DREAM.1 3/15/08 Fight Re-Caps/Thoughts

DREAM. 1
March 15, 2008

DREAM is promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group (owners of K-1). DREAM should be similar to FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight group HERO'S. First round is 10 minutes and second round is 5 minutes in these fights. There is no point system in place as fights are not judged round to round but will be judged based on their entirety and there will be no draws.

Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Joachim Hansen (16-6-1) vs Koutetsu Boku (13-4-1)

Hansen is a former Shooto lightweight champion who holds victories over Yves Edwards, Takanori Gomi and Caol Uno. Took me a while to figure out who everybody is since this is in Japanese. Joachim, nicknamed "Hellboy", got the early advantage with a nice punch that floored Boku and Hellboy is on top in full guard. First Round is 10 minutes. They stand up and Hellboy hits what is basically a side suplex and takes down Boku and then rolls him over and has his back. Hellboy is dominating so far. and goes for a rear naked choke but Boku fights it. Hollboy now goes for an armbar. They stand up and they trade pretty good. Hellboy corners him and hits another slam and then has side control. Hellboy went for full mount but Boku slipped out and Hellboy again slammed Boku down. Hellboy takes his back and is just dominating this fight when it's on the ground. They stand back up and Hellboy again gets a takedown with about 30 seconds left in round 1. Round 1 comes to an end and it easily is in favor of Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen as he dominated the fight when it was on the ground and easily took down Boku whenever he wanted. He just didn't show any finishing power or submissions yet.

R2- Hansen backs him into the corner and they exchange knees. Boku is doing well in the stand-up game in this round as he's showing some life. Hellboy grabs a clinch and hits some knees and takes him down as a response to Boku's offense. Hansen is in full guard and trying to throw some punches but Boku is doing a decent job defending himself. Hellboy moves to side control but then is quickly back into full mount. Hellboy trying to lay in some punches but not getting any real damaging shots yet. Only a minute and a half left in the fight. They stand up. Boku is on the offensive but Hansen hits a punch and Boku goes down and Hansen pounces on him.

Hansen dominated this fight on the mat just couldn't put Boku away. Boku had the advantage when they stood up but Hansen quickly took Boku down whenever he sustained any type of advantage. If Hansen wants to advance in this tournament he's gonna need to do a better job trying to finish as he never really went after a submission after the first 5 minutes of the fight and Boku was rarely in danger of being finished.

Winner: Joachim Hansen by unanimous decision

Heavyweight Fight- Ikuhisa Minowa (38-27-8) vs Bum Chan Kang (1-1)

Minowa does a roll to start the match and then another. Bum Chan Kang is very large and out of shape and Minowa is very small comparatively but has a nice physique. Minowa takes him down and is in half guard. Minowa quickly taps Kang with a leg hold.

Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by submission (knee bar) R1 1:25

Welterweight Fight- Hayato Sakurai (31-7-2) vs Hidetaka Monma (14-7-3)

Hayato has wins against Mac Danzig, Jens Pulver, Joachim Hansen, Caol Uno and Frank Trigg on his record. He has also lost to Gomi, Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, They trade some light leg kicks to start. Hayato attacks with a combo. Monma misses with a spinning back kick and almost gets caught in the ropes. Hayato with another combo and grabs a clinch and hits some knees and then Monma pulls him down into his guard and tries to go for the rubber guard but is unsuccessful. Hayato is on top but no one with a clear advantage yet as Monma works from the bottom and then Hayato gets out of there and they stand up. Monma slips and Hayato lets him back up. Hayato attacks with a punch combo again. Hayato definitely seems to be the better stand-up fighter at this point. Monma gets a punch in but gets nailed by a counter punch and then Hayato is all over him and throwing punches on a fallen Monma and trying to finish. Monma is just curling up into the fetal position and Hayato is reigning down punches and the ref jumps in to end it. Hayato definitely finished impressively and seems to have a strong stand-up game as he had the clear advantage throughout the fight.

Winner: Hayato Sakurai by TKO (strikes) R1 4:12


Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri (20-4-2)vs "Black Mamba" Kultar Gill (9-6)

Kawajiri has wins over Yves Edwards and Joachim Hansen and losses to Gilbert Melendez and Gomi. He is a veteran of Pride and Shooto. Gill has been most prevalently in K-1. He has losses to Yves Edwards and Caol Uno on his record (Kawajiri drew Caol Uno). Mamba is dancing around and gets his leg caught and he gets taken down by Kawajiri. Kawajiri is nicknamed "Crusher" so that's what we'll call him here. Crusher has Black Mamba down and looks to be going for a submission. He's in full guard and trying to get a better advantage. Mamba trying to fight him off. They stand up and Crusher has him in a clinch and now has his leg against the ropes. Mamba working into a guillotine type move and is trying to clamp down on it but loses it as Crusher still has his leg. Mamba with some short punches to the side of the head but Crusher takes him down and is in full guard again. Crusher trying to pass. Mamba defending by throwing punches. Crusher has side control and looks to be going for a submission. Crusher is halfway outside the ring and is now back in. Crusher gives up his position but then gets Mamba's back and Mamba is standing up with Crusher on his back attempting to choke him out. Mamba throws him off and Mamba is now in full guard but Crusher is going for the rubber guard and the ref stops it and moves them to the middle of the ring and puts them in the same position as they were in previously. Crusher has what looks like a half rubber guard. They sprawl and Crusher has Mamba against the ropes and is going after that leg again. Crusher takes him down and the ref moves them to the middle again. Crusher works into half guard and then into side control but isn't doing much with it. Now he's in North/South and then switches to the other side and now he has Mamba's back.He's trying to clamp his legs in and it looks like he nearly has a rear naked choke and now it's in but he can't hold it. Now he's got what looks to be an arm triangle but again he can't hold it. Crusher takes him down again and is now in full guard basically just laying on Mamba. Both guys look to be pretty tired as the round is coming to and end. The match so far is definitely Crusher's as he's just imposing his will on Mamba. Mamba is doing a good job of protecting himself on the bottom but hasn't shown much offense besides defensive short punches/jabs.

R2- This one is Crusher's to lose. Mamba definitely has a reach advantage but hasn't been able to use it yet. Mamba lands a couple of strikes to start the round. Goes for a kick but Crusher ducks and impressively takes him down. He's in full guard. Mambo kicks him off and Crusher chases him down and grabs his leg again like a pit bull that just won't give up on getting that leg. Crusher grounds him yet again. He is just a superior wrestler than Mamba but hasn't been able to finish. Mambo squirts out and has the advantage but isn't doing anything with it. Crusher picks him up and grounds him again and once again is in full guard. The ref re-positions them again. Crusher's mouth is bleeding just a bit. Mamba landing some punches from the bottom and Crusher trying to get into better position. Crusher trying to throw some punches from full guard. Moves into half guard. Mambo is watching the clock. Side Control for Crusher and looks to be going for a submission. Mambo grabs a headlock on Crusher but loses it. The fight ends with Mamba defending himself.

This one should easily go to Crusher as he was just the superior wrestler in this one. But much like Hellboy earlier he couldn't finish. So advancing in the lightweight Grand Prix so far we have 2 really good wrestlers.

Winner: Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri by Decision (Unanimous)


Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Andre "Dida" Amade (6-2-1) vs Eddie Alvarez (12-1)

They go at it right from the bell and Alvarez takes him down and is punching Dida and is now on top in full guard. They have a heated exchange but no one comes out with a clear advantage. Dida gets in a shot and puts Alvarez down but he pops back up. This is a real exciting fight so far compared to the other ones on the card. Alvarez again is on top and is landing punches. Dida is swinging for the fences. Alvarez is in control as his punches are much more compact and Dida is throwing punches mostly to keep Alvarez away from him. Alvarez dumps him on his back and gets on top in half guard. Alvarez hitting some punches from the top as Dida tries to protect himself. Alvarez looking very impressive so far. Alvarez throwing some hammer punches and has side control. Dida continues to try and roll out but Alvarez ins controlling and has full mount now and is laying the punches in. This one should be over soon. Alvarez almost punching himself out. Ref calls for the bell as Dida just went into the fetal position. Alvarez does a back flip off the top rope to celebrate. Really good win for Alvarez and he looked real impressive.

Winner: Eddie Alvarez by TKO (strikes) 6:41 R1

Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs Bu Kyung Jung

Only brief highlights are shown of this one.

Winner: Mitsuhiro Ishida by Decision (unanimous)

Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Kazuyuki Miyata vs Luiz "Buscape" Firmino

Only brief highlights are shown of this one.

Winner: Luis Firmino via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 7:37 R1

Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Katsuhiko Nagata vs Artur Umakhanov

Only brief highlights are shown of this one.

Winner: Katushiko Nagata by Decision (unanimous)

Lightweight Grand Prix First Round Fight: Gesias "J.Z.Calvan" Calvancante (14-1) vs Shinya Aoki (14-2)

Aoki has wins over Joachim Hansen and George Sotiropoulos and is a veteran of Shooto and Pride. JZ is from the K-1 Hero's promotion. They start by feeling each other out for a while. Aoki goes for a kick and then lays down and basically wants JZ to come to the mat with him. The ref stands them up. Aoki has on some hideous looking tights. Aoki throwing a lot of kicks but not really hitting with anything. Aoki again on his back wanting to fight on the ground. JZ comes down with a punch and then the ref re-starts the fight. JZ with a punch to the gut. Aoki tries a flying submission but eats the mat and again lays and waits for his opponent. The ref re-starts again. JZ misses with a huge roundhouse kick and Aoki dives at his leg and is holding on. Ref calls for a timeout as I think JZ hit him with a shot to the back of the head with his elbow. Aoki is really selling it like death but it looked like the elbow landed on the top of his spine below his neck. The ref calls this a no contest. Aoki's style was really annoying. I would definitely like to see more of JZ though.

Result: No Contest R1 3:46

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (22-6-2) vs Tatsuya Mizuno (3-2)

Cro Cop comes to the ring to Duran Duran. How bizarre. Mizuno's background is Pancrease. Cro Cop starts out with some leg kicks. Cro Cop with a knee and some punches as his opponent wilts and then Cro Cop lays in some punches on the ground and this one is over. Mizuno was definitely a sacrifical lamb here. Cro Cop looked a little tentative at first but then opened up in short order on Mizuno.

Winner: Cro Cop via TKO (punches) R1 0:56

Overall a decent show and I got introduced to a bunch of new fighters. I was most impressed with Eddie Alvarez.

Here is what Round 2 of the Lightweight Grand Prix will look like (scheduled for May 11th on the DREAM. 3 Card):
Katsuhiko Nagata vs JZ/Aoki winner
Mitushiro Ishida vs Caol Uno (got a first round bye)
Eddie Alvarez vs Joachim Hansen
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Luiz Firmino

The next DREAM show "DREAM. 2" (April 29th) shapes up like this:

Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias "JZ" Calvancante