SuperKombat World Grand Prix 4: Bogdan Stoica, Wendell Roche Featured Saturday

SuperKombat will be rounding out their World Grand Prix 2011 preliminary round over the weekend, as the promotion hosts the final of four heavyweight qualifiers and a number of non-tournament bouts in Piatra Neamt, Romania on Saturday, October 15th.

Truthfully, the field of competitors in the heavyweight mini-tournament this time around won't be turning too many heads. Erhan Deniz will meet Marian Baryla in one semifinal, while Wendell Roche squares off with Andrei Bokan in the other. Wendell Roche is most recognized as the fighter to be dominated by Danyo Ilunga in the latter's breakout fight this March. Erhan Deniz? He was defeated by Daniel Ghita at It's Showtime Warsaw in June. Deniz has lost his fair share of bouts against top competition already in his career.

Either way, the winner of this weekend's heavyweight winner will join Sergei Lascenko, Ismael Londt, and Pavel Zhuravlev in a year-end tournament. That tournament will have clear implications in the international heavyweight picture just outside the top ten or fifteen fighters in the world.

Outside of the heavyweight mini-tournament, the highlight of this weekend's event is likely to be the return of Romanian up-and-comer Bogdan Stoica. Stoica hasn't seen action since a freak injury ended his bout against Hakan Aksoy at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2 event in July. Along with his brother Andrei, Bogdan Stoica has been pushed as one of the future stars of Romanian kickboxing. At age 21, Stoica still has significant time to develop, but many have waited for him to take a step forward in competition for some time now. He'll meet Leon Miedema when he steps into the ring this weekend.

Other fights on the card will see Sebastian Ciobanu take on Turkish heavyweight Cengiz Ozpamuk and Ionut Iftimoaie face Fight Code Rhino Series veteran Luca Panto. Bob Sapp and Catalin Morosanu are also scheduled to appear.

Fight card, as it currently stands, after the jump.

Heavyweight Semifinal 1

Erhan Deniz vs. Marian Baryla

Heavyweight Semifinal 2

Wendell Roche vs. Andrei Bokan

Heavyweight Reserve Match

Lucian Danilencu vs. Jantje Siersma

WAKO-Pro 67 kg. World Title Bout

Ionut Atodiresei vs. Diogo Neves

92 kg. Bout

Bogdan Stoica vs. Leon Miedema

Non-tournament Heavyweight Bouts

Sebastian Ciobanu vs. Cengiz Ozpamuk

Luca Panto vs. Ionut Iftimoaie

Catalin Morosanu vs. TBA

Super-Heavyweight Bout

Bob Sapp vs. Alexandru Lungu