Yesterday I posted an article about Satoshi Ishii suffering a possible career-ending head injury in his fight with Fedor Emelianenko.  This story has been making the rounds on MMA sites, and its point of origin is the Japanese website Cyzo.com.

Now, however, there is a new twist on things, with Ryo Chonan claiming that the reports are false.  Here is a translated version of what Chonan had to say on the matter, from the website searchina.ne.jp.  The translation comes courtesy of nodogoshi of the Team Takeover Forums.

"Satoshi Ishii's health is good" - Reports of imminent retirement angrily denounced

A report circulated on Janurary 30th that Satoshi Ishii, who was briefly in the hospital following a KO loss to Fedor, was facing imminent retirement after having been found suffering from a brain disorder. As appeared in the report, "one theory is 'cerebral endema', it has been said." Ishii was therefore thought to be in a serious condition [i.e. by fans, etc].

However, this rumor was vehemently denounced by DEEP middleweight champ Ryo Chonan. On twitter, he posted that "Satoshi Ishii is just fine;" further, "the people who spread these false rumors about other people's lives and livlihoods should just die," he also tweeted.

This is not in itself a complete debunking of the rumor. However, being that it comes from someone close to Ishii, it clearly may be regarded with an air of credibility. In response to these posts, some relieved fan messages were as follows: "Good news, I'm glad Ishii is not really retiring"; "We have good news for now"; etc.

Hopefully Chonan's version of the story is correct and Ishii is fine.  I'll keep on top of this story as it develops.

Bad news for Japansese Olympic gold medal judoka and MMA fighter Satoshi Ishii.  Fight Opinion is reporting that Ishii suffered a head injury in his fight with Fedor at the Dream show on New Year's Eve.  At first it was thought that he'd suffered nothing more than a broken nose, but then doctors found signs of cerebral edema, a condition that could end is MMA career.  Doctors advised Ishii that he faces serious danger if he continues fighting, as more blows to the head could result in serious injury.

This is a big blow to Ishii and MMA fans everywhere, but especially in Japan.  It's always great to see Olympic-level athletes competing in MMA, but obviously health concerns need to take priority.  Here's hoping that Satoshi Ishii makes a complete recovery.

For those who missed the Fedor vs. Ishii fight, here's the video.

ProElite is back with another fine card.  The upstart organization has been doing some big things out of the gate, and it looks as though they are here to stay. Once again, the fights take place in Hawaii, this time at the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.  The main event features Kendall "Da Spyder" Grove vs. Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa.  Also on the card is the semifinals of the ProElite Heavyweight Grand Prix, so this is a sweet card for this weekend. Here's a preview video.

Good news for fight fans.  Alistair Overeem has passed his urine test and the fight with Brock Lesnar is on later this month.  Alistair has never failed a test, despite all the steroid rumors, and he came through clean again.  From Keith Kizer of the NSAC:

"The urine sample submitted by Mr. Overeem in the U.K. on 12/14 came back negative for all prohibited substances."

Nice way to ring in the new year!

On New Year's Eve Fedor returns to champion for a fight against Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at Dream's big event at the Saitama Arena.  This marks the second fight in just a couple of months for the Russian fighting legend who is coming off a win against Jeff Monson. Here is the poster and a preview video.

Fedor is going back to Japan.  The legendary Russian fighter who dominated the MMA world as Pride heavyweight champion will return to Japan for a New Year's Eve bout with Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii.  The bout will take place at the Dream "Genki Desu Ka! New Year! 20011 show at the Saitama Super Arena.  It's been four years since Fedor last fought in Japan, and it will have to feel like a homecoming for The Last Emperor, who had his biggest successes there.

Ishii is a Olympic gold medalist in judo, but he's a relative newcomer to MMA, having started fighting just two years ago.  His record stands at 4-1-1.  Fedor is fresh off a win over Jeff Monson that put him back in the win column after a 3 fight schnied, and he'll be the heavy favorite here.  Ishii has legit skills, however, and anything can happen.

The Dream event will also feature the semifinal and final rounds of their bantamweight tournament.  In addition, Shinya Aoki will defend his lightweight title and Hiroyuki Takaya will defend his featherweight title.

More details on the Fedor fight in the near future.

COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA (Dec 9, 2011)  – M-1 GLOBAL’s final U.S. outing for 2011 featured a rematch for the M-1 Challenge Welterweight title as Yasubey Enomoto stopped former champion Shamil Zavurov in the last minute of the bout to claim the gold. The mixed martial arts (MMA) event titled M-1 Challenge XXX: Zavurov vs. Enomoto II took place atThe Hangar in Costa Mesa, California and aired live on Showtime.

Many considered their first meeting the M-1 Challenge fight of the year, a 5 round classic that would be very difficult to live up to.  Both champion and challenger appeared up to the task.  The two fighters started the fight at a break neck pace that continued deep into the bout.  Early in the fight, Enomoto dropped Zavurov who immediately bounced back to finish the round strong.  The two fighters proceeded to battle and exchange rounds as they entered the fifth and deciding frame. A review of the judges scorecards after the bout revealed the fighters were deadlocked up to that point.

As round 5 progressed both fighters began to show signs of fatigue due to an incredible pace.  Zavurov appeared desperate to land a shot throughout the round, as Enomoto remained busy showing off his takedown defense.  With less than a minute remaining in the bout, and neither fighter with a clear advantage, Zavurov attempted a final takedown.  Yasubey Enomoto telegraphed the shot and locked in a lighting fast guillotine choke causing Zavurov to tap.  With the victory Enomoto improves his record to (9-3) and becomes the M-1 Challenge Welterweight champion.  In defeat  Shamil Zavurov is now ( 18-2) and sure to be on a mission to reclaim the gold.

In the night’s co-main event, Artiom Damkovskiy needed just 2:19 to avenge a March 25^th loss to Jose Figueroa.   The noticeably more aggressive Damkovskiy threw punches and kicks heavy and often finally catching Figueroa with a shot to the head that dropped the former champion.  Damkovskiy quickly swarmed his downed opponent causing the referee to jump in and halt the action.

M-1 Challenge XXX complete results:

In what I beleive is a smart move, Bellator Fighting Championships is moving its live events to Friday nights.  Often, we've seen Bellator shows scheduled on the same night as UFC PPVs, and it's tough for any MMA organization to compete with the UFC.  Not only that, there is also boxing PPVs and college football to consider.  So this move should definitely help Bellator solidify its brand and bring some new eyeballs to the excellent cards they put on.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney told USA Today:

"We didn't really dig into the analysis and try to assess who was one, who was two and who was three, or what we were trying to avoid the most.  It just kind of came down to an analysis of, is there a night where all the factors made it to where we can maximize live-event attendance, where we can reach the largest audience from an television perspective, to give MMA fans an opportunity to really make a night for themselves with Bellator."

Sounds good to me.  It's a date!