The DREAM promotion has informed media that Jerome Le Banner has been scratched off the upcoming Fields Dynamite!! 2008 event. According to his manager, the French fighter will not be able to step into the ring as he is suffering from the flu.
Melvin Manhoef was selected to take Le Banner’s place, so he’ll be fighting Mark Hunt on the New Year’s eve show. Manhoef will be coming in with a recent win over Paul Slowinski at the K-1 World Grandprix 2008 finals.
In MMA, Manhoef has won five out of his last six fights. His only loss was to submission specialist, Gegard Mousasi, at DREAM’s middleweight Grandprix 2008 final. He lost via a triangle choke submission. For those that don’t know, Mousasi went on to become the middleweight champion that same night which shows the type of fighter Manhoef lost to.
Mousasi will also be participating on this same card against Japanese fighter Musashi.
Mark Hunt will have to worry about the mental aspect coming into this fight. With very little time to prepare, Hunt might have to look into adjusting his gameplan because of his opponent’s different style of fighting. Whether the mental issue poses a problem or not, the fight is officially on and it will be an exciting bout for all MMA fans around the world. It will be interesting to see the weight difference coming into this fight as well because Mark Hunt usually fights at around 275 lbs. and Manhoeff at 205 lbs.
Sadly, HDNet was not able to acquire a deal with FEG in order televise the fights within the United States. The website Eventmagic.tv had also announced an internet stream for $29.95, but that was taken away as well.
Click here for the latest fight card for the Fields Dynamite!! 2008 event
