Tag: Glory World Series

Press Release – TOKYO, Japan (Dec. 7, 2012) – DREAM Lightweight (155 pounds/70 kilograms) Champion Shinya Aoki (31-6) will face battle-tested wrestling specialist Antonio McKee (28-4-2) at the DREAM Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve.

DREAM.18 will be broadcast live on Fight Network in Canada, along with the GLORY 4 Tokyo Heavyweight Grand Slam.

The matchup was announced today by officials from DREAM and Glory Sports International, which is presenting the year-end show along with the GLORY 4 Tokyo – Heavyweight Grand Slam event.

Also announced was a middleweight (185 pounds/84 kilograms) fight between Melvin Manhoef (26-9-1, 1 NC) and Denis Kang (35-15-2, 2 NC) and a 139-pound catchweight meeting between former DREAM bantamweight (135 pounds/61 kilograms) champion Bibiano Fernandes (12-3) and Yoshiro Maeda (30-11-2) of Japan.

“Shinya Aoki is already a legend in mixed martial arts. His jiu jitsu and judo skills are just incredible and we are delighted to have him on the card for DREAM 18. The Saitama Super Arena is his home and the greatest matches of his career have been fought there. We expect another epic encounter on New Year’s Eve when he faces UFC veteran Antonio McKee,” said GLORY CEO Marcus Luer.

“With Melvin Manhoef and Denis Kang, we have a fight where the fans cannot afford to blink – there is so much power and skill in that fight that it is very, very unlikely to go the distance. And the fight between Bibiano Fernandes and Yoshiro Maeda will be a whirlwind, technical master class. Fernandes is one of the world’s top ten bantamweights while Maeda is as tough as they come. All the DREAM 18 fights are absolutely world class and we are very excited about them.”

Known as Tobikan Judan (‘Master of Flying Attacks’), Aoki is a grappling prodigy. An incredible 20 of his 31 career wins have been by way of submission and his victories include wins over Rich Clementi, Joachim Hansen and Eddie Alvarez. He has a ruthless killer instinct, exemplified by his breaking the arm of Mizuto Hirota at a 2009 New Year’s Eve event in the Saitama Super Arena.

McKee has fought for the UFC, the IFL and top Canadian promotion MFC in a career spanning 12 years. Only four fighters have ever managed to beat him, and three of those – Karo Parisyan, Jacob Volkmann and Chris Brennan – have also competed amongst the upper echelon of fighters in the UFC and PRIDE FC. McKee was set to fight Aoki at DREAM: Fight for Japan last May, but the bout fell through because of visa issues.

The Dutch dynamo Manhoef needs little introduction to fight fans in Japan or anywhere else. A huge fan favorite, Manhoef’s power and highly aggressive style combine to ensure that his fights rarely go the distance. He is one of only two men to ever stop Mark Hunt with strikes and he also has a win over Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba.

French-Korean middleweight Kang won a ‘Fight of the Night’ award for his clash with Michael Bisping in the UFC. A second-degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, Kang’s honors include being a finalist in the PRIDE FC Welterweight Grand Prix and winning a title in leading Korean promotion Spirit MC. He has wins over Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua and Akihiro Gono.

Fernandes won the 2009 DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix to become the organization’s first featherweight champion. After losing the belt to Hiroyuki Takaya, he moved down to bantamweight and won the DREAM Bantamweight Grand Prix.

Maeda has competed for many of the best organizations in the world, including PRIDE FC, DREAM, WEC, Pancrase and DEEP. He fought for the WEC bantamweight title against Miguel Torres at WEC 34 and holds wins over Chase Beebe and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert Micah Miller among others. He was also a quarter-finalist in the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix.

‘GSI presents DREAM 18 and GLORY 4 Tokyo – New Year’s Eve Special’ – will commence at 4 p.m. JST with the DREAM 18 card and continue with the GLORY 4 Tokyo – Heavyweight Grand Slam, a one-night, 16-man, single-elimination tournament featuring the world’s top heavyweight stand-up fighters, including Semmy Schilt (39-6, 18 KO’s), Gokhan Saki (77-15, 53 KO’s), Daniel Ghita (44-7, 34 KO’s), Remy Bonjasky (77-14, 40 KO’s), Peter Aerts (104-30-1, 78 KO’s), Errol Zimmerman (76-16-1, 41 KO’s), Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva (32-8-1, 22 KO’s) and Sergei Kharitonov (22-7, 12 KO’s).

The winner of the heavyweight tournament will take home a Grand Prize of $400,000, and a total of $600,000 in prize money will be awarded to tournament participants.

For more information, visit www.gloryworldseries.com.

About DREAM:

Japan’s premier MMA organisation, DREAM has staged 23 top-class events in the course of its four-year history. Fighters that have stepped into the DREAM ring include Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Melvin Manhoef, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Eddie Alvarez, Todd Duffee, Gesias Calvancante, Marius Zaromskis.

About GLORY:

The GLORY World Series (www.gloryworldseries.com) is the world’s premier kickboxing, or stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe and offering up to $1,000,000 in prize money to the winners of 16-man ‘Grand Prix’ tournaments, which are open to only the best fighters in each weight class. The fight series also includes 8-man tournaments and events with traditional, single bouts.

With television deals spanning every continent, plus a groundbreaking online video streaming system and the world’s largest online martial arts library, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely-broadcast sporting organizations.

Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in Holland, the UK, Tokyo, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel includes a diverse mix of award-winning hedge-fund and private equity investors; principals from pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia; and senior level executives from several leading sports franchises, including WWE, FIFA, Golden Glory, Champions League and It’s Showtime.

Press Release – Tokyo, Japan (Nov 9th, 2011) – Following the recent GLORY Sports International (GSI) announcement that it will be producing DREAM 18 at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve, the company has now announced it will merge GLORY 4: Tokyo Grand Slam with DREAM 18 to create one mega-night of martial arts on Dec 31st.

GLORY 4 Tokyo was originally scheduled to take place on Dec 2nd at the Makuhari Messe Complex. But after detailed study and consideration GSI felt it would be possible to combine the two shows, creating the largest possible impact for relaunching the Japanese Martial Arts scene with an event like no other that has gone before.

“As a company we want to create the most spectacular martial arts show Japan has ever seen. After taking over DREAM 18, it just made natural sense to look at the opportunity to revive the traditional New Year’s Eve date and create a mega-show,” Pierre Andurand, Chairman of GSI, commented.

“We looked at the pros and cons and it was clear that a combined show would be the way to go. We are extremely proud and excited to deliver this mega-show to the Japanese fans and to the world at large. I can’t wait to spend my New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Arena!”

Marcus Luer, Managing Director of GSI, remarked, “We are confident that the fans will see our good intentions to create the best possible show ever and once they see the details of the New Year’s Eve show, they will be blown away by the caliber of fighters and fights we have lined up that night.

“We apologize for any inconvenience caused to the fans who have bought tickets for Dec 2nd but we are certain they will be happy with what we will create on Dec 31. We will provide fans who have bought tickets for GLORY 4: Tokyo with a full refund which can be easily obtained at the outlets where they bought the tickets. At the same time, those same outlets will also sell the new tickets for the Dec 31 show.”

The event – ‘GSI presents DREAM 18 and GLORY 4: Tokyo – New Year’s Eve Special’ – will commence at 4pm Tokyo time on Dec 31 and roll through to a midnight grand finale. DREAM 18 will see an amazing line up of top Japanese and international MMA superstars. Further details of the cards will be released next week.

As previously announced, GLORY 4: Tokyo will feature the best heavyweight kickboxers in the world in a 16-man single-elimination tournament. One man will be left standing at the end of the night and he will be crowned the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Slam Champion. He will also receive the winner’s check of US$ 400,000 – the biggest prize in the sport.

Among the superstar fighters that have accepted a place in the invitation-only line-up are Semmy Schilt, Daniel Ghita, Remy Bonjasky, Gokhan Saki, Peter Aerts and Errol Zimmerman. Sixteen world class fighters will enter, but only one can emerge victorious in what is the toughest tournament the fighting world has ever seen.

So come and join us on New Year’s Eve to witness the greatest collection of martial artists ever assembled on one night. Broadcast details of this once-in-a-lifetime event at Saitama Super Arena will be announced shortly.

About GLORY:

The GLORY World Series (www.gloryworldseries.com) is the world’s premier stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe. It offers up to $1,000,000 in prize money to successful fighters via individual matches and participation in the 16- and 8-man tournaments, which are open to only the very best fighters in each weight class.

With television deals across over 145 countries plus a ground-breaking online video streaming system and the world’s largest online martial arts library, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely-broadcast sporting organizations already.

Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in Holland, the UK, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel include prominent hedge-fund investors, the pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia and several executives from the Golden Glory and It’s Showtime team.