Hansen (#5 ranked Lightweight) vs. Gesias "JZ" Calvancante (#7 ranked Lightweight) as well as Eddie Alvarez (#2 ranked Lightweight) vs. Shinya Aoki (#4 ranked Lightweight). Those 2 fights right there are good enough to sell any show. If I was a betting man I'd have to go with Calvancante and Alvarez to win their fight.
Then there's the intriguing fight between Mark Hunt and Melvin Manhoef. I'd go with Manhoef in this one. Another interesting fight will be Mirko Filipovic vs. Hong Man Choi. Choi isn't the easiest opponent in the world but I think Cro-Cop will be able to pull the win out in this one. Hayato Sakurai is also scheduled to fight on this card. Semmy Schilt fights Mighty Mo as well. Bob Sapp will also fight, for those interested in him.
This card is most noteworthy for the two top fights, and they'll probably shake our Lightweight rankings up, but there's other good fights on the card. This would be a definite buy if it were available here. I'm going to try to track the show down myself because I think it'll be totally worth it.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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