The event, which will take place on December 31, goes down at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Emelianenko stopped a three-fight losing skid by earning a decision victory over Jeff Monson in his native country of Russia earlier this year. Fedor had previously lost to Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva, and Dan Henderson. The defeats knocked his profile down a few pegs but, in Japan, “The Last Emperor” is still widely-accepted as one of the best of all time.

Ishii won Olympic gold in Judo for Japan and is 4-1 in his MMA career. He fought to a draw with former WEC champion Paulo Filho in his last match.

Check out the preview below:

PHOTO CREDIT – M1/FEG

The bout, scheduled to take place at DREAM: New Year! 2011, was announced earlier today by DREAM officials.

Emelianenko, who for many years was seen as the consensus best heavyweight in MMA, will be looking for a second consecutive win after snapping his recent three-fight skid with a one-sided Unanimous Decision victory over Jeff Monson last month. “The Last Emperor” has racked up a 32-4 record during his storied run including those over Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, and Mirko Filipovic.

Though Ishii may only possess 1/7 of Emelianenko’s experience in the ring he has done well for himself since transitioning from judo, going 4-0-1 in five fights since dropping his debut to PRIDE icon Hidehiko Yoshida.

Other match-ups expected at DREAM: New Year! 2011 include Ryo Chonan vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

According to a report on The Japan Times, Satoshi Ishii has decided to forgo a future in MMA in favor of returning to judo competition where he won gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. However, in a follow up story, rather than heading back to Japan he will attempt to gain citizenship in the United States and compete in 2012 with an American flag on his back.

Ishii had been scheduled to fight earlier this month at Strikeforce Challengers 15 against Scott Lighty but was forced to withdraw after running into travel issues after the recent disasters in Japan. As such, the 24-year old will exit MMA with a 4-1 record after making his professional debut on New Year’s Eve in 2009. Though he lost the bout by way of decision to Hidehiko Yoshida he quickly rebounded in 2010 with four straight wins including a December 31 victory over famed kickboxer Jerome LeBanner.

PHOTO CREDIT – DREAM

According to a press release from Strikeforce, undefeated striker Lorenz Larkin will step in to replace Ishii (4-1) in one of the night’s featured bouts alongside a headlining tilt between Justin Wilcox (10-3) and Rodrigo Damm (9-4).

“This is definitely a step up for me, but I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge,’’ replied the light heavyweight when asked about the upcoming fight. “Lighty’s a good fighter with a lot of experience. But I’ve trained hard, I’m in good shape and I’m confident.”

Larkin is 8-0 thus far in his career with six TKO and will enter Friday night’s event having won his last five fights in such a manner. Also notable is the fact more than half of his victories have come in the opening frame of action.

A training partner of former UFC 205-pound heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell, Lighty is also known for an ability to separate opponents from consciousness with four TKOs in six total victories. His last in-ring appearance resulted in a second round knockout of Shawn Frye this past August.

Fans can tune out to see how they fare along with the rest of the night’s competitors when Strikeforce Challengers 15 fires up live on Showtime starting at 10:00 PM EST (10:00 PM PST tape-delayed on the West Coast).

Headlined by a bout between 10-3 Justin Wilcox and Brazilian BJJer Rodrigo Damm, the card will also feature the company’s in-ring unveiling of 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii who faces 6-1 striker Scott Lighty in 205-pound action. Also on the main card, exciting lightweight David Douglas look for his third consecutive victory with Caros Fodor standing in his way of the trifecta.

Wilcox is coming off a unanimous decision win over Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro in the biggest fight of his career this past November at Strikeforce Challengers 12. He has found success in nine of his last ten outings including triumphs over Shamar Bailey, Daisuke Nakamura, and Gabe Ruediger.

On the flipside, the 9-4 Damm has struggled since mid-2008 going 1-3 over the span including a loss to Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez in April 2009. However, he holds past victories over a handful of respectable opponents including Strikeforce 155-pounder Jorge Masvidal and could pose a significant submission threat from the bottom to a grappler like Wilcox.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Though no opponent was named for Overeem, the two individuals set to square off create an intriguing pairing from a stylistic standpoint, as judoka Satoshi Ishii, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, will take on famed French kickboxer Jerome LeBanner.

While LeBanner has never won a K-1 World Grand Prix he holds an overall record of 76-19 and wins over most of the sport’s top competitors. He is 3-1-1 in Mixed Martial Arts with victories in his last three bouts, including a knockout of Yoshishiro Akiyama in 2005, but has focused on kickboxing for the last four years rather than jumping between the two athletic endeavors.

Counting Ishii vs. LeBanner, FEG’s annual showcase of talent now looks to feature fifteen total fights. Other announced match-ups include former Strikeforce lightweight title-holder Josh Thomson fighting 26-6-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri, as well as a scrap between featherweight champs Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya and appearances by event-regulars Shinya Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Ikuhisa Minowa.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Ishii entered the ring during the show’s intermission and was seen wearing a UFC t-shirt. After wishing the crowd a Happy New Year, the former judoka referred to himself as an MMA fighter. Ishii also took the opportunity to dispels rumors that Bob Sapp’s victory over the masked professional wrestler “Kinniku Mantaro” during FEG’s “Dynamite!!” event on New Year’s Eve was against him.

Some confusion was created by the loss because the role of Mantaro, a popular character within Japanese Anime, was played by Akihito Tanaka, who was a Olympic bronze medalist for Japan in freestyle wrestling.

Ishii closed the interview by re-stating his intentions to begin his career in the U.S. but vowed to return to Japan one day and intimated he would do so as a world champion.

The appearance was surprising because Ishii, a gold medal winner in judo while representing his native country of Japan during this past summer’s Olympic games in Beijing, at one point had reportedly signed with FEG’s DREAM promotion and was expected to appear at “Dynamite!!” Sengoku is considered to be a direct competitor to DREAM.

However, the deal between Ishii and DREAM apparently never became finalized as he would later be quoted as saying that he considered the UFC to be the top promotion in the world and it was his desire to compete there. Soon after the comments became public, UFC President Dana White invited Ishii to spend time in the United States during the New Year’s holiday in order to attend UFC 92 while also touring several of Las Vegas’ top MMA gyms.

Despite not having signed a contract with the UFC, the promotion still featured him on-camera several times during the Japanese feed of the UFC 92 pay-per-view. Soon after, a release was issued on UFC.com which proclaimed that “exclusive” negotiations had begun between both parties.

“Satoshi Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial arts,” White was quoted as saying. “We can’t wait to start working with Mr. Ishii, we look forward to helping him with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in a professional fight.”

To date, there have been no official reports that Ishii has formally signed with the UFC.

After winning the gold medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a heavyweight, Satoshi Ishii was immediately recruited by various Japanese MMA companies. However, Ishii said that the organization he wants to fight for the most is the U.S. based UFC.

Ishii was at UFC 92 in Las Vegas to see Frank Mir defeat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to win the interim heavyweight championship.

“His dream is to fight in the UFC someday,” said UFC President Dana White. “He wants to be a mixed martial artist, and he wants to do it here.”

Ishii’s visit to the States was not just to watch the matches. He will be talking with the UFC about his future.

“I’m sitting down with him and his management to try and figure out how to make it happen without bringing him directly into the UFC because that’s not the right road to go,” White said. “But we are going to help him with his career.”

White said that he wants Ishii to be in the UFC but not right away.

“He’s a big kid, and he’s determined,” said White. “He wants to fight in the UFC and I have to figure out how to do it without him getting murdered – literally and figuratively. Murdered in Japan (for fighting in the U.S.) or killed over here in the UFC.”

In Beijing, China, after winning the gold medal in the superheavyweight division in judo this past week, Japan’s Satoshi Ishii said he wanted to fight “Emelianenko Fedor,” as the legendary Russian fighter is known in Japan.

With Ishii becoming a national hero in Japan and the sport fading in popularity, such a match would draw the kind of interest that Emelianenko against a top fighter could never do.

With the way that Japanese fans love their freakshow MMA fights it’s very possible that this fight could be put together for New Year’s Eve. As long as Fedor’s hand is ready to go it’s probably a sure thing that he will be fighting on New Year’s Eve in Japan but the opponent is not yet known. As of two weeks ago, it was reported that Fedor would either fight a “judo legend or a sumo wrestler” on New Year’s Eve. Ishii fits the bill for that description especially now that he’s locked up the gold medal at this year’s Olympic games. Judokas who win gold medals are national heroes in Japan and a fight with Fedor, who is also adored in Japan, is a big time money fight for the Japanese.

Ishii has never fought in MMA and would likely be in for a serious beating but if a struggling promotion like DREAM could put this fight on it would go a long way towards helping them survive through the end of 2008.

“I’ve had some offers to fight,” he said. “I’m considering it. I think a rematch with Renzo Gracie would be great, or a fight with Frank Shamrock. Frank’s somebody I’d thoroughly enjoy fighting.”

Gracie was the last opponent Miletich faced in September 2006. He lost that fight via flying guillotine.

However, Miletich is very happy working with younger fighters, which takes up most of his time. If he were to take time away from that to conduct his own training, the money would have to be right.

“If I never fight again, I’m OK with that,” he said.

IGN: Who do you think is the fighter in your camp that’s off most MMA fans’ radar screens, but has the most potential for future success?

Pat: Corey Hill.

IGN: Oh, from Ultimate Fighter…

Pat: Well, you know, he wasn’t 100% truthful to get on the show, so he went in there absolutely knowing nothing about Jens Pulver or me or Jeremy Horn. It’s funny because Corey Hill looks at me now and says “You were a World Champion?” And I say “Yeah, I held the title for three, three and a half years”, and he says “No kidding.” He doesn’t know a lot about the sport, but his boxing, kicking, his submission stuff, his positional stuff, he’s working on all that, and his wrestling ability and his ability to take people down when he wants to do is unreal. I don’t know any 155-pounders out there who could take him down.

IGN: Really? Not even Sean Sherk?

Pat: Sean Sherk would have a lot of real trouble taking down Corey Hill, mark my words.

IGN: Wow.

Pat: There are wrestlers that are tough and ready for this sport, and he’s one of the best. He’s a rottweiler. No one else has that body type. He’s got wide shoulders and a waist like my wife’s.

“…a waist like my wife.” Classic. It will be interesting to see the evolution of Corey Hill. We haven’t seen him since the show and he didn’t get a chance to fight on the finale due to injury. His bout coming up at UFC Fight Night 12 in January against Joe Veres should be a good chance to see just how far he’s come.

I respect a lot of people in mixed martial arts but there isn’t anyone I respect more than Pat Miletich. I was able to go to a seminar he conducted in Cherry Hill, NJ last December and it was awesome to get to see him teach some of his techniques in such an environment.

All I can say is that E:60 did an awesome job on this story and I think most of you will thoroughly enjoy watching it.

You can listen live online by going to FoxSportsRadio1460.com.

Steve said the show audio will be available at MrSunshineShow.com.