Due to an injury sustained during training, Fabiano ‘Cyclone’ Aoki has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Daniel Ghita (44-7-0) at GLORY 4 Tokyo. Brazilian heavyweight Jhonata Diniz (7-2) will step in as a replacement for the opening round of the one-night, 16-man elimination tournament at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve.

Glory Sports International officials announced the new bout recently via official press release.

Aoki withdrew because of a torn ligament sustained in his left knee during a recent sparring practice. Fabiano did not wish to withdraw from the tournament, but was strongly advised by doctors that competing with an injury of that nature would not be feasible.

Here is what Glory Sports International CEO, Marcus Luer, had to say:

“Naturally we are disappointed to see Fabiano Cyclone withdraw from this tournament. He has a crowd-pleasing style and we were looking forward to seeing him perform in front of his home fans. Such injuries are sometimes a side-effect of the hard training these fighters go through and we wish him a speedy recovery,”

‘GSI presents DREAM 18 and GLORY 4 Tokyo – New Year’s Eve Special’ is a double-header mega-event which will feature both Mixed Martial Arts action and arguably the biggest stand-up fighting event in history. The Heavyweight Grand Slam will feature 16 heavyweight strikers in a one-night elimination tournament to determine which of them is the best. The winner will take home a Grand Prize of $400,000, and a total of $600,000 in prize money will be awarded to tournament participants.

Diniz is known to have an aggressive style and always looks to finish his opponents, this can be traced back to his earlier days training with the Thai Boxe team in Curitiba, Brazil. Jhonata has since moved to the Netherlands to pursue his training and has been taken under the wing of the accomplished Cor Hemmers and his son Nicky Hemmers. This young prospect is definitely working with the right people and has a massive opportunity to make a name for himself against Ghita.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ghita is currently riding a seven fight winning streak, most recently defeating Dževad Poturak via second round KO at “It’s Showtime 58” in June. Prior to that he scored a second round TKO victory over Wendell Roche at the “K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament Final 16” event in May, and a second KO win over Brian Douwes at “It’s Showtime 56” earlier that month. Ghita will no doubt look to continue his success with a big win over Diniz.

Stay close to The MMA Review (themmareview.co.uk) for all the latest GLORY news.

Jay Cee – @JayCeeMMA

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