DREAM 8 4/5/09 Show Re-Cap

DREAM 8 Welterweight Grand Prix 1st Round
(4/5/09) – Nagoya, Japan (Nippon Gaishi Hall)

Top lightweight Shinya Aoki is moving up in weight tonight to take part in the Welterweight Grand Prix. He will try to avenge a previous loss tonight against Hayato Sakurai. The Featherweight tournament will also be continued tonight. We will also see 5 non-tournament fights featuring the likes of Jeff Monson, Ninja Rua, and Ikuhisa Minowa. There will be 11 fights tonight. The announcers are Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten.

Just a reminder that in DREAM they fight 2 rounds. The first round is 10 minutes and the second is 5 minutes. The fights are not judged by the round but rather on the entire fight.

Katsuyori Shibata (2-6-1) vs. Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa (41-29-8)

Shibata is a former New Japan Professional Wrestler. His won/loss record is a little deceiving because he has fought way above his level of talent and experience in several recent fights as he has lost to Hayato Sakurai, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Mayhem Miller in recent DREAM fights. He is winless in his last 7 fights after starting his MMA career 2-0. Minowa defeated Errol Zimmerman in his last fight on New Years Eve. Minowa has career losses to the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Rampage Jackson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Paulo Filho and Evan Tanner.

R1- Minowa got two take downs in the first round and he leg lock submission attempt but Shibata reversed the submission attempt for one of his own. Minowa controlled the majority of this round and is in firm control of this fight.

R2- Both fighters received a yellow card at the two minute mark of this fight as Minowa was in Shibata’s guard after a take down but neither guy was doing much. Shibata landed some good knees and strikes in the middle of this round. Shibata took Minowa’s back and peppered him with strikes but Minowa rolled over and took Minowa’s guard. Shibata hit a nice belly to back suplex in the closing seconds and took Minowa down again. Shibata might have stole this fight as he dominated the last 3 minutes after Minowa hit the cardio wall.

And all the judges score the fight in favor of Shibata. Huge win for him as it breaks his losing streak and gives him a taste of victory.

Winner: Katsuyori Shibata by Decision (Unanimous)

Middleweight Fight- Shungo Oyama (7-11) vs. Andrews Nakahara (1-1)

Oyama is a judo fighter that holds victories over Carlos Newton, Renzo Gracie and Rodrigo Gracie. He has lost to the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Mirko Cro Cop and Melvin Manhoef (twice). Oyama has lost 8 times by submission. Nakahara comes out to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Nakahara lost his pro debut against Kazushi Sakuraba but won his second fight.

R1- Nakahara looked good early with leg kicks. Oyama went after some leg locks but couldn’t get any and got caught by TKO a couple of minutes into the fight. Good showing by Nakahara. Nakahara hit Oyama with a good punch as he was getting up from an attempted take down and then jumped on top to finish him off.

Winner: Andrews Nakahara by TKO (Strikes) R1

Lightweight Fight- Katsuhiko Nagata (4-4-1) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (19-2)

Nagata is on a 3 fight losing streak and has tough losses to Caol Uno, Shinya Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Nagata was also in the Lightweight Grand Prix and won his first round fight against Artur Umakhanov by Unanimous Decision but got matched up against Aoki in the 2nd round and got submitted. Ribeiro has not fought since Sept 2007 due to a detached retina he got in a loss to JZ Calvacante. Ribeiro has career victories over Joachim Hansen (current DREAM Lightweight Champ), Mitsuhiro Ishida and Tatsuya Kawajiri. His only losses are to JZ and Kawajiri. Nagata is a wrestler and Ribeiro is a BJJ fighter.

R1- This fight was all Ribeiro as he slowly moved into position with his BJJ and then opened up a large cut on the head of Nagata for the ref stoppage.

Ribeiro looks like a good addition to the already stacked DREAM Lightweight division.

Winner: Vitor Ribeiro by TKO (Ref Stoppage ) R1

Murilo “Ninja” Rua (16-9-1) vs. Riki Fukuda (13-4)

Looks like they are fighting at a catchweight of 195. Rua most recently has competed in Elite XC but was not offered a contract by Strikeforce after losing to Benji Radach in his last Elite XC fight. Fukuda is a Muay Thai fighter and a wrestler. Ninja is a BJJ/Muay Thai fighter.

R1- Ninja gets a take down reversed about 3 minutes in and Fukuda gets some good shots in before they get back to their feet. Fukuda hits some nice shots on their feet and Ninja is visibly hurt but is holding on. Ninja went for a triangle and then a leg lock but couldn’t lock in either submission. Ninja gets Fukuda’s back briefly and gets enough shots in to bloody Fukuda. Ninja came on strong in the second half of the first round and has the advantage going into the second round.

R2- Not a great second round as both guys are really tried. Fukuda comes on strong in the last minute and hits some nice strikes. This is going to be a toss-up for the judges.

Fukuda wins a unanimous decision.

Winner: Riki Fukuda by Decision (Unanimous)

Heavyweight Fight- Jeff Monson (19-8) vs. Sergei Kharitonov (16-3)

Monson has won his last 5 fights and this is his 3rd fight in 3 weeks. Kharitonov has finished 15 of his 16 wins by KO or submission. He has wins over Alistair Overeem, Pedro Rizzo and Fabricio Werdum. Kharitonov has been training with Overeem lately. He has also has a 5” height and 14 pound weight advantage in this fight.

R1- Monson got Kharitonov down and was able to get a guillotine type move from the north/south position and made quick work of Kharitonov. Really good showing by Monson.

Winner: Jeff Monson by Submission (North-South Choke) R1 1:42

Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Daiki Hata (10-5-3) vs. Hideo Tokoro (21-15-1)

Daiki is 3-0-1 in his last 4 fights. He has split two fights with Yoshiro Maeda. Tokoro won on the DREAM 4 show by decision over Darren Uyenoyama and also beat Takeshi Yamazaki by decision on the DREAM 5 show.

R1- These guys took a while to get going but really went at each other during the middle of this round with both guys getting in some decent shots. Daiki came on strong at the end of the round and got some good punches in that floored Tokoro but he couldn’t finish him off.

R2- This was a close fight but I think Daiki is going to take this as I think he took the first round and stayed in a dominant position for the majority of the second round.

Winner: Daiki Hata by Decision (Unanimous)

Welterweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- John Alessio (24-12) vs. Andre Galvao (2-0)

Alessio trains at Xtreme Couture and Mac Danzig is in his corner for the fight. Alessio has wins over Thomas Denny and Pete Spratt and has tough losses to Diego Sanchez, Thiago Alves and Carlos Condit. He lost his last fight to Paul Daley by TKO in the 2nd round back in December of 2008. Galvo is a BJJ World Champion and trains Wanderlei Silva in jiu jitsu but this is only his third fight.

R1- Galvao took Alessio’s back and got in some knees to the back of his thighs and then took the fight to the ground. Galvao lands some good hammer punches to the side of Alessio’s head as he has him clamped in with a body triangle. Galvao went for an arm bar and Alessio did a good job stopping it for a while but then Alessio flipped over and Galvao clamped it in. Really impressive showing for Galvao.

Winner: Andre Galvao by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 7:34

Welterweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Marius Zaromskis (8-2) vs. Seichi Ikemoto (18-14-5)

Marius comes out dressed in a pink wig and is dressed like the video game character Akuma. Both of Maruis’s losses are against Che Mills (who lost in the first round of this current season’s TUF to James Wilks). Ikemoto is undefeated in his last 5 fights and is the DEEP Welterweight Champion. Ikemoto has losses in his career to Yves Edwards, Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki. Marius is a kick boxer and Ikemoto is a freestyle fighter.

R1- This was a competitive back and forth first round. Marius started to land some good shots towards the end of the round.

R2- Marius tried a back flip to land on top of Ikemoto and was denied but got a good pop from the crowd. This was another close round but Marius closed the fight very strong and I think that will put him over the top.

Winner: Marius Zaromskis by Decision (Unanimous)

Welterweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Jason High (6-1) vs. Yuya Shirai (15-7)

High is coming off of his first career loss, which came to Jay Hieron by first round KO at the January Affliction show. Shirai is a Judo Fighter and High is a wrestler from the University of Nebraska.

R1- High immediately comes out and floors Shirai with a punch and then jumps on top and gets a Rear Naked Choke and the ref has to step in as Shirai will not tap but does pass out. Very impressive performance by High.

Winner: Jason High by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 0:59

Welterweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Shinya Aoki (20-3) vs. Hayato Sakurai (34-8-2)

Shinya Aoki moves up in weight from Lightweight for this fight. Aoki is one of the top Lightweight fighters in the world and is the current WAMMA Lightweight champion having defeated Eddie Alvarez for the vacant title. Aoki was 5-1 with 1 No Contest in 2008 and holds wins over Alvarez, Joachim Hansen, JZ Cavalcante and Caol Uno. Aoki’s losses have come to Hansen, Jutaro Nakao and Hayato Sakurai. Sakurai is a former Shooto Middleweight Champion who started his career 18-0-2. He has career wins over Caol Uno, Frank Trigg, Dave Menne, Aoki, Jens Pulver and Joachim Hansen. He has lost to Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, Jake Shields, Ryo Chonan and Takanori Gomi. Aoki has a 4” height advantage but Sakurai has a 5 pound weight advantage so Sakurai is the much more solid Welterweight in this fight. Aoki is a jiu jitsu and judo fighter who likes to clamp onto his opponent like a leach. Sakurai is a Judo and Shooto fighter.

R1- Sakurai came out and went for the home run knockout but missed and Aoki clamped onto him. Sakurai powers him over and destroys Aoki with some knees and then punches. Aoki just got punked. Kawajiri is in the crowd and gives two thumbs up.

Winner: Hayato Sakurai by TKO (Knees and Punches) R1 0:27

I thought the Welterweight fights were fun. Sakurai and High just destroyed their opponents. Galvao looked very strong and Zaromskis had a good fight. Vitor Ribeiro was also very impressive in non-tournament action. Overall, this was a good show.

Here is a look at what is coming up for DREAM:

OLYMPIA DREAM.9 Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round (5/26/09)
Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Joe Warren
Gesias Cavalcante vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
DREAM Middleweight Championship: Ronaldo Souza vs. Jason Miller
Gegard Mousasi vs. Paulo Filho
Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round: Masakazu Imanari vs. Bibiano Fernandes
Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round: Abel Cullum vs. Hideo Tokoro
Mirko Filipović vs. TBA

OLYMPIA DREAM.10 Welterweight Grand Prix Final Round (7/20/09)
Welterweight Grand Prix Finals: André Galvão/Jason High vs. Hayato Sakurai/Marius Zaromskis
DREAM Lightweight Championship: Joachim Hansen vs. Shinya Aoki
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. TBA
Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: Hayato Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis
Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: André Galvão vs. Jason High

DREAM.6 9/23/08 Re-Cap

DREAM 6 9/23/08 Re-Cap

Once again Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice are the announcers. This show will focus around the Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals and Finals. We have Souza vs. Galesic and Mousasi vs. Manhoef. Plus, we have Cro Cop vs. Alistair Overeem.

Middleweight Reseve Fight- Andrews Nakahara (0-1) vs. Dong Sik Yoon (4-5)

This is just in case someone gets injured in the Middleweight Grand Prix. Joachim Hansen fought in the Lightweight Reserve Fight and ended up fighting for the title and winning it at the last show. Yoon holds a win over both Galesic and Manhoef. Nakahara's only fight was against Sakuraba. Nakahara comes out to Eminem's "Lose Yourself." Not a bad choice.

R1- Nakahara hits an early kick but then they clinch. Yoon pulled guard but then they separated with little action. They stand up and then Yoon gets a take down. Nakahura goes for a submission but he's in the ropes and Yoon escapes. Yoon has a mount on Nakahara but doesn't really seem to be doing much with it, looks like he's waiting for a submission. Nakahara eventually escapes. Nakahara got Yoon down and hit some knees at the end of the round. Not a real thrilling round, fairly close, round probably goes to Yoon due to ring control (in DREAM rounds are not judged, the fights are judged as a whole).

R2- They swing pretty wildly to start the round and Nakahara connects with some shots and takes Yoon down and then works him over via Ground and Pound and the ref stops the fight. Impressive round for Nakahara.

Winner: Andrews Nakahara by TKO (strikes) R2 0:30

Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Final Fight: Melvin Manhoef (22-4-1) vs. Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1)

This is going to be striker (Manhoef) versus submission wrestler (Mousasi). Should be interesting. Mousasi has won his last 9 fights and beat Denis Kang in the opener of this tournament. Manhoef has 21 finishes by TKO or KO out of his 22 wins. Mousasi is a slight favorite according to the odds makers.

R1- Mousasi shoots in early and Manhoef sprawls but Mousasi eventually takes him down and almost immediately has his back. Manhoef flips him over but Mousasi gets a triangle. Manhoef picks him up and slams him down and the move gets clamped in harder and it's over as Manhoef taps. Very impressive and short victory for Mousasi. Getting a quick victory in this fight really sets up Mousasi as the probable favorite for the finals later.

Winner: Gegard Mousasi by Submission (Triangle) R1 1:28

Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Final Fight: Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (9-1) vs. Zelg Galesic (9-3)

This is very similar to the last fight as it pits a striker (Galesic) versus the submission guy (Jacare). Galesic comes out to Linkin Park. Jacare lost his debut MMA fight and has not lost since.

R1- Jacare shoots in and gets a quick take down. Jacare gets some shots and then easily passes guard. Jacare takes the mount but Galesic flips him over and Jacare grabs an arm bar and wins. Wow, great performance by Jacare. That was one of the quickest arm bars and arm bar submissions that you will see.

Jacare and Mousasi both put their opponents away quickly in the first round with submissions. Should be a good final.

Winner: Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza by Submission (Arm Bar) R1

Featherweight Fight- Atsushi Yamamoto (11-5-1) vs. Hideo Tokoro (22-13-1)

Tokoro has won fights on both DREAM.4 and DREAM.5. He's looking to make it three wins in three straight DREAM shows. His fight against Darren Uyenoyama was one of the better fights on that show. Kid Yamamoto is in Atsushi's corner for the fight. Yamamoto's last 6 fights have all gone to a submission (he is 4-2 in those fights).

R1- Tokoro gets a couple of good strikes in early. Yamamoto got in a big strike that knocked down Tokoro about 1 minute in and then pounced on him but Tokoro grabbed guard to protect himself. Back on their feet and Yamamoto continues to hit some jabs and lands a flying knee. Tokoro getting in a couple of kicks. Tokoro pulls guard as he went after Yamamoto's arm. Back to their feet and it's pretty even right now. Yamamoto bloodies Tokoro's nose. Tokoro pulls guard again after a missed somersault kick. Yamamoto has the advantage after the first round.

R2- Shortly after the round starts they stop the action to check Tokoro's bloody nose. Tokoro grabs an arm and gets a near submission but Yamamoto turns back into him. Tokoro really trying for the submission as this might be his only way to win. 30 seconds left in the fight and Tokoro is trying to straighten out the arm but Yamamoto is stopping him and then landing some strikes. Good effort at the end by Tokoro but it looks to me like Yamamoto is going to win by decision. Yamamoto does some post match push ups.

Winner: Atsushi Yamamoto by Decision (Unanimous)

Welterweight Fight- Kuniyoshi Hironaka (12-5) vs. Hayato Sakurai (32-8-2)

R1- Hironaka got a take down about a minute into the fight. Not much happened and they went back to their feet. Sakurai starts to find the range in the stand up game. Sakurai lost his balance and Hironaka took his guard and then tried to pass and ended back up in the guard. Hironaka hits an illegal kick as he kicked Sakurai in the chin when he was on the mat (in DREAM you can only kick a downed opponent- or knee- if both guys are on the mat). They re-start with 1:30 left in the round. Sakurai hit a good body shot. Sakurai is finishing the round strong.

R2- Hironaka works early to take this to the mat and Sakurai tries to keep it on the feet. No one really seems to be winning this round. Kind of a boring fight so far. Sakurai lands two knees towards the end and then a big punch that floors Hironaka and then gets some Ground and Pound to finish off the fight as the bell rings. Sakurai closed very well and should win this fight.

Winner: Hayato Sakurai by Decision (Unanimous)

Middleweight Fight- Masanori Tonooka (1-1) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (11-1)

R1- Akiyama got a take down after about 2 minutes of stand up. Akiyama ties him up and gets some good Ground and Pound. Akiyama just kind of toying with his inexperienced opponent. Akiyama takes his back but then losses it. Akiyama takes him down again and lands in side control. Akiyama moves to a mount position and goes for an arm. He gets the arm bar and this one is over.

Winner: Yoshihiro Akiyama by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 6:26

Lightweight Fight- Todd Moore (9-2) vs. Shinya Aoki (17-3)

Moore fought most recently in WEC. He has lost his last 2 fights. This should be interesting as Aoki will try to jump on Moore and ride him to a submission victory or a decision and Moore is going to have to try and knock off the gnat that is the favored Aoki. JZ and Yves Edwards are in Moore's corner. Aoki has a height and reach advantage.

R1- Aoki jumps on Moore's back about a minute in and Moor backs into the corner. Aoki clamps in the Rear Naked Choke and this one is over before it started.

Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1

Heavyweight Fight- Mirko Cro Cop (23-6-2) vs. Alistair Overeem (28-11)

Overeem has a height and weight advantage. Overeem's strenghts are his strength and his striking and that's also Cro Cops strengths. Fedor is ringside at the fight tonight. Cro Cop is coming out to Duran Duran. Fedor enters the ring with a bouquet of flowers and shakes Overeem's hand and the Cro Cop and presents flowers to the corner of each fighter.

R1- Overem throws Cro Cop down for the first take down about one minute into the fight and takes Cro Cops guard. Cro Cop is busted open above the eye as Alistair is getting in some shots but nothing too damaging. The ref stops the fight a little under 3 minutes into the fight to check the cut. They re-start in the same position with Overeem in Cro Cops guard. Overeem gets pushed away and they stand back up. Cro Cop hits a kick and follows with a high kick but Overeem catches it and dumps Cro Cop onto the mat and takes his guard and starts to deliver some Ground and Pound. Overeem started to hit some better shots and he really lays into Cro Cop on a shot of two. The ref stops the fight at 5:30 to again check the cut above Cro Cops eye. They are back on their feet and Overeem hits some knees. Overeem hits a low blow. Cro Cop takes more than enough time to recover and now he will try to get back into this fight. Overeem clinches and goes back to the knees and Overeem hits him low again. Overeem gets a yellow card. Cro Cop is bleeding pretty good. Cro Cop is laying down like he's been shot. I think he knows he's overmatched and he's going to take this way out so that he gets a no decision. Overeem hasn't even broken a sweat yet. Ten minutes later and Cro Cop is still down. Cro Cop can't continue due to the shots to the family jewels but he was getting owned in this fight. Alistair won this fight easily in my mind. Once the fight was over Cro Cop got to his feet and left pretty quickly although still limping a bit but nothing like he looked like he was dying in the ring for the last 15 minutes.

Decision: No Contest

Alistair takes the microphone. He apologizes for the fight ending the way that it did. Says he's the number 1 heavyweight in DREAM.

Middleweight Grand Prix Finals Championship Fight- Gegard Mousasi (23-2-1) vs. Ronaldo Souza (10-1)

R1- Jacare gets a slam about a minute in. Mousasi tried to grab the ropes to hold on but the ref warned him. Jacare postures up and comes down with a punch but instead eats a kick and he is out! Mousasi with the up kick for the championship. Wow.

Winner and new Middleweight Champion: Gegard Mousasi by KO R1 2:15