Fedor to fight in Japan on NYE

MMAWeekly is reporting that this is now confirmed. Fedor will be fighting in Japan on NYE.

Choi squaring up against Brock Lesnar (told you he was huge).

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Less than a week after word leaked out on the Russian Mix-Fight Championship website that Fedor Emelianenko would be fighting on New Year’s Eve and then a subsequent denial by one M-1 Global official, the situation has come round full circle.

Monte Cox, M-1 Global’s president and CEO, confirmed on Monday that Emelianenko will indeed be fighting on New Year’s Eve after all.

“Fedor will fight Dec. 31,” he said. “We made a deal with a Japanese organization to loan him out.”

He also confirmed information first reported by Greg Savage of Sherdog.com, that Emelianenko’s opponent will be 7’2” Korean Hong Man Choi.

The rumors of a New Year’s Eve bout for the Russian fighter actually began when Emelianenko published a letter to Japanese fans on the Mix-Fight website saying, “Your wishes come true when you ask for them come New Year's Eve,” and later continued, "I contacted M-1 Global management and received their complete support in my desire to continue the tradition of fighting in Japan on New Year's Eve."

Cox, who at the time stated, “No, it’s not going to happen,” quashed that initial rumor. “There was an offer. We looked at it. We tried to see if it was possible. But in the end, there just wasn’t enough time to pull it off.”

Then came last week’s report on the Mix-Fight website that purported the new rumor and the subsequent denial by M-1 Global vice president Brian Patton, who said, “The team is in Japan right now, but it is in regards to a fight in the spring. To my knowledge, Fedor is not fighting in Japan in December. Unless things have changed since our last conference call…”

And that leads us back around to now, where things most definitely have changed with Cox confirming the fight.

Emelianenko will fight Choi, according to Cox, as part of a show being organized by the promoters of the Japanese professional wrestling organization Hustle. Several of Hustle’s employees were involved in operation of the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships.

Emelianenko was the final Pride heavyweight titleholder and is currently ranked as the No. 1 heavyweight fighter in the world by MMAWeekly.com.