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 Tokyo, Japan - In one of the most anticipated events of the year, Combate 206 will be packed with over 93,000 hardcore Japanese fans when it host two of the best heavyweight fighters on the planet in the main event who collide for the Combate heavyweight championship.
Current Combate Heavyweight champion Andrei Kersikov (17-4-0) will put his belt on the line for the first time when he defends it against the 225 cm Billy "Bulldozer" Blank (19-8-0). Kersikov is the former champion of DMMA and WVT organizations who defeated top ranked fighters like GAMMA's long-time champion Karim Johnson (37-10-0) and WVT's former champion Tali Ihantala (31-12-0). Kersikov is coming off a highlight reel against Maximillian "The Lion" Bonaparte (21-7-0) back at Combate 199 that saw him capture the Heavyweight championship from the former champ with a flurry of punches that left the French fighter unconcious and he enters the matchup with all the hype behind him, currently ranked as the #2 P4P fighter in the world, second only to the legendary Kilo "Bloodbath" Maluga (61-14-0).
Kersikov will have his hands full when he takes on the former one-time Combate Heavyweight champion Billy Blank. Billy Blank is a juiced up machine with a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, and physically he's cut from the same cloth as Kjetil Olsen, standing over a towering 7 feet tall. It isn't that common for Kersikov to be the shorter fighter than his opponent, but in this bout he's looking up at his foe. Billy Blank first won the heavyweight championship back at Combate 172 when he finished Barron White with strikes. He'd lose it in his first title defense against Gerry "Mandering" Line (who would later lose it to Bonaparte) but he's been hellbent on getting back into title contention, putting together back-to-back knockout of the night victories against the highly touted Jimmy Granite (18-10-0) and John Boy Walton (16-5-0).
Both of these fighters are knockout artist in their own right, with 33 of their combined 36 victories ending by way of knockout or TKO. They share a total of 9 knockout of the night and 5 fight of the night bonuses to their resumes. Perhaps the biggest advantages for each of them is Andrei's elite muay thai and Blank's sensational jiujitsu. The favorite to win according to Vegas bookies is Andrei Kersikov at a -350 but stranger things have occured in MMA, and when you possess Blank's skillset, anything can happen.
In the co-main event of the evening we see former Combate featherweight champion Li Xiaodong (26-10-0) take on surging featherweight contender "Karmoy-Jesus" Keith Kenneth Ferkingstad (18-13-0). China's very own Xiaodong is looking to redeem himself after a disappointing and lethargic outing against Juodasis Vaiduoklis (29-10-1) that saw the Lithuanian take the belt away from him. Keith Kenneth enters the contest with back-to-back knockouts over a pair of former Combate featherweight champions in Ademaro Dos Anjos (29-15-0) and 'The Prospector" My Time (33-22-0).
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