The Lightweight Grand Prix event set for March 15th, 2008 from the newest Japanese MMA promotion is starting to get really interesting. Here's the updated card from their official website:
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luis Buscape
Joachim Hansen vs. Boku Koutetsu
Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias "JZ" Calvancante
These are the only four fights that are currently confirmed on the card for the Lightweight Grand Prix. Rumored fights and fighters include:
Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic vs. Mighty Mo
Andre Dida
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Caol Uno
Gilbert Melendez
Artur Oumakhanov
Jung Bukyung
You can now mark Andre Dida as having his matchup for the Grand Prix, and it's a bit of a surprise. Andre Dida will take on newly acquired ProElite fighter Eddie Alvarez on March 15th in the first round of the tournament.
This is great news for people who have been interested in seeing Eddie Alvarez finally step up to the plate. He's a very well-rounded fighter and can be a significant load for any lightweight out there. Cutting the weight will be a difficult task for the welterweight fighter, but he should be a bigger lightweight that could smash and thrash opponents in DREAM. It's an interesting new challenge for Alvarez who has really needed to step up the level of competition he has been facing.
Dida will be no easy task either. Dida's striking is devastating, and it could prove to be Alvarez's downfall. The potential matchups in future rounds of the GP should also prove to be fantastic. I'm really liking where this GP could end up... making significant impacts in the rankings.