DREAM 11 10/5/09 Re-Cap

HEIWA DREAM.11 Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round (10/5/09) – Yokohama Arena

Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger are the announcers for the show. Tonight we will see the Semi-Finals and Finals of the Featherweight Grand Prix, Joachim Hansen will defend against Shinya Aoki and the Super Hulk Tournament continues!

Featherweight Grand Prix Reserve Fight- Daiki Hata (5-3) vs. Kazuyuki Miyata (7-7)

Miyata comes out to Bon Jovi. Hata beat semi-finalist Hideo Tokoro by Unanimous Decision in the first round of the Featherweight Grand Prix but could not continue to the next round due to injury. Now he is better so he gets a spot in the reserve match. Michael Schiavello is in lust with Miyata’s body and has dubbed him “Sexy Miyata”.

R1- Miyata quickly takes Hata’s back and controlled him for a couple of minutes but couldn’t deliver any damage and the ref calls for a stand up with 6:30 left in the first round and delivers a yellow card to Hata. Miyata got a double leg take down with about 4 minutes left in the round. Miyata is able to take mount position with about 45 seconds left in the round and lands some Ground and Pound. Miyata is really controlling this fight so far but in DREAM the fight is judged on an overall basis and not by round.

R2- Miyata got a quick take down in the first half minute of the final round. Hata got up but Miyata slammed him back down with 3 minutes left in the round. Hata got back up and hit a couple of leg kicks and then Miyata went to take him down and Hata grabbed a guillotine choke and tried hard for the submission but Miyata hung in there and slipped out. Miyata got another take down in the final minute of the fight. Miyata controlled this fight for almost all of the fight but Hata came closer to finishing the fight. I’ve got Miyata taking this one.

Winner: Kazuyuki Miyata by Decision (Unanimous)

Featherweight Grand Prix Semi-Final Fight- Hideo Tokoro (22-16-1) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (11-6-1)

Tokoro has reached the semi-finals by beating Abel Cullum via Rear Naked Choke in the second round. In the first round Tokoro actually lost to Daiki Hata by Unanimous Decision but Hata was injured so Tokoro took his place in the 2nd round. Takaya has advanced to the semi-finals by beating Jong Won-Kim by 2nd round TKO and by defeating Yoshiro Maeda by TKO in the second round. Takaya likes to “smack people in the face.”

R1- Takaya landed a couple of strikes at the two and a half minute mark of the fight. Tokoro tried a jumping high kick but missed and Takaya gave him a nice strike for his troubles but let him back up. Tokoro went for a take down but got stuffed and ate some kicks to his legs. Takaya is really controlling this fight and caught Tokoro with a combo but Tokoro clinched and pulled guard. Tokoro tried a knee and then hit a good right hand that buckled Takaya’s legs. Tokoro hit another strike and tried to pull guard on a triangle but Tokoro took his guard. Takaya wakes up and delivers some great Ground and Pound shots and it looked like the ref stopped the fight right after the bell but I think he was just calling for the end of the round. Takaya was dangerously close to finishing the fight. Really good first round.

R2- Takaya got Tokoro down and quickly finished him with some Ground and Pound. Looks like Takaya really hurt Tokoro at the end of the last round and just finished it here at the beginning of this round. Really good fight.

Winner: Hiroyuki Takaya by TKO (Punches) R2

Featherweight Grand Prix Semi-Final Fight- Bibiano Fernandes (5-3) vs. Joe Warren (2-0)

Fernandes is a 5-time world jiu jitsu champion. Fernandes advance to this point by defeating Masakazu Imanari and Takafumi Otsuka by decision. Joe Warren is a decorated wrestler who has defeated tournament favorite Kid Yamamoto and Chase Beebe in this tournament (these were his first two MMA fights).

R1- They clinched early and Warren almost got a take down but couldn’t hold it and then got a slam and landed in Bibiano’s guard. Bibiano locked in an arm bar and Joe Warren tapped Bibiano’s leg and submitted.

Post-fight Warren looks confused like he didn’t tap and the Bibiano comes at Warren and points at him (possibly flipping him the bird) and then takes off out of the ring and on the ramp again points at him. Really strange happenings after this fight finished. Looks like Bibiano has to be the favorite for the finals due to the time of this fight versus the time of the other semi-final.

Winner: Bibiano Fernandes by Submission (Arm Bar) R1

Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Final- Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Hong-Man Choi

Minowa beat Bob Sapp in the first round to advance and Hong-Man Choi defeated Jose Canseco. Yes, that Jose Canseco. Choi is 7’2” and 355 lbs. Minowa is 5’9” and 201 lbs.

R1- Minowa looks like he’s half the size of Choi. Minowa tried for a take down and got stuffed and Choi was briefly on top but then stood up. Minowa landed an over hand right but Choi answered with a knee. Minowa went for a take down and fought and got it with about 6 minutes left in the round. Minowa is landing some knees to Choi’s side but really isn’t doing much and the ref stands them up at 3 minutes left in the round and gives Choi a yellow card. Choi got top position on Minowa and landed some strikes but then stood back up. Not a real exciting round. Both guys look pretty tired.

R2-Minowa went for a take down and didn’t initially get it but he twisted around and got on top and tried for a leg lock and he got it and tapped out Choi. Good showing by Minowa just because of the huge size dis-advantage that he had.

Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Submission (leg lock) R2

Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Final- Bob Sapp vs. Sokoudjou

Bob Sapp lost in the first round to Minowa but is filling in for Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi. Mousasi was pretty vocal in saying that he didn’t want to fight Sokoudjou because he thought he was on the gas. Sokoudjou beat Jan Nortje in the first round to advance.

R1- Sapp missed a wild right hand and got taken down. Sokoudjou put his knee on Sapp’s stomach and landed some Ground and Pound and eventually the ref stopped the fight.

Winner: Sokoudjou by TKO (Punches) R1

Lightweight Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2) vs. Melchor Barracuda (2-3)

Kawajiri last fought at DREAM 9 where he beat JZ Calvacante by Unanimous Decision.

R1- Barracuda swung wildly to start but was clinched by Kawajiri. Kawajiri got him to the ground and took his guard. Kawajiri was able to move to the mount position. Kawajiri landed some good Ground and Pound and Barracuda’s corner stepped in and the ref stopped the fight. Very one-sided fight as was expected in this one. Kawajiri should be in line to face the winner of Hansen/Aoki.

Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO (Punches) R1

Middleweight Fight- Kazushi Sakuraba (24-12-1) vs. Rubin Williams

Is a pro boxer who is 29-8-1 as a boxer with 16 knockouts but has lost his last 6 fights as a boxer. He’s been training in MMA for one year. This fight was added to the show late to spur attendance due to the drawing power of Sakuraba. Sakuraba was last seen losing to Kiyoshi Tamura and Melvin Manhoef so he’s on a 2 fight losing streak coming into this fight.

R1- Sakuraba starts out with some leg kicks and you can tell Williams doesn’t like them. Sakuraba shoots in and Williams tries to clinch him on the ground to minimize damage. Sakuraba lands some strikes and tries to set up for an arm bar or a kimura. Williams taps out to a kimura. Sakuraba made quick work of Williams.

Winner: Kazushi Sakuraba by Submission (Kimura) R1

DREAM Lightweight Title Fight- Joachim Hansen © (19-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (21-4)

Joachim Hansen actually lost to Eddie Alvarez in the 2nd round of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix but came back as a replacement for Alvarez when Alvarez won his semi-final fight but then could not continue to the finals due to an injury. Hansen won his reserve fight so he moved on to the finals and defeated Shinya Aoki by TKO (Strikes) in the first round in a pretty short fight. Since then Hansen has not fought but Aoki has gone on to fight a bunch of fights. At DREAM 6 Aoki beat Todd Moore by Rear Naked Choke in the first round, at the DREAM/K-1 Show he beat Eddie Alvarez for the WAMMA Lightweight Championship by Heel Hook Submission, at DREAM 7 he beat David Gardner by Rear Naked Choke Submission, at DREAM 8 he lost a Welterweight fight to Hayato Sakari by first round TKO (punches) in 27 seconds and at DREAM 10 he defeated Vitor Ribeiro by Unanimous Decision. Aoki is a consensus Top 5 Lightweight. He’s ranked by most as the #2 Lightweight fighter in the world behind BJ Penn.

R1- Hansen went for a big uppercut but missed and Aoki clinched him and got him to the ground. Hansen got back to his feet momentarily but Aoki wrestled him back down. Hansen kicked Aoki with two upkicks. One while he was standing and one while he had one knee on the ground. The ref calls for time. The announcers are saying that this is legal but that Aoki may have been hit with a shot to the groin. All the attention in the corner is being paid to Aoki’s eye and his vision and not his groin. Hansen’s corner is wondering what is going on. If this is for a groin kick then Aoki is milking this for everything it’s worth because he was about to get finished after those upkicks that badly damaged him. They re-start the fight with Aoki on top of Hansen. Hansen has an active guard and is landing some strikes on Aoki but nothing damaging. Hansen went for an arm bar and almost had it but Aoki countered nicely with some kicks and then a leg lock. Hansen countered back with some good elbows to the thigh area of Aoki. Aoki tried to lock on a reverse body triangle but Hansen escaped and got to his feet and briefly took Aoki’s back and then landed some strikes. Aoki got a double leg take down with about a minute forty left. Aoki is really not doing much while on top in this fight. This was a close round. Aoki spent most of the round on top but Hansen has come closer to finishing the fight. I’m not sure how they will score the upkicks that caused the stoppage.

R2- Hansen hit a couple strikes but then got clinched and taken down. Aoki is not doing anything on top so the fight is being stood up and the ref gives both fighters a yellow card. Hansen came close to hitting a kick or knee to the head but Aoki got a take down. The ref moved the fighters to the center of the ring and Aoki quickly took mount position. Aoki goes for an arm bar with 45 seconds left as Hansen is blocking the move and checking with his corner to see how much time is left. Hansen rolled the wrong way and got caught with about 3 seconds left in the round and he tapped out. Wow, talk about a huge mistake by Hansen. All he had to do was hold on for about 3 seconds in the position that he was in instead of rolling over.

Winner and new champion: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Arm Bar) R2

Featherweight Grand Prix Finals: Bibiano Fernandes (6-3)vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (12-6-1)

R1- Takaya landed an early strike and then went for a knee and got taken down. Fernandes went for a quick arm bar but came up empty and Takaya got on top. Fernandes quickly went for a leg lock but Takaya got out and quickly got back to his feet. Fernandes got a take down after he landed a strike. Fernandes stood them back up and jumped on Takaya’s back to try and get a Rear Naked Choke. The ref breaks the fighters and they re-start. Takaya landed a good right hand. Both guys are standing and landing some strikes as Fernandes continues to look for the take down. Fernandes got a take down with about two and a half minutes left in the round. Takaya put his back against the ropes and used the ropes to get back to his feet and then freed himself from Fernandes. Takaya swung with some good punches but Fernandes was able to push him off but he did sustain a cut near his eye during that exchange. Really good first round. Takaya looked like he hurt Fernandes at the end of the round.

R2- Fernandes countered a Takaya strike and knocked Takaya down. Takaya quickly got back up but Fernandez quickly got a take down. Fernandes quickly landed some punches and took Takaya’s back and Takaya stood up and moved Fernandes back to the corner and the referee broke the hold. Both guys throw some leather but neither is able to land anything solid. Takaya has some blood coming from his mouth and his left eye is swelling. Takaya landed some nice punches but Fernandes hung in there. Both guys are just swinging for the fences to try to win this fight. Awesome fight. This one is a toss up. I would probably have to give the fight to Fernandes because he came closer to finishing the fight and also scored a knock down in the second round. Really close round and one of the fights of the year.

Judges score the fight: Fernandes, Takaya and Fernandes

Winner and new champion: Bibiano Fernandes by Decision (Split)