FanHouse Dynamite 2009

The opponent for Masato's farewell to competitive kickboxing will be fellow two-time K-1 World MAX GP champion Andy Souwer on the New Year's Eve Dynamite!! 2009 event in Saitama, Japan, promoters announced Thursday.

Masato, whom Souwer has already beaten twice, will aim to avoid the clean sweep in the finale to his 12-and-a-half year career.

Giogrio Petrosyan won the K-1 World Max 2009 championship Monday at the Yokohama Arena in Japan and will likely face last year's champ Masato in his retirement fight at "Dynamite!! 2009" on New Year's Eve.

Petrosyan made quick work of his first opponent Yuya Yamamoto, knocking out the lone Japanese tournament representative with a right hook two minutes and nine seconds into the fight. In the finals (video above), Petrosyan won unanimously on the scorecards against two-time K-1 World Max champ Andy Souwer, who advanced earlier in the evening with a split decision over Buakaw Por.Pramuk.

K-1 event producer Sadaharu Tanikawa and DREAM producer Keiiti Sasahara held a press conference Wednesday in Tokyo to formally announce "Dynamite!! 2009" for New Year's Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Tanikawa said the event will be similar to last year's in that there will be a mixture of K-1 kickboxing and DREAM mixed martial arts bouts to fill out an 18-fight lineup.