Murilo Bustamante confirmed that he will be fighting Makoto Takimoto at Yarennoka on New Years Eve. Bustamante, now 41 years old, is one of the oldest fighters still competing at the top level.

Bustamante, the original founder of Brazilian Top Team, has watched his team fall apart over the summer. Many of his friends and former teammates have left the gym in Rio de Janeiro including Mario Sperry, Paulo Filho, former Pride heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Nogueira’s brother Rogerio.

Murilo spent most of his career fighting in Japan in the Pride organization though he did have a short stint in the UFC with wins over Yoji Anjo, Dave Menne, and Matt Lindland. He choked out Lindland for the belt in the infamous "double tap" fight and his only UFC loss came from Chuck Liddell in a three round war.

His record in Japan is very impressive as well with wins over Ryuta Sakurai, Masanori Suda, and Ikuhisa Minowa. This doesn’t come as a surprise considering he is a four time Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion and one time world champion.

Takimoto has a record of 3-3 in Pride and is a former Olympic judo gold medallist. He trains at Yoshida Dojo with teammates Kazuhiro Nakamura and Michiro Omigawa. Takimoto is a ground specialist and has done well against grapplers in the past, so look for this one to go to the ground. He will also be competing at an upstart event in Tokyo called World Victory Road on March 5.

This card seems to be shaping up for a good night of action with Fedor topping things off at the New Year’s Eve event. It should be a great way to end another year of great mixed martial arts action. Stick around for more exciting mma news!