A press conference was held today by former PRIDE staff members to announce that there would be an MMA show on 12/31 at Saitama Super Arena. The promoters are labeling the event as being "Yarennoka! supported by M-1 Global Mixed Martial Arts." Takada, Sasahara, Saeki, Lenny Hardt, Kei Grand, Daisuke Sato, and major names from DSE's management past are involved in the show. Fighters announced included Fedor, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Shin'ya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Mitsuhiro Ishida. Photo mugshot of DSE management here.

Take notice of the NYE logo for Yarennoka, which uses the exact same font as the past DSE-produced Otoko Matsuri (Man Festival) shows did. Furthermore, the web page for Yarennoka is only a slightly modified format as compared to the old PRIDE web site.

M-1 Global president Monte Cox, whose promotion owns the rights to Emelianenko, confirmed late Tuesday that the Russian Sambo champion would be competing on the card. Emelianenko will be paid $1.5 million by the Japanese promotion. Cox, however, did not reveal what type of compensation M-1 Global will receive for lending out Emelianenko's services. An opponent for the former PRIDE heavyweight king was not named at the press conference.

Cox said that reports on MMAWeekly.com and Sherdog.com naming South Korean kickboxer Hong Man Choi - who stands 7-foot-2 and weighs in at more than 350 pounds - as Emelianenko's opponent were premature. Cox said Choi has neither been confirmed nor signed to face Emelianenko.

"Part of the deal is that they choose the opponent," Cox said. "They're choosing an opponent that makes sense for the Japanese market."

Cox said M-1 Global and Emelianenko would remain open to whichever opponent the Japanese promotion presents, Choi included. Cox did not comment on how this latest development might affect plans to have Emelianenko compete in February in the U.S. under M-1 Global's first official event.

Labels: Dream Stage Entertainment, Fedor Emelianenko, M-1, MMA, Yarennoka