The Weekly Wrap: Dec. 13 – Dec. 19

Full ‘Dynamite’ card comes into focus

With a week and a half to go until the event, confirmation of several matches rounds out Fighting and Entertainment Group’s K-1 “Premium 2008 Dynamite” on New Year’s Eve in Saitama, Japan.

The event will feature Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. South Korean giant Hong Man Choi in an MMA bout, as well as Semmy Schilt’s return to MMA against Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga -- a man he’s already defeated under K-1 rules. Also confirmed for the show was a lightweight fight between Hideo Tokoro and Daisuke Nakamura and a K-1 rules bout between Yoshihiro Sato and Artur Kyshenko.

Yahoo Sports reported that 2008 Beijing gold medal-winning American wrestler Henry Cejudo has been negotiating with FEG to make his MMA debut on the card against Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. However, it does not appear that Yamamoto, one of MMA’s top three ratings movers in Japan, will have healed a knee injury in time.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura will headline the four-and-a-half hour offering -- a network television event in Japan that will air after a boxing show. It does not appear the event will air in the United States.

Also on the card: Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen vs. Gesias Cavalcante, Mark Hunt vs. Jerome LeBanner, Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi (K-1 rules) and Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda (K-1 rules). There’s talk that the Alvarez-Aoki match could determine the inaugural World Association of Mixed Martial Arts lightweight champion. There will also be a four-man K-1 rules tournament at “Dynamite” featuring fighters in the 18-year-old-and-under division.