Fedor vs Hong Man Choi On New Year's Eve!

M-1 Global has pulled a bit of a surprise out of their hat and announced that they are putting on a show with many of the employees from the former Pride FC on New Year's Eve! Headlining the card will be none other than Fedor Emelianenko 6'1 230 lbs., will face Japanese giant, Hong Man Choi who stands 7'2 352 lbs. Choi is a Ssirum Champion and K-1 kickboxing star who has one his only MMA bout he won by TKO last December. Fedor is coming off his Sambo Championship defense in November and his last MMA bout was a submission win over Matt Lindland in April via submission.

This is a bit of an oddity match, something the Japanese have come to love and revere. They enjoy watching sumo wrestlers like 6'8 484 lb. Akebono get defeated by a 6'0 175 lb. Royce Gracie or Giant Silva the 7'2 385 lb. Brazilian being TKO'd by Japanese hero Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa who is 5'9 181 lbs. The "David vs Goliath" or "Freakshow" match has been a staple for a long time. Who can forget little Genki Sudo at 5'9 155lbs. taking on the "Round Mound of Pound" Butterbean (5'11 370 lbs.) and actually submitting the American boxer!

Fedor himself has been down this road facing and destroying Zuluzinho who tips the scales near 400 lbs. in only 26 seconds! Still, Hong Man Choi is no Zulu. SSirum is a form of wrestling in which he was a master, and had competed against the very best in K-1 including wins over Mighty Mo, Gary Goodridge, Semmy Schilt, and Bob Sapp. Choi can fight left or right handed with great power and of course his tremendous reach. Fedor is Fedor. "The Last Emperor" knows what to do in this situation and I have little doubt that he will strike his way into a clinch, take the giant down, and tap him out. Anything can happen in a fight, so come December 31st, we shall see. It is an interesting opponent though not one that will satisfy the fans who want Fedor to return to fighting Top 10 Heavyweights.

Also on the card are supposed to be Brazilian Ricardo Arona, Strikeforce Lightweight Champion and #2 World Ranked Gilbert Melendez , Lightweight Phenom Tatsuya Kawajiri, veteran Mach Sakurai (who is signed with the UFC so this is suspect), Mitsuhiro Ishida former Shooto Lightweight Champ, Kazuo Misaki 2006 Middleweight Grand Prix Champion, Luiz Azerado, Shooto Champion and much feared Shinya Aoki, Dutchman Joachin Hansem and perhaps Red Devil teammates Aleksander Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov. Depending on the matchmaking, these names lend to an exciting event and perhaps a little farwell for Pride FC under the new M-1 Global banner.