Fedor

By FCF Staff

For the first time since 2005, Fedor Emelianenko will have a three fight campaign, as today M-1 Global and DREAM announced that the former Pride champion will fight Judo star Satoshi Ishii on New Year’s Eve.

The heavyweight fight will be part of the “Fight for Japan, “Genkidesuka!! Oomisoka!! 2011!” event, which will be hosted by the Saitama Super Arena.

Emelianenko (32-4) will head into the bout having ended a three fight losing skid last month, by scoring a unanimous decision win over UFC vet Jeff Monson. In the Russian fighter’s other appearance this year, while competing for Strikeforce in July, he was stopped by Dan Henderson in the first round.

The 35 year-old-fighter has fought no more than two times in one year since 2005, when he defeated Wagner da Conceicao Martins, Mirko “Cro Cop”Filipovc and Tsuyoshi Kosaka while competing for the now defunct Pride.

After winning four straight bouts in 2010, Ishii (4-1-1) has competed just once in 2011; while fighting for Amazon Forest Combat in September, his bout with Paulo Filho was declared a draw. The former Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo made his pro MMA debut on NYE in 2009 and lost by unanimous decision to Hidehiko Yoshida.

Some of the other bouts that are scheduled for the upcoming New Year’s Eve event include Dream lightweight champ Shinya Aoki versus Satoru Kitaoka, featherweight champ Hiroyuki Takaya versus Takeshi “Lion” Inoue and Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazayuki Miyata.

The card will also feature the semi-finals of the promotion’s ongoing bantamweight grand-prix, which will see Rodolfo Marques Diniz vs. Bibiano Fernandes and Antonio Banuelos vs. Masakazu Imanari.

The event will be broadcast throughout North America on HDNet.