FanHouse Masato

The two top MMA promotions in Japan, which originally were to go head-to-head in separate events on New Year's Eve, will instead square off inside the ring on FEG's Dynamite!! 2009 card at the Saitama Super Arena, World Victory Road's Sengoku Raiden Championship and FEG's DREAM announced in a press conference Wednesday.

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.

Before he himself retires on New Year's Eve, two-time K-1 World Max champion and Japanese fan favorite Masato snuck in a fight over the weekend to help send-off his friend and teammate Daiguji Susumu.

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.