If you thought you’d seen everything the strange world of Japanese fighting could possibly think of, think again! K-1 has announced that Bob Sapp (9-3-1) will be facing Japanese anime character, Kinniku Mantaro on New Year’s Eve.

Actually, Japanese wrestler, Akihito Tanaka (0-0), will be wearing a Kinniku Mantaro mask. It has been reported that Tanaka will wear the mask during the bout. Oddly enough, Tanaka is considered to be a serious heavyweight prospect making his MMA debut in K-1.

Akihito Tanaka is a seven-time All-Japan wrestling champion. Many Japanese pundits give him a better than average chance to win the fight against Sapp should he survive the opening minutes of the bout.

Sapp was last seen in action back in February, losing via TKO to Jan Nortje just 55 seconds into the opening round. That fight took place in the Strikeforce promotion in Seattle, Washington.

The current official K-1 New Year’s Eve card includes the following bouts:

“Kinniku Mantaro” vs. Bob Sapp
Hong Man Choi vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Hideo Tokoro
Artur Kyshenko vs. Yoshihiro Sato*
Semmy Schilt vs. Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga
Eddie Alvarez vs. Shinya Aoki
Mark Hunt vs. Jerome Le Banner
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Gesias “JZ” Calvancante vs. Joachim Hansen
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda*
Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi*
Hiroya vs. Shimada Shota*
Kusakabe Ryuya vs. Urabe Koya*

* – Fights will be conducted under K-1 rules

FEG FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008 will be held on New Year’s Eve, Dec 31, 2008 in Saitama, Japan at the Saitama Super Arena. It is sure to be a great night of action.

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