Hero's assembled

[The Iceman]

Credit To:fightnetwork

In addition to the ANNOUNCEMENT of Kazushi Sakuraba and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto’s returns at Sept. 17’s “OLYMPIA HERO’S 2007” Middleweight (Under 154 lbs) Tournament Final Round event, an additional three match-ups were attached to the line-up at a press conference in Tokyo Tuesday.

Ikuhisa Minowa (37-25-8) was originally slated to face Ralek Gracie (1-0-0), who won his first MMA match this July in the Middleweight Tournament Opening Round, but the famous offspring suffered a torn tendon in his shoulder, forcing him to withdraw from the September bout. Replacing him will be Rickson Gracie protégé Kevin Casey.

Casey, a black belt in Gracie jiu-jitsu under Rickson Gracie, will be making his MMA debut against the seasoned veteran in Minowa. Casey is 5-foot-11, 199 pounds, and is the 2006 North American Brazilian jiu-jitsu heavyweight tournament champion. It was also announced that Rickson Gracie will be in attendance to corner Casey.

Pitting fighters from Kazushi Sakuraba’s “Team Sakurahata” against Kiyoshi Tamura’s “U-FILE CAMP” team, it was announced that two opening matches will take place between the MMA stars’ students. Team Sakurahata’s Takenori Sato and Wataru Takahashi will face off against U-FILE CAMP’s Kenji Nagai and Tashiro Nishiuchi, respectively.

“OLYMPIA HERO’S 2007” Middleweight Tournament Final Round Card

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Zelg Galesic vs. Dong Sik Yoon
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Kevin Casey
Takenori Sato vs. Kenji Nagai
Wataru Takahashi vs. Tashiro Nishiuchi
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Bibiano Fernandes

Middleweight (Under 154 lbs) Tournament Semi-Finals

J.Z. Calvancanti vs. Vitor ”Shaolin” Ribeiro
Caol Uno vs. Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill

Link:http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=4692

[valheruking]

Already posted i think

[smoogy]

^ Yep, and from what I've heard the card isn't necessarily final, they're trying to add another fight or two

[mattyc]

I'm really interested in seeing Caol Uno versus Black Mamba. This card, plus what UFC is putting out this month, makes me very happy about September.

[neonatural45]

Im taking black mamba for the upset, and Im taking shaolin to win the tourney

[smoogy]

Originally Posted by neonatural45

Im taking black mamba for the upset, and Im taking shaolin to win the tourney

Yeah I have a funny feeling Mamba might pull off the minor upset, but I have to go with JZ to win it all, everything I've seen from him leaves me thinking he could be the best LW in the world.

[valheruking]

Yeah i'd take JZ to win it, and like i've said before Mamba may be a little inconsistent, but the guy does have the tools to mess up anyones night and with JZ and Vitor having to fight one another in the semi's, his chances are pretty decent to pull something out.

[Rockx]

J.Z. Calvancanti vs. Vitor ”Shaolin” Ribeiro

This is going to be a war, but I am going with JZ. If you have ever seen his fight with Joachim Hansen you know he was robbed. I think he is too much for Shaolin.

I think Uno is going to sub the black mamba.

JZ takes it all.

[smoogy]

Originally Posted by valheruking

Yeah i'd take JZ to win it, and like i've said before Mamba may be a little inconsistent, but the guy does have the tools to mess up anyones night and with JZ and Vitor having to fight one another in the semi's, his chances are pretty decent to pull something out.

Yeah from what I've seen that is the perfect description of Gill. He -could- beat you at any time, but he probably won't.

[valheruking]

Originally Posted by smoogy

Yeah from what I've seen that is the perfect description of Gill. He -could- beat you at any time, but he probably won't.

Haha thats about right, did anyone see JZ vs Masato in K-1 Max, kinda dumb that K-1 put one of their biggest mma stars in with one of their best kickboxers so close to the tournament.