Errol Zimmerman In Against Sergei Lascenko; Heavyweights in Action June 18th

New developments regarding the June 18th event set to be held at the Topsportcentrum Rotterdam arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands. While the event was originally set to be headlined by a bout pitting Gokhan Saki against Sergei Lascenko, the two most recent winners of notable European tournaments will not end up meeting on the day after all.

Gokhan Saki, who defeated Brice Guidon at the Glory World Series final on May 28th, is apparently injured and has been forced to withdraw from the June 18th contest training for his MMA debut it seems. Fellow Golden Glory representative Errol Zimmerman will step in for Saki against Sergei Lascenko, who topped the recent four-man heavyweight tournament put on by SuperKombat in Romania.

Truthfully, the bout against Errol Zimmerman is much more likely to show what Sergei Lascenko is all about at this point in his career than the originally scheduled fight with Gokhan Saki. Fans who caught Lascenko's May 21st wins over Dzevad Poturak and Roman Kleibl will surely agree that the young Ukrainian needs a bit more seasoning before taking to the pinnacle of heavyweight kickboxing. What's more, Lascenko is less than a year removed from a pretty significant three fight slide.

While Errol Zimmerman posted mixed results throughout 2009 and 2010, he has managed to bounce back with two wins under the United Glory in 2011, most recently securing a decision victory over Mourad Bouzidi on May 28th in Moscow. Frustrating as Zimmerman's career has been to witness for many, he'll be the favorite when he steps into the ring against Lascenko in a week and a half. The 25-year-old Zimmerman has a clear edge in experience against top-flight competition, but will need to prove that his stated commitment to rebounding from an underwhelming 2010 is real.

The event in Rotterdam will also host an eight man heavyweight tournament featuring Anderson 'Braddock' Silva, Wendell Roche, Nikolaj Falin, and Tommy van Wijngaarden. The tournament field also includes Dennis Stolzenbach, Philip van der Linde, and Utly Mariana.

Interesting as the tournament field may be, the real story for me is the absence of one Ismael Londt. Londt is a great talent, holding wins over the likes of Rico Verhoeven and Sergei Lascenko. He also seems to have a solid fan base in Rotterdam and reportedly had the opportunity to get in on this tournament, and still he's not there. Disappointing as he's the sort of fighter that I know some fans have waited around to see give a breakout performance.