A press conference was held today by former PRIDE staff members to announce that there would be an MMA show on 12/31 at Saitama Super Arena. The promoters are labeling the event as being “Yarennoka! supported by M-1 Global Mixed Martial Arts.” Takada, Sasahara, Saeki, Lenny Hardt, Kei Grand, Daisuke Sato, and major names from DSE’s management past are involved in the show. Fighters announced included Fedor, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Shin’ya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Mitsuhiro Ishida. Photo mugshot of DSE management here.
Take notice of the NYE logo for Yarennoka, which uses the exact same font as the past DSE-produced Otoko Matsuri (Man Festival) shows did. Furthermore, the web page for Yarennoka is only a slightly modified format as compared to the old PRIDE web site.
Other potential names floated include Joachim Hansen, Ricardo Arona, Gilbert Melendez, Luiz Azeredo, Kazuo Misaki, and Hidehiko Hasegawa.
The event will be broadcasted on SkyPerfecTV PPV. It will not be seen on free-to-air television.