Former PRIDE and UFC mega-stars Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Wanderlei Silva will be making their MMA returns in exciting fashion, as both have been officially announced for the upcoming Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix tournament.
Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the former president of PRIDE, announced the two MMA legends and other plans for the tournament, which is set to start on September 25 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Other fighters included in the tournament will be former PRIDE heavyweight star Kazuyuki Fujita and sumo champion Kaido Hoovelson. Sakikibara also announced his intentions to try and get Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to compete in the tournament.
Four of the 16 fighters who will compete in the tournament will be receiving an automatic bye to the quarterfinals, which is scheduled to take place as part of the December 29 event. The tournament is scheduled to wrap-up at the big year-end New Year’s Eve event, a national tradition in Japan, on December 31.
Non-tournament matches scheduled for the opening round show on September 25 includes Daron Cruickshank vs. Andy Souwer, as well as women’s fights with Gabi Garcia and Kanako Murata fighting different opponents in individual bouts.
H/T: MMAJunkie.com
