According to M-1 Global official Evgeni Kogan, Emelianenko and Rizzo have agreed to face off on June 21 in St. Petersburg at an unnamed show expected to occur under the M-1 banner. The bout marks Emelianekno’s second in his proverbial backyard of Russia since parting ways with Strikeforce.

Rizzo holds an overall record of 19-9 and is on a three-fight winning streak including success against Jeff Monson, Gary Goodridge, and Ken Shamrock. Unfortunately, the 37-year old will have been on the sidelines for nearly two years when he finally locks horns with legendary “Last Emperor”, bringing the dreaded notion of “ring rust” into the equation.

The 33-4 Emelianenko will be seeking his third straight victory in the bout, having beaten Monson and Satoshi Ishii in his previous two outings.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE/FEG

Pedro Rizzo, set to scrap with former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia at the show, took to Twitter where the 19-9 Brazilian relayed news of having torn his tricep while training for the bout.

Injuries have chipped away at “The Rock” as the result of a fifteen-year fight career though the 37-year old remains relatively strong. Rizzo is currently on a three-fight winning streak with success against Ken Shamrock, Gary Goodridge, and Jeff Monson.

No word has come from ProElite on how the vacancy will be handled but it seems likely a replacement will be found given the amount of time and Sylvia’s involvement.

The festivities are set to take place in Moline, Illinois with a lineup featuring former UFC title-holder Andrei Arlovski taking on 300-fight veteran Travis Fulton with appearances also expected from Tara LaRosa and Reagan Penn in addition to opening round action from the promotion’s heavyweight Grand Prix featuring up-and-coming talent.

UPDATE: Andreas Kraniotakes has agreed to replace Rizzo in the main event against Sylvia. The German native has 12 career victories in 16 contests and has finished all 12 of his opponents. He’s currently on a three fight win streak.

News of the replacement comes via MMAFighting.com.

Here is a preview of the event courtesy of ProElite:

PHOTO CREDIT – FEG/UFC

Ninja managed to bounce back from back to back defeats while slaying Alex “The Brazilian Killer” Stiebling with a pulverizing head kick early in the first round. Once collapsed, Rua pounced on his fallen opponent, finishing him off with a series of punches from the top.

Rizzo made it 2-0 against Jeff “The Snowman” Monson, as he also put himself back on the map following consecutive defeats. Unable to TKO Monson as he had during Art Of War 3 when the two had previously faced off, yet Rizzo was able to fight his fight, keeping the fight standing on his way to the unanimous decision victory.

Monson was riding a seven fight win streak going into the rematch with Rizzo.

Things started out well enough for Rizzo as he took the dangerous kickboxer to the ground and proceeded to land some heavy elbows before Yvel managed to scramble back to his feet. Once up, Yvel bumrushed Rizzo and knocked him to the canvas where he finished him off with a series of punches that left the Brazilian in an unconscious stupor for some time after the fight was stopped.

After the bout Yvel confirmed that he expected for his next bout to be against Paul Buentello at Affliction Trilogy which is set to take place on August 1 in Anaheim, California.

Buentello was previously slated to face former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia before his recent knockout embarrassment at the hands of Ray Mercer persuaded Affliction to remove him from the card.

The two will meet up at “Ultimate Chaos” which is scheduled for June 27. The card will take place in Biloxi, Mississipi and will air live on pay-per-view. Headlining the card will be showdown between colossal heavyweights Bobby Lashley and Bob Sapp.

Following seven consecutive finish victories, Yvel most recently lost by TKO to Josh Barnett at Afflicton’s “Day of Reckoning” card that took place in January. Barnett utilized superior wrestling and top position to gain the victory that has left a bad taste in Yvel’s mouth to this day.

“I’m a fighter and, in my opinion, takedowns are BS,” Yvel was quoted as saying in a recent press release on the upcoming event. “I don’t want to fight on the ground. I believe there should be one man left standing and the other asleep. If both fighters are still standing, to me, it’s like a draw. I want to win by knockout, not points.

“I’m a real fighter, the type fans want to see. I’m just being myself. I just want to go in there and hurt somebody. I’m the guy the American public has been waiting for. I bring something new into the cage or ring.”

His opponent for “Ultimate Chaos” is known for his powerful leg kicks and heavy hands but he is also a well versed submission artist in his own right. Yvel is hoping that Rizzo chooses to leave the takedowns at home and comes to bang for obvious reasons.

“Pedro used to train in Holland where I’m from and I know a little bit about him,” explained Yvel. ”I hope we have a stand-up fight but he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu and if he’s smart, he’s going to take me to the ground. I hope he fights standing up so I can knock him out.”

MMAWeekly.com has received word from Gilbert Yvel’s manager John Lewis that he will be facing former UFC heavyweight title contender Pedro Rizzo at a show called “Unarmed Combat”. Also appearing on the card as the co-main event will be former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley as he takes on Bob Sapp in what is sure to be his stiffest test to date in his young MMA career.

Rizzo hasn’t fought since losing via TKO to Barnett at Affliction’s first ever show “Banned” which took place in July of last year. Barnett avenged an earlier loss to Rizzo by knocking him out in the second round. Rizzo is 16-8 in a career that dates back to 1996 and he is most remembered for his two fights with Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight championship in which he was unsuccessful in both. He has defeated some very tough competition including Tank Abbott, Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez and Jeff Monson.

Yvel also fell victim to Barnett with his defeat coming at the second Affliction show “Day of Reckoning” which was held this past January. Barnett controlled Yvel throughout the entire fight eventually submitting “The Hurricane” to strikes in the 3rd round. Yvel has garnered a lot of attention for some of his past transgressions which include biting an opponent as well as attacking a referee. Yvel is 35-13 in his career with his biggest wins coming against Semmy Schlit, Gary Goodridge and Cheick Kongo.

Also fighting on the card will be Chris Horodecki, Din Thomas and Affliction promoter Tom Atencio. The show is scheduled to be broadcast on pay-per-view and will be held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

Rothwell revealed the fight to CagePotato.com earlier today.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com spoke with Rothwell’s manager, Monte Cox, last week and Cox indicated that Rothwell was not expected to be involved with the second Affliction event. However, Rothwell indicated that there was a change of plans.

“Monte turned down their original offer for this fight, so that’s why he said none of his guys would be fighting on the show,” Cage Potato quotes Rothwell as saying. “Then they came back with another offer that was better, so we agreed to it.”

The wording of Rothwell’s statement has led some to believe that he had to accept a cut in pay from the $200,000 salary he received for Affliction: Banned on July 19 but that has not been confirmed.

Rothwell originally was announced as having signed a three-fight contract with the promotion so for him to have to sign a second agreement when he has an existing salary schedule suggests that a change of some kind has occurred.

The Rothwell vs. Rizzo heavyweight title joins a lineup already set to feature bouts between Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett, Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko, Paul Buentello vs. Roy Nelson, Mike Pyle vs. Jason High, and Chris Horodecki vs. TBA.

I’m not 100% sold on Noons being the real deal just yet but he is certainly making a case for himself with some high-profile victories. This win over Edwards was really jaw dropping and Noons showed the ability to take a hard shot, recover with power, and go for the kill when he smelled blood. There are things that we haven’t yet seen from Noons, though, and that’s his ability to deal with adversity in a fight as well as his ground game. Those are two big question marks that are still out there but overall he is coming along quite nicely. It was quite an impressive showing from the EliteXC lightweight champion and it seems that a rematch with Nick Diaz is the next thing in store for him as champion and I think it may be likely that we’ll see that fight on the July 26 CBS card considering the heat these two drew tonight.

Poor Yves Edwards.

He just can’t get over the hump. Whenever Edwards is poised to make that leap in his career, the one that will put him exactly where he wants to be and in a great position, he always seems to get knocked down. I really do feel for the guy. He trained his ass off for this fight and just got a little too aggressive when he thought he had Noons hurt. He certainly paid the price for it. I know there were a lot of people out there that wanted to see the Yves Edwards that knocked Josh Thomson flat on his ass but that was not meant to be. By no means do I think we’ve seen the last of Yves, but you can’t help but feel for the guy. MMA is a tough business and Yves is living proof of that.

Nick Diaz, at this point in his career, is mediocre.

Nick Diaz has settled for mediocrity, ladies and gentlemen. It’s never been more evident. He’s been mailing it in ever since he won the fight against Gomi. He outweighed Corbbrey tonight by probably twenty pounds or so and should have been able to put him away rather easily but took almost three full rounds to do so. He almost lost a decision to Mike Aina in his EliteXC debut. He was getting pounded by K.J. Noons before the fight was stopped due to cuts. The Nick Diaz of old, the aggressive, fearless Nick Diaz, is nowhere to be found. He looked poor tonight against an opponent that he is much better than, standing up or on the ground. Sure, he got the victory but it was one that he had to grind out. The Nick Diaz of old would have stopped Corbbrey in round one or two. Such is not the case anymore. If the same Nick Diaz that showed up tonight shows up against Mach Sakurai or in the rematch with Noons then I don’t give him a chance. It’s time for Nick Diaz to re-evaluate his strategies, his technique, and his overall game if he wants to take it to a championship level.

The Diaz brothers need to give it a rest.

The stunt that these two pulled after the Noons fight in the cage was completely out of line and uncalled for. I try so hard to like the Diaz brothers, I really do. But they prove to me on a regular basis that they’re classless assholes. Noons was trying to keep it respectful and Nick had to call him scared while Nate was flipping the bird to Noons’ father of all people and talking trash to him. Why not just have some respect, especially considering what Noons just did to one of the best lightweights in the world? The mini riot inside the cage, the trash talking, the bird flipping on the way to the back, it’s all tired. Act like a professional, make weight, and fight to the best of your ability. A little trash talking here and there is fine, but these two go way overboard and the scuffle inside the cage afterward was proof of that.

Dave Herman is a beast.

We profiled Dave Herman in our feature in Extreme Fighter Magazine as one of the better heavyweight prospects in the sport today and we feature him in our Prospects section of the website. I think this fight showed why we think so highly of him. He put the work on Ron Waterman tonight and showed a good ability to get up off his back with a strong wrestler with great top control on top of him. Not only that, he’s not afraid to mix things up with his strikes. He’s knowns as a wrestler but is proving to be much more diverse than just wrestling with the surprising high kick and striking arsenal. Ron Waterman has never been dominated like that before, not that quickly. Herman is on a path for great success in EliteXC as long as he continues to develop.

Tony Bonello got what he deserved.

If you talk that much trash during the staredown, you deserve the beatdown that’s coming. Murilo Rua hopefully taught Bonello a lesson this evening. I don’t even know what to call what Ninja ended up doing to Bonello. It was more than domination. There’s not even a word for it. He so thoroughly ripped through Bonello that it was actually quite humorous. You don’t give a world class fighter extra incentive to put a hurting on you during the staredown. That being said, Ninja looked on his game tonight. He should be about one fight away from getting another crack at the EliteXC middleweight title.

Rafael Feijao is the future of EliteXC’s light heavyweight division.

I think this was sort of the notion coming into the fight but he sealed the deal with an extremely decisive victory over Wayne Cole tonight. He looked to be in better shape than his last time out in EliteXC and the tutelage of the Nogueiras and Anderson Silva have certainly helped mold him into the prospect that he is today. I’m ready to see Feijao step up the ladder a bit and take on some of the better light heavyweights in EliteXC at this point. I know that division isn’t their strong suit, but a fight against someone like Po’ai Suganuma would be a good barometer for how far Feijao has come.

Here’s the latest on the EXC: Return of the King event:
Main Card

• KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards (EXC Lightweight Title)
• Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey
• Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Tony Bonello
• Dave “Pee Wee” Herman vs. Ron “H2O” Waterman
• Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole

Undercard (televised on ProElite.com after the SHOWTIME telecast)

• P.J. Dean vs. Dean Lista
• Mike Aina vs. Kaleo Kwan
• Mark Oshiro vs. Chris Willems
• Chris Bernhard vs. Lolohea Mahe
• Kala Kolohe Hose vs. Bubba McDaniel
  

Check out more EliteXC event content on 5 Oz. of Pain.

EliteXC: Return of the King is featuring some pretty bangin’ fights like Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey, heavyweight prospect Dave Herman taking on Ron Waterman, Rafael Feijao clashing with Wayne Cole, and of course the title fight between K.J. Noons and Yves Edwards. Oh, and don’t forget Kala Kolohe is fighting on the undercard as well so there should be some pretty damn good fights on this card. Here’s a little preview to whet your appetite.

The news comes from EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw who was a recent guest on MMA Weekly radio.

From MMA Weekly:

“Obviously the back injury happened (to Shields) and the easiest thing to do was move him to Hawaii to fight Drew,” said Shaw in the interview with MMAWeekly Radio. “Unfortunately since then Drew Fickett has hurt his knee and he’s not going to be able to take that fight on June 14 and that will be rescheduled again.”

By “rescheduled again,” Shaw is referring to a scheduled March 29th bout between the two that didn’t go through due to Shields’ aforementioned back injury.

In addition to revealing Fickett’s injury, Shaw also announced five bouts for the June 14th show set to take place in Hawaii. The bouts are as follows:

• K.J. Noons vs. Yves Edwards (for EliteXC’s lightweight title)
• Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey
• Murilo Rua vs. Tony Bonello
• Wayne Cole vs. Rafael Feijao
• Dave Herman vs. Ron Waterman

Read more EliteXC content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com

Yves Edwards will have to wait a little longer for his shot at K.J. Noons and the EliteXC lightweight championship. On a three-fighting winning streak, the rejuvenated Edwards will challenge Noons for the 160-pound belt on Saturday, June 14 – not April 26 as previously planned – in Hawaii.

“I had started training for it,” Edwards said. “A few weeks ago, they told us it was postponed.”

FiveOuncesofPain.com has learned that not only has this bout been moved from April 26th to June 14th, but that the April 26th show in Hawaii has been canceled altogether.

MMA Weekly is also reporting in their rumors section that Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva may be scheduled to compete on the June 14th show in Hawaii as well.

Edwards is coming off of a brutal knockout victory over Edson Berto at EliteXC: Street Certified and seems to have rejuvenated his career since making the move to American Top Team.

Noons is coming off of the biggest win of his MMA career over Nick Diaz due to cut stoppage at EliteXC: Renegade last November. Surprising to everyone, Noons dominated the fight against Diaz, peppering him with better boxing and standup skills and stuffing Nick’s weak takedown attempts.

Edwards vs. Noons should be one of the best fights that EliteXC has put on during their short tenure in the MMA world.

Edwards had been rumored to be fighting Kyle Bradley on EliteXC’s upcoming ShoXC card on January 25 in Atlantic City, but a potential bout against Bradley never came to fruition and Bradley is now believed to be headed to the UFC.

Berto, 13-4-1, has not fought in EliteXC since a third round knockout against K.J. Noons in the main event of July’s ShoXC event.

He’s since has two fights for the Florida-based Real Fighting Championships, winning both bouts via unanimous decision.

Edwards, 32-13-1, was once considered one of the top lightweight fighters in the world. He began to lose that reputation after suffering a split decision loss against Joachim Hansen during PRIDE’s Bushido 9 in September of 2005. Including the loss to Hansen, he would go on to lose five out of his next six fights.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS BLOG ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

Tomorrow night at 11 p.m. ET on ION television in the States will be another installment of BodogFIGHT: New Jersey. The main event for the show will be a bout between Jorge Masvidal and Yves Edwards. I saw the match live and it was one of the better fights on the show.

Masvidal really impressed me and he’s someone that you could be hearing  more about in the future. If reports are true that Bodog is making cutbacks and Masvidal becomes available, he’d be a great fit for either the UFC, WEC, or EliteXC.