June 18: Gokhan Saki vs. Sergei Lascenko

Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 12:11 Monday, 28 March 2011 14:38

Written by Fraser Coffeen

Over at Dutch forum Mixfight.nl there is news of a new card featuring some high-end fights.  No name or organization known, but the show takes place June 18 in Rotterdam.  In the main event, it will be the #5 ranked Gokhan Saki vs. Sergei Lascenko.  Saki's last fight was his United Glory semi-final victory over Wendell Roche, and before the Lascenko fight, he'll also face Brice Guidon in the UG finals May 21.  Good to see The Rebel staying so active despite the overall lack of options for Heavyweight fighters at the moment.

This marks Lascenko's first high profile opponent since losing to Freddy Kemayo at last year's K-1 Europe GP.  One of the potential break-out K-1 Heavyweights of 2009, Lascenko has seen his career stall out somewhat over the past year.  Since the Kemayo loss, he's gone 1-2, and is coming off a win over Vasile Popovici.  One interesting aspect to this fight is that Lascenko has recently been in the news a bit as he has made the transition to Mike's Gym, where he has been working as the sparring partner to Badr Hari.  Hari vs. Saki is a fight that has come up more than once recently, and is one I wouldn't be surprised to see sooner than later.  Seeing his training partner face off against Saki will certainly be informative for Hari and the team at Mike's Gym.

The other highlight of the card is an 8 man K-1 rules tournament.  Participants include the #20 ranked Anderson "Braddock" Silva, Wendell Roche, Utley Mariana, Dennis Stolzenbach, Tommy van Wijngaarden, Philip van der Linde, Nicolai Vallin, and one more fighter TBD.  I'd call Silva the favorite here, with Roche 2nd.

Rounding out the card are two MMA fights: Djamil Chan vs. Thomas Wichmann, and Tugrul Okay vs. Eric Paulo.

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