Just as all looked lost, ProElite finally caught a break. After an initial scare, heavyweight headliner Andreas Kraniotakes has recieved approval from the Illinois State Professional Athletic Commission (ISPAC) to battle former-UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in the main event of ProElite 2 on November 5th.
The trouble kicked off when Kraniotakes posted a video message on his website late Wednesday afternoon explaining that he had been forced out of his fight against Sylvia. According to reports, the ISPAC denied the German fighter a license because of an alleged lack of sanctioned fights on his professional MMA record. Kraniotakes, of course, was already a replacement for Sylvia's initial opponent, Pedro Rizzo, who had to withdraw due to injury.
"The commission wouldn't give me a license for some reason no one understands," Kraniotakes said in the video before it was taken down (transcribed by MMA Junkie). "I think the people making those decisions probably don't know anything about the sport. I did everything I could do, my management did everything it could do, and ProElite did everything it could do to make the fight happen, but the commission just said no."
However all the confusion quickly vanished after the commission inexplicably changed their minds early Thursday morning. No public explanation was given for the shift. HDNet's Andrew Simon first broke the decision with this tweet.
@andrewhdnet
Andrew Simon Andreas Kraniotakes is ON ProElite card. Thanks to IL commission for making the right decision. Watch out for him!@SchiavelloVOICE
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ProElite 2 will be held at the iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The card will feature the promotion's inagruial heavyweight tournament as well as the return of former UFC heavyweight champion Andre Arlovski.