Kazuto Ioka vs. Artem Dalakian - New Year's Eve in Japan

I know the WBA did order the match in August. It also makes sense and fits the pattern; Ioka historically selects an opponent that is respectable but not too dangerous h2h for himself on NYE. (Kaensa, Reveco, Pérez, Gemelo Alvarado, Torito Rodríguez, and Yuthmittr being the previous six...while some are empirically better than others they fall in more or less the same range. Acceptable, but not guys you would favor strongly over Ioka or consider it anything but an upset if they beat him..)

 

Oh man, I need to give it up. I'm like an obsessed ex-boyfriend stalker, I swear to gods...

Just seeing Yaegashi's name there, in an Ioka thread, and thinking about them fighting on the same weekend...I'm letting myself get optimistic again that we finally get to see Ioka vs. Yaegashi II and I just really, really, really, really need to let that one go, don't I? Like, being a huge Akira fan that isn't even something I probably want to see at this point, right? He's freaking 34...and the naturally smaller guy, and Ioka seems pretty comfortably settled in physically @ fly... Ugh.

I so badly still want it, but part of me knows it would be like Izzy-Rafa IV and my joy would turn quickly to ash in my gob.

 

Dalakian is decent; he can switch-hit and is pretty awkwardly erratic with his upper body movement and capable of some nice fast-twitch ambushes versus lower-tier opponents, but I think he's facing both a class and experience deficit and might freeze up in the glare of the bright lights @ Bodymaker. This is a colossal step up for him. Not saying his record is the worst to ever propel somebody into a mandatory spot, but thin enough that it probably didn't adequately prepare him for a Kazuto Ioka.

 

Only half as many as Ioka. What a poseur this kid is!