The following is from WrestlingObserver.com:
Mirko Cro Cop's tenure in UFC is officially over as he showed up at Wednesday's press conference at Hotel Metropolitan in Tokyo for the announcement of the debut of a new promotion.
Cro Cop was released from his UFC contract and said he would appear on the debut of a new group, a combined effort of K-1 and the former Pride promotion, which takes place on 3/15 at the Saitama Super Arena.
Staff from K-1 and the former Pride staff, led by K-1 head Sadaharu Tanikawa and Keeichi Sasahara, who was Nobuyuki Sakakibara's second in command in Pride, were at the event.
J.Z. Calvan vs. Shinya Aoki was the only match announced for the debut show.
Tanikawa announced that the Hero's promotion has closed and will be replaced by the new group, which would crown a lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight champion. He said a tournament would be started on the first show for the lightweight and middleweight titles. He said the heavyweight title would be a single match, likely involving Cro Cop.
Also at the press conference were the famous pro wrestler/fighters Kazushi Sakuraba, Masakatsu Funaki, Minowa-man and Kiyoshi Tamura, who will be the top native stars along with Kid Yamamoto, Caol Uno, Hayato Sakurai and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Videotape messages were played with Fedor Emelianenko and Royce Gracie saying they would fight with the new group, but didn't indicate they would be on the debut show. They announced a business relationship with M-1 Global to book Emelianenko.
The group plans to run six or seven shows in 2008.
