Remember when we said M-1 could possibly be looking into other partners beyond Strikeforce and people quickly dismissed it? Well, not so fast. Apparently in the next issue of Nikkan Sports which is dropping today in Japan they bluntly say, "Retirement match against Fedor, world's strongest man" for Yoshida's retirement bout. Here is a translation from our good friend Zeus at MiddleEasy;

An article in tomorrow's Nikkan Sports newspaper says that Yoshida's retirement fight in ASTRA will most likely be against Fedor. The exact quote is "Retirement match against Fedor, world's strongest man". According to the newspaper, Fedor's camp got in contact with Yoshida when he announced his retirement fight somewhere around February 8th and both parties have been negotiating ever since. There is a final meeting that will be held in Japan at Dream 13 which should finalize the negotiations. If nothing pans out after Dream 13, then they apparently have other fighters readily available to fight Yoshida.

As always, a grain of sand, possibly salt when it comes to rumors like this, especially from a dirtsheet like Nikkan Sports. They can be incredibly accurate or they can grasp at straws for strong headlines to peddle their wares. Until we get something official, consider this a rumor.