[K-1 East Europe GP]: in Bucharest - line-up (21/05/2010)
Right off the bat, this is a ridiculously strong field of competitors. Samedov comes in the defending Europe GP champion, having won in Lodz last year. He's an early favorite, but there's plenty of other names who could take it. Ignashov is on something of a resurgence, looking strong in his recent win over Ron Sparks and finally returning to higher profile events. Kleibl won the K-1 ColliZion GP in 2009 and looked good in the process, while both Ciobanu and Brestovac fell in that same tournament. Also exciting to see Lascenko back - one of the unsung heroes of K-1 in 2009, Lascenko made the finals in both Lodz and Tokyo last year, losing to Samedov and Ghita respectively. An exciting and popular fighter, Lascenko earned a lot of fans and a lot of respect last year - look for him to make his 3rd GP outing a win. Finishing up the tournament, Coco Rus will face Mihaita Golescu in the reserve fight.
Non-tournament action also features some big names and fights, most notably Ray Sefo v. Ionut IIftimoaie and Ruslan Karaev v. Catalin Morosanu. Sefo has made it clear he wants to return to the GP in 2010 and looks to extend his current win streak to 3 in a row here. Meanwhile, both Karaev and Morosanu look to erase some recent embarrassing performances - Karaev in his crushing loss to Gerges, and Morosanu in his foolish DQ loss to Taiei Kin. Both exciting fighters, this one could be a show stealer. The kickboxing portion of the card is rounded out with Phillipe Salmon v. Mihai Barbu.
Finally, two interesting MMA fights will take place. The first pits ColliZion mega-star Alexandru Lungu against fellow behemoth Bob Sapp, in a definite sideshow attraction bout. Should be fun while it lasts. Also, Valentijn Overeem faces Catalin Zmarandescu.
Also rumored for the show, but not yet scheduled: Remy Bonjasky, Mike Zambidis, Freddy Kamayo, and Dmitry Bezus.
