Strikeforce Saturday Night Fights
Bridgestone Arena
Saturday, April 17
Nashville, Tennessee
CBS
Strikeforce has an all-star card for the hardcore MMA fans with Dan Henderson/Jake Shields, Gegard Mousasi/King Mo Lawal, and Gilbert Melendez/Shinya Aoki. In my predictions I put out earlier this week I picked Henderson, Mousasi and Melendez. I honestly think all 3 fights could go either way so it will be interesting to see how they fall. Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock are the announcers and Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer.
Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship: Gegard Mousasi (c) (28-2-1) vs. Mo Lawal (6-0)
Mousasi introduced himself to Strikeforce fans by decimating their champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral in just one minute. Fans of the DREAM promotion in Japan were not surprised at all as they had already seen Mousasi beat Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef and Jacare Souza. Mousasi is on a 15 fight win streak and has not lost since 2006 (submitted by Akihiro Gono via arm bar in Pride). Mousasi’s strength is his standup and lightning quick hands but he also is decent on the ground and has a good bottom game (just ask Jacare about that!). King Mo Lawal is one of the most charismatic fighters in MMA and he’s a guy that I think could really help put Strikeforce on the map as he’s much more marketable than Mousasi and guys like Dan Henderson and Jake Shields. Mo has a decorated past in wrestling. Just check Wikipedia, he was a stud. Mo is still very young in the MMA game. He’s beat guys like Travis Wiuff, Mike Whitehead and Mark Kerr. So he’s faced some veterans but he’s been relatively untested and has certainly not faced anyone with the type of skill that Mousasi has. Mo has finished 5 of his 6 wins by TKO.
R1- Mo went for a take down and ate a bunch of punches but completed the take down. Mousasi has a very active guard and he's keeping this round even despite fighting from the bottom. Mo is landing some strikes from the top but isn't landing anything cleanly. Mousasi got to his feet with one minute left in the round. Mousasi stuffed a take down and landed some knees. Mo got a take down with under a minute left. King Mo looks a bit tired and Mousasi easily got to his feet. Really close round that could have gone either way probably went to Mo due to dominating the position of the fight for the majority of the round. Shamrock gave the round to Mo 10-9.
R2- Mo got a quick take down in the first twenty seconds of the round. Mousasi landing strikes from his back. Mo is really exposing his head trying to get better position on the ground and is taking shots. Mousasi looked really good fighting off of his back and it looked like Mo just let him up so he wouldn't take anymore of Mousasi's strikes. Mousasi hit a good left up against the cage and then Mo immediately took him down. Mousasi landed some more shots from the bottom and then got to his feet with a minute left in the round. Mo got another take down but he's just eating strikes. Mousasi went for a submission but couldn't get it. Mousasi had Mo on his knees for a minute and landed some shots and then took his back but didn't have enough time to hook in a submission. That round goes to Mousasi making it 19-19.
R3- Mo keeping his hands down in this round and Mousasi landing some strikes. King Mo swinging for the fences but not hitting and then getting a take down. Mo is controlling this round and is starting to land some strikes from the top position. Mo took this round and he's up 29-28 going into the Championship Rounds.
R4- Mo got a take down about thirty seconds into the round. John McCarthy stands them up at the mid-point way of the round as Mo wasn't doing much from the top. Mo went for a take down and ate some strikes but completed the take down. Not a lot of action in this round but I've got Mo taking it and taking a 39-37 advantage in the final round. I think Mousasi has to finish if he wants to keep his championship.
R5- Mo shot in and got a take down thirty seconds into the round. The fight is stopped for an illegal up kick by Mousasi with two minutes left in the round. Mo's left eye is swelling shut. John McCarthy took a point away from Mousasi for kicking to the head of a grounded fighter. Mousasi landed some good shots when they were put back in play. Mousasi got back to his feet with under two minutes left. Mousasi threw some strikes but Mo took Mousasi back down with one minute left in the round. They are stood back up with twenty-five seconds left. Mo landed a take down with seven seconds left in the round and this one is over. Mo didn't do much in this round besides the take downs. I've got the fight scored 48-46 for Mo with Mousasi losing one point due to an illegal blow.
Not a sexy performance by King Mo but he showed his dominant wrestling tonight and while his stamina wasn't top-notch it was enough to win the fight over a very good fighter in Gegard Mousasi.
Judges score cards: 49-45 on all judges score cards
Winner and new champion: King Mo Lawal by Decision (Unanimous)
Strikeforce Lightweight Championship: Gilbert Melendez (c) (17-2) vs. Shinya Aoki (23-4)
Shinya Aoki is the challenger in this fight and in my book he has to be considered the favorite. Aoki has developed over the last few years into someone I thought of as a boring fighter to someone who starting snapping opponents arms and not thinking twice about it. Aoki has always been a gifted jiu jitsu practitioner but now that he has the attitude to go with it he is going to be trouble for anybody he’s fighting. Aoki has won his last 3 fights since he tried moving up in weight and got destroyed by Hayato Sakari at DREAM 8. Over the last two years Aoki has beaten a who’s who of MMA lightweights in Eddie Alvarez, Gesias Calvalcante, Joachim Hansen, Vitor Ribeiro, Caol Uno and Mizuto Hirota. Aoki has finished 5 of his last 6 wins and 4 of those have been by submission. Aoki has a 60% submission rate in his wins. Gilbert Melendez started his career by winning 13 straight fights including wins over Clay Guida and Tasuya Kawajiri. Melendez then dropped 2 of his next 3 fights as he fell to Mitsuhiro Ishida and Josh Thomson. Melendez’s last two victories have been over the only two men who have defeated him. Now that’s impressive, not many MMA fighters can boast that they have came back and re-claimed victories against the only men who defeated them. Without inside knowledge of Melendez it looked like he just got unfocused for a while and after watching his last 3 fights it seems like he is re-focused and back on track.
R1- Long feeling out process and the crowd is growing restless. Aoki continues his heeldom from the New Years Eve show and gives Melendez and eye poke. Aoki grabbed an arm and latched onto it and brought the fight to the ground but Melendez was able to escape without any damage. Melendez stuff an Aoki take down and then jumped in Aoki's guard to try to deliver some damage. Melendez landed some good shots but Aoki got back to his feet. Aoki landed a knee but Melendez absorbed it and landed a couple of strikes. Melendez 10-9.
R2- Aoki shot in and Melendez stopped him and Aoki ended up on his back but that's a position that he's comfortable with. Melendez has busted up Aoki's lip. Aoki landed a good left hand to Melendez chin. Melendez got Aoki up against the cage and threw a barrage of strikes but didn't land anything substantial. Aoki went for a take down and was stuffed and then tried to pull guard. Aoki shot in again and Melendez stopped it with a fist and ended the round on top of Aoki. Melendez 20-18. Strikeforce is in danger of going way over tonight, especially since Dan Henderson loves to go to decisions.
R3- Aoki went for a take down early and really fought for it but Melendez spun out and then jumped into Aoki's guard. Aoki keeps going to his back in this round and is drawing the ire of the Nashville crowd. Melendez landing some good shots on the ground. Aoki landed a knee but Melendez answered with some strikes. Melendez 30-27. So far I've enjoyed both fights but if I was a fan casually interested in MMA I don't know if I would. I think Strikeforce should book more guys that like to stand and bang in addition to it's great arsenal of wrestlers. I think they need more variety on the show.
R4- Aoki went in again and Melendez fought off the take down and took top position but gave it up. Melendez landed a good right hand that stopped Aoki from coming in for a take down. Melendez landed a good knee to Aoki's chest when Aoki tried another take down. The ref was trying to stop the fight to stand up the fighters and Melendez landed 3 good shots to Aoki and thought the ref was stopping the fight in his favor. Aoki tried for a take down and Melendez took his guard and landed some good strikes. Melendez 40-36.
R5- Ranallo says Melendez has landed 102 strikes to Aoki's 15 at this point in the contest. Aoki goes in for a take down and complains of an eye poke. Aoki pulled guard and went for a rubber guard or triangle and Melendez mashed him up against the cage. Melendez landed some good Ground and Pound half way through the round. Aoki pulled guard again with a minute left in the round but Melendez got free and stood up. Melendez lands some good strikes and lands a flurry to end the round. Melendez soundly wins this decision 50-45. Melendez has looked very impressive since he lost the decision to Josh Thomson. I'm thinking Josh Thomson or possibly KJ Noons would be the next fighter for Melendez unless they bring in somebody else from Japan like a Kawajiri or JZ.
Judges score cards: 50-45 on all three score cards
Winner: Gilbert Melendez by Decision (Unanimous)
Former NFL Player Eddie George, Bobby Lashley, Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Scott Smith, Herschel Walker, and Brett Rogers are shown in attendance.
Highlights are shown of Jason "Mayhem" Miller versus Tim Stout, which happened early this evening, were shown. Mayhem was shown completing a take down and then landed some Ground and Pound and the ref stopped the fight as Stout turtled up. Ranallo says Jason Miller will fight Robbie Lawler on June 16th in Los Angeles.
Strikeforce Middleweight Championship: Jake Shields (c) (24-4-1) vs. Dan Henderson (25-7)
Former Pride champion Dan Henderson is the man that CBS and Strikeforce are marketing this night of fights around as he’s the most experienced and well known fighter fighting on this card. That being said, I really don’t see Dan as being very marketable. I like Dan Henderson as much as the next guy but his highest profile win in the last 2 years was against Michael Bisping (yes he beat Rich Franklin but that was a split decision and nobody remembers it). If Dan Henderson was that marketable the UFC would have kept him. That being said, Dan Henderson is still a very good fighter with his biggest strength being his wrestling as well as his punching power (at least that’s what Michael Bisping tells me). Jake Shields is a skilled jiu jitsu fighter who has an uncanny ability to control his opponents. He frustrated Mayhem Miller on his way to a decision victory at the last CBS show. Shields is on a 13 fight winning streak that includes Mayhem, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, Yushin Okami, Toby Imada and Carlos Condit but Dan Henderson is clearly the top fighter that Shields has faced.
They show some of the "simulated" fight between Henderson and Shields using the upcoming MMA game from EA. Definitely looks like a step down from the UFC Undisputed series.
R1- Henderson landed a big right hand 19 seconds into the fight and Shields went down hard. Henderson jumped on top and Sheilds grabbed Dan to survive and then grabbed on a leg lock but Hendo was able to slip out at the one minute mark of the fight. Hendo hit a right hand to the body that drove Shields back. Hendo definitely looks a lot bigger than Shields. Henderson landed some good strikes and Shields looked like he purposely fell to his back to invite Hendo to the ground and give himself an opportunity to recover. Hendo landed a good right hand and Shields is just trying to survive and we are only half way through the round. Shields shot in for a take down and looked like he got it but Hendo fought back and got the clinch back to their feet against the cage. Henderson looked really good and brought the striking that the first two fights did not. Hendo 10-8 in the first round and so far Shields is looking like he would be a better fit back at Welterweight.
R2- Shields shot in early and tried for a single leg and almost got caught in a Rear Naked but Shields ended up in Hendo's guard. Shields quickly passed Hendo's guard and took full mount. Shields lands some strikes from full mount. Shields landed some strikes and then tried an arm triangle but couldn't get it. Shields is landing some really good Ground and Pound. Shields landed some more Ground and Pound and then expertly grabbed onto the cage to hold position as Hendo bucked and the ref didn't even notice it. Borderline 10-8 round but I don't think Shields came close to finishing so I gave it 10-9 which makes it Hendo 19-18 so far. Great come back round by Shields in that round.
R3- Shields dove in for a single leg but Hendo sprawled and kept the fight standing. Sheilds went for another take down and got it with three minutes left in the round. Shields passed Hendo's guard and took side control with half the round remaining. Shields got full mount with a minute left in the round and briefly tried a guillotine but couldn't get it clamped in fully and released it. Shields landed some light Ground and Pound and then tried for an arm bar but couldn't get it before the bell rang. Shields took this round 10-9 and I've got the fight 28-28 right now.
Props to Gilbert Melendez who just finished his fight and is now cornering Jake Shields in this fight (along with Nick Diaz).
R4- Shields immediately went for a take down but Hendo scrambled out of it. Shields grabbed onto another single leg take down and Hendo locked Shields down temporarily before Shields completed the take down. Shields got full mount with one minute left in the round. Shields grinding out this fight even though the fans aren't too happy about it. Shields is up 38-37 on my score card.
R5- Shields got a take down with four minutes left in the round. Shields got full mount with three and a half minutes left in the fight. Shields landing some decent strikes from full mount. Shields went for an arm triangle but couldn't get in the right position to execute the submission. Shields tried for an arm bar in the last thirty seconds of the fight and then grabbed a knee bar but couldn't finish and the bell rung to finish the fight. Shields wins this 48-46 on my score card.
Judges score cards: 49-46, 49-45, 48-45
Winner: Jake Shields by Decision (Unanimous)
Decent night of fights but Strikeforce definitely didn't create any new stars or gain any new fans tonight with three five round decisions. They really needed some electricity tonight and Hendo provided that in the first round but couldn't out last Shields. Hopefully Strikeforce learns from this and we don't get 3 championship fights on one card featuring wrestlers on the same show.
Post-Fight Mayhem Miller shows that he's a jackass and interrupts Jake Shields interview and a brawl ensues. That was straight out of Elite XC. I was asking for some more excitement but that's a little ridiculous. I love me some Pro Wrestling (well I use to until Vince McMahon took over) but you have to have respect for your opponents and Mayhem Miller showed his ass again here.
Showing posts with label Shinya Aoki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shinya Aoki. Show all posts
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
K-1 Dynamite 12/31/09 Re-Cap
K-1 - Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2009
December 31, 2009
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
The announcers for the show are Michael Schiavello, Guy Mezger and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. DREAM and Sengoku will join forces tonight and will pit their fighters against each other in 9 fights! We will also see the long anticipated MMA debut of Judo Olympic Gold Metalist Satoshi Ishii as he takes on Hidehiko Yoshida. Tonight we will see some big MMA names like Shinya Aoki, Alistair Overeem, Kid Yamamoto, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Melvin Manhoef in action. We will also see some K-1 fights tonight on this show!
Under 18 K-1 High School Championship Semi-Final: Hiroya vs. Masaaki Noiri
Hiroya won this title last year and this is his last chance to defend the championship as he turns 18 in January. Hiroya has a K-1 record of 14-1. Noiri has a record of 2-0 in K-1.
R1- Noiri landed some good offense and Hiroya dropped to his knee. Noiri took the first round. Metzger says it should be a 10-8 round.
R2- This round is closer but Noiri still looks really good and Metzger gives him this round as well.
R3- Noiri knocked Hiroya down a to a knee at the beginning of the round but the ref let them continue. Hiroya landed a good right hand that hurt Noiri. Hiroya landed some good shots at the end of the round but missed on some haymakers.
Winner: Masaaki Noiri by Decision
Under 18 K-1 High School Championship Semi-Final: Shota Shimada vs. Katsuki Ishida
Ishida is 60-0 in Amateur kickboxing and 2-0 in K-1. Shimada has a K-1 record of 5-1.
R1- Good first round with Shimada having the advantage.
R2- Closer round this time as Ishida came out quickly and did a better job this round.
R3- Really close round. Good fight.
Winner: Shota Shimada by Decision
DREAM Super Hulk Tournament Final- Sokoudjou vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Minowa beat Bob Sapp and Hong Man Choi to advance to the finals. Sokoudjou beat Bob Sapp (he was filling in for Gegard Mousasi) and Jan Nortje to advance to the finals. If this fight is finished in the first round it should go to Sokoudjou but anything beyond that should be Minowa’s advantage.
R1- Both guys really tentative at the beginning. They went to the ropes and Minowa pulled guard and really worked on getting a leg lock. Sokoudjou took Minowa’s back and tried to get a Rear Naked on a couple of different occasions. Sokoudjou 10-9 in the first round (this fight is 5-minute rounds on a 10-must scoring system which is different then a lot of DREAM’s fights).
R2- Minowa went for a take down and then Sokoudjou took top position and hit some Ground and Pound. Very little action in the second part of this round as both guys seem exhausted. Sokoudjou just lays on Minowa. Minowa grabbed a knee bar in the last 15 seconds of the round and almost got a stoppage. Sokoudjou 20-18 after two rounds but Minowa looks like he did some damage to Sokoudjou’s leg at the end of the round.
R3- No action in the first minute of the round. The ref gives both fighters a yellow card (which reduces their pay by 10%) as there has been no action in the first minute and a half of the round. Two minutes gone and neither guy is doing anything. The round is half way over and no action and the ref gives them another yellow card so their pay has now been reduced by 20%. Sokoudjou hit a spinning back kick to the mid-section for the only shot of the round so far. Minowa connected with a punch to Sokoudjou and he drops and the ref steps in and stops the fight. Wow, no action at all in the round and then all of a sudden it’s over. Sokoudjou continues his streak of not being able to compete/win after the first round of a fight. Looked like it might have been an early stoppage as Sokoudjou looked like he was still very aware when he went down.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO (Strikes) R3
K-1 Heavyweight Fight- Ray Sefo vs. Yosuke Nishijima
This is a K-1 contest with “special rules”. Nishijima is not allowed to kick in this fight.
R1- Sefo lands some good shots early. Sefo hit a big left half way through the land that gave Nishijima the “rubber legs”. Sefo took this round.
R2- Sefo landed a spinning back kick to the gut and then landed some punches. Sefo is going to take this round.
R3- They exchanged some strikes and Sefo downed Nishijima with a right hand and Nishijima got a standing 8-count.
Winner: Ray Sefo by Decision
Under 18 K-1 High School Championship Final- Masaaki Noiri vs. Shota Shimada
R1- Good first round that could have gone either way. Noiri was more aggressive but Shimada landed more shots.
R2- Noiri landed some good shots toward the end of the round and the ref gave Shimada a standing 8-count.
R3- Noiri again landed some good shots towards the end of the round and Shimada’s nose started bleeding. Good fight.
Winner and K-1 High School Champion: Masaaki Noiri by Decision
Dynamite Team Fights #1- Katsuyori Shibata (Dream) vs. Hiroshi Izumi (Sengoku) (0-1)
R1- Not a lot of action in the first couple of minutes as Shibata is jabbing but not connecting on anything. Shibata landed some good shots and then a couple of knees. Shibata won this round 10-9.
R2- Izumi hit a good shot early but got caught in a clinch and Izumi brawled his way out of the hold. Izumi got a take down about half way through the round. Izumi took this round to even it up 19-19.
R3- Shibata landed some good shots in the first minute of the round. Izumi landed some big shots half way through the round and then got Shibata down on the mat. I’ve got Izumi 29-28 but I could definitely see Shibata taking the second round so I’m expecting a split decision.
Winner: Hiroshi Izumi by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 1 DREAM 0
Dynamite Team Fights #2- Featherweight Fight- Michihiro Omigawa (Sengoku) (8-8) vs. Hiroyoki Takaya (DREAM)
Omigawa lost in the Featherweight Grand Prix final and is coming off a controversial split decision over top ranked Featherweight fighter Hatsu Hioki. Takaya was a finalist of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix. So we have a match-up of the runners-up of each company’s Featherweight Grand Prix tournaments.
R1- Omigawa landed some good shots about half way through the first round and dropped Takaya and finished him on the ground. Good showing by Omigawa.
Winner: Michihiro Omigawa by TKO (Strikes) R1
Sengoku 2 DREAM 0
Dynamite Team Fights #3- Welterweight Fight- Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (DREAM) (35-9-2) vs. Akihiro Gono (Sengoku)
R1- Sakurai caught Gono coming in about half way through the round and landed some good strikes. Gono got a strong take down with about one minute left in the round. Close round probably went to Sakurai because the Japanese judges don’t count take downs as much as US judges.
R2- Pretty even first half of the round. Gono caught a kick of Sakurai’s and took him down. Gono grabbed an arm bar and got the submission. Big win for Gono.
Winner: Akihiro Gono by Submission (Arm Bar) R2
Sengoku 3 DREAM 0
Dynamite Team Fights #4- Middleweight Fight- Melvin Manhoef (DREAM) (23-6-1) vs. Kazuo Misaki (Sengoku) (22-9-1)
Miaski has won 4 of his last 5 fights. 22 of Manhoef’s 23 wins have come by TKO/KO.
R1- Manhoef charged in about two minutes into the round and moved forward throwing strikes. Melvin knocked Misaki down and the ref quickly stopped the fight. Melvin landed 4 good strikes on the feet but the ref definitely stopped the fight early.
Winner: Melvin Manhoef by TKO (Strikes) R1
Sengoku 3 DREAM 1
Dynamite Team Fights #5- Featherweight Fight- Hideo Tokoro (DREAM) (22-15-1) vs. Jong Man Kim (Sengoku) (21-10-3)
Kim is a last minute replacement for Marlon Sandro and has taken this fight on only a few days notice. Kim is 1-6-3 in his last 10 fights.
R1- Tokoro hit a good knee during an exchange in the first minute of the fight. Tokoro hit another good knee with two minutes left in the round. Tokoro pulled guard into a flying triangle and then moved into an arm bar submission. Kim put his legs around Tokoro’s neck so he could not straighten out and get the maximum effect of the submission. Tokoro finally got free and tried to straighten out the arm bar again but couldn’t. Kim’s nose got bloodied up during the exchange. Really good end to the first round. Tokoro 10-9.
R2- Not as much action this round but I’ve got Tokoro taking it to lead 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Tokoro hit a nice jumping knee in the first minute of the final round. Kim landed a good combo and floored Tokoro. Kim jumped on top and went for a Rear Naked Choke but Tokoro fought him off. Tikoro comes back at the end of the round and nails some good strikes including two knees. Tokoro is really swinging for the fences at the end of the fight going for the knockout and Kim ends up getting taken down. Good round and I’ve got Tokoro taking this one. Kim showed a lot of heart in taking this fight on short notice and never giving up.
Winner: Hideo Tokoro by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 3 DREAM 2
Dynamite Team Fights #6- Lightweight Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM) (25-5-2) vs. Kazunori Yokota (Sengoku)
Kawajiri has won 8 of his last 10 and 4 of his last 5. Kawajiri is sporting a sweet mullet for this fight.
R1- Kawajiri got a quick take down in the first 20 seconds of the fight. Kawajiri got another take down about half way through the round. Kawajiri got the mount with two minutes left in the round. Kawajiri easily took this round.
R2- Yokota landed some strikes at the beginning of the round but Kawajiri got a take down. Kawajiri clamped in an arm triangle with about a minute and a half left in the round. but Yokota slipped out. Kawajiri took the mount position and landed some Ground and Pound. Kawajiri has taken the first two rounds so far in this fight.
R3- Kawajiri got an early take down despite Yokota doing his best to hold onto the ropes. Kawajiri mounted Yokota with three minutes left in the round. Kawajiri grabbed an arm bar near the end of the round and his arm bent in a weird way but he survived until the bell rang to end the round. Kawajiri takes this fight via unanimous decision.
Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 3 DREAM 3
Dynamite Team Fights #7- Kid Yamamoto (DREAM) vs. Masanori Kanehara (Sengoku)
Kanehara is the Sengoku Featherweight Champion. He lost to Hatsu Hioki in the semi-finals but Hioki could not continue so Kanehara took his place in the finals and won the fight.
R1- Both guys came out quickly. Kid hit a good shot that briefly brought Kanehara to his knees but it could have been a slip as he bounced right back up. Kid hit another jab that sent Kanehara back against the ropes. Kanehara has a large height advantage. Kanehara hit a left hand and Kid briefly went down. Kanehara got a take down with about a minute and a half left in the round. Pretty good first round and close to call. Metzger calls it an even round and says that they can score even rounds in Japan.
R2- Kid ducked down and got tagged by a right hand and went down. Kanehara jumped on top but Kid wrapped him up to try and give himself time to recover. Kanehara didn’t really do anything after that punch but he’s going to take this round.
R3- Close round and Kid hit a left hand that took Kanehara down and then he clinched him and kneed him in the head a few times until they fell through the ropes. Kid hit another good left hand. Kid took this round. This one is a toss up with each guy taking one round a piece and the first round up for grabs.
Winner: Masanori Kanehara by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 4 DREAM 3
Dynamite Team Fights #8- Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem (DREAM) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (Sengoku) (15-8)
Fujita has only fought once this year and he lost by split decision. Alistair has a huge size advantage.
Mayhem Miller on Alistair Overeem: “He looks like a freakin’ super hero”
R1- Alistair hit a knee in the clinch to start things off. Alistair hit a big left knee and this one is over before it started. Wow. Alistair really needs to come over to Strikeforce.
Winner: Alistair Overeem by TKO (Knee) R1
Sengoku 4 DREAM 4
Gegard Mousasi vs. Gary Goodridge (23-19-1)
Goodridge comes out to “We Will Rock You”. He hasn’t won a fight since 2007 and is 0-4 since then so I’m not sure why he picked that music.
R1- Mousasi hit some quick light strikes and then got a take down in the first twenty seconds of the round. Mousasi lands some Ground and Pound. Mousasi with some hammer fists and the ref stops the fight. Goodridge protests the stoppage but he was taking hard shots and not improving his position.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi by TKO (Strikes) R1
Dynamite Team Fights #9- Shinya Aoki (DREAM) (22-4) vs. Mizuto Hirota (Sengoku) (12-3-1)
Hirota is the Sengoku Lightweight Champion. Aoki is the DREAM Lightweight Champion having defeated Joachim Hansen at DREAM 11. This is the final fight of the Dynamite Team Fights.
R1- Aoki shot in quickly and got a take down in the first minute of the fight. Aoki stuck Hirota’s arm behind his back and mounted him and landed some punches to the face. Aoki got on top of Hirota and got him in a body triangle and cranked back on the hammer lock and broke Hirota’s arm. Aoki then got in Hirota’s face and shot him with bird after he won the fight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Kimura)
DREAM defeated Sengoku 5 fights to 4
Heavyweight Fight- Hidehiko Yoshida (8-7-1) vs. Satoshi Ishii (0-0)
This is Ishii’s much awaited MMA debut. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo. Yoshida was also an Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo back in the 90s. All of Yoshida’s victories have come by submission.
R1- Ishii looks a little uncomfortable in the first couple of minutes as they stand up and feel each other out. Yoshida landed a big time right hand that almost sent Ishii to the mat. Yoshida then landed several shots in the clinch but Ishii stays on his feet. Yoshida is just having his way with Ishii and Ishii has a bloody nose. Yoshida landed another good right hand. Ishii is really going for the fakes. Yoshida definitely took this round.
R2- Ishii starts off the round by landing some strikes in the clinch. Ishii was trying to get a take down but Yoshida just grabbed the ropes and avoided it and got admonished by the ref. Ishii landed some more good strikes. Ishii hit a low blow and got a point deducted. Ishii got a take down and took side control right at the bell. Ishii took this round but with the point deduction it’s a 9-9 round so we are looking at 19-18 or 19-17 in favor of Yoshida going into the final round.
R3- Not a ton of action in this round as both guys are pretty worn out but Ishii is landing more strikes. Yoshida went for a take down in the last minute and Ishii sprawl to avoid it. Ishii took this round so he will take two rounds but will lose the fight. Guy Metzger calls this one a draw and so does Mayhem Miller as they are thinking 28-28. I’m thinking there is a judge or two out there that scored the fight 10-8 in the first round and thus making Yoshida the winner 28-27.
Winner: Hidehiko Yoshida by Decision
K-1: Masato vs. Andy Souwer
Souwer is 21-4 in K-1 with 7 KOs but has an overall record 134-8-1 with 84 KOs. Masato is the only Japanese fighter to ever win a K-1 World Grand Prix Title. He was the K-1 Max 2003 and 2008. Masato has lost only 2 fights in the last 4 years and both of those fights were against Andy Souwer (by TKO and 2007 and by Decision in 2006). Masato has a K-1 record of 35-4-1 with 10 KOs and has a career record 54-6-2 with 24 KOs. This is a 5-round fight. Ray Sefo joins the announce team for this fight.
R1- Masato looked really good and took the first round. Two judges gave the first round to Masato and one judge gave the first round a draw.
R2- They start to open things up a bit at the beginning of this round and are throwing strikes more freely. Souwer landed a really good right hand half way through the round. Souwer really started to come on at the end of the round. I’ve got Souwer taking that round even through it looked like Masato hit more strikes. All judges gave this round a draw.
R3- And my DVR cut off during this fight after taping the live HDNet feed for 7 and a half hours.
Winner: Masato by Decision (Unanimous)
December 31, 2009
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
The announcers for the show are Michael Schiavello, Guy Mezger and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. DREAM and Sengoku will join forces tonight and will pit their fighters against each other in 9 fights! We will also see the long anticipated MMA debut of Judo Olympic Gold Metalist Satoshi Ishii as he takes on Hidehiko Yoshida. Tonight we will see some big MMA names like Shinya Aoki, Alistair Overeem, Kid Yamamoto, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Melvin Manhoef in action. We will also see some K-1 fights tonight on this show!
Under 18 K-1 High School Championship Semi-Final: Hiroya vs. Masaaki Noiri
Hiroya won this title last year and this is his last chance to defend the championship as he turns 18 in January. Hiroya has a K-1 record of 14-1. Noiri has a record of 2-0 in K-1.
R1- Noiri landed some good offense and Hiroya dropped to his knee. Noiri took the first round. Metzger says it should be a 10-8 round.
R2- This round is closer but Noiri still looks really good and Metzger gives him this round as well.
R3- Noiri knocked Hiroya down a to a knee at the beginning of the round but the ref let them continue. Hiroya landed a good right hand that hurt Noiri. Hiroya landed some good shots at the end of the round but missed on some haymakers.
Winner: Masaaki Noiri by Decision
Under 18 K-1 High School Championship Semi-Final: Shota Shimada vs. Katsuki Ishida
Ishida is 60-0 in Amateur kickboxing and 2-0 in K-1. Shimada has a K-1 record of 5-1.
R1- Good first round with Shimada having the advantage.
R2- Closer round this time as Ishida came out quickly and did a better job this round.
R3- Really close round. Good fight.
Winner: Shota Shimada by Decision
DREAM Super Hulk Tournament Final- Sokoudjou vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Minowa beat Bob Sapp and Hong Man Choi to advance to the finals. Sokoudjou beat Bob Sapp (he was filling in for Gegard Mousasi) and Jan Nortje to advance to the finals. If this fight is finished in the first round it should go to Sokoudjou but anything beyond that should be Minowa’s advantage.
R1- Both guys really tentative at the beginning. They went to the ropes and Minowa pulled guard and really worked on getting a leg lock. Sokoudjou took Minowa’s back and tried to get a Rear Naked on a couple of different occasions. Sokoudjou 10-9 in the first round (this fight is 5-minute rounds on a 10-must scoring system which is different then a lot of DREAM’s fights).
R2- Minowa went for a take down and then Sokoudjou took top position and hit some Ground and Pound. Very little action in the second part of this round as both guys seem exhausted. Sokoudjou just lays on Minowa. Minowa grabbed a knee bar in the last 15 seconds of the round and almost got a stoppage. Sokoudjou 20-18 after two rounds but Minowa looks like he did some damage to Sokoudjou’s leg at the end of the round.
R3- No action in the first minute of the round. The ref gives both fighters a yellow card (which reduces their pay by 10%) as there has been no action in the first minute and a half of the round. Two minutes gone and neither guy is doing anything. The round is half way over and no action and the ref gives them another yellow card so their pay has now been reduced by 20%. Sokoudjou hit a spinning back kick to the mid-section for the only shot of the round so far. Minowa connected with a punch to Sokoudjou and he drops and the ref steps in and stops the fight. Wow, no action at all in the round and then all of a sudden it’s over. Sokoudjou continues his streak of not being able to compete/win after the first round of a fight. Looked like it might have been an early stoppage as Sokoudjou looked like he was still very aware when he went down.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO (Strikes) R3
K-1 Heavyweight Fight- Ray Sefo vs. Yosuke Nishijima
This is a K-1 contest with “special rules”. Nishijima is not allowed to kick in this fight.
R1- Sefo lands some good shots early. Sefo hit a big left half way through the land that gave Nishijima the “rubber legs”. Sefo took this round.
R2- Sefo landed a spinning back kick to the gut and then landed some punches. Sefo is going to take this round.
R3- They exchanged some strikes and Sefo downed Nishijima with a right hand and Nishijima got a standing 8-count.
Winner: Ray Sefo by Decision
Under 18 K-1 High School Championship Final- Masaaki Noiri vs. Shota Shimada
R1- Good first round that could have gone either way. Noiri was more aggressive but Shimada landed more shots.
R2- Noiri landed some good shots toward the end of the round and the ref gave Shimada a standing 8-count.
R3- Noiri again landed some good shots towards the end of the round and Shimada’s nose started bleeding. Good fight.
Winner and K-1 High School Champion: Masaaki Noiri by Decision
Dynamite Team Fights #1- Katsuyori Shibata (Dream) vs. Hiroshi Izumi (Sengoku) (0-1)
R1- Not a lot of action in the first couple of minutes as Shibata is jabbing but not connecting on anything. Shibata landed some good shots and then a couple of knees. Shibata won this round 10-9.
R2- Izumi hit a good shot early but got caught in a clinch and Izumi brawled his way out of the hold. Izumi got a take down about half way through the round. Izumi took this round to even it up 19-19.
R3- Shibata landed some good shots in the first minute of the round. Izumi landed some big shots half way through the round and then got Shibata down on the mat. I’ve got Izumi 29-28 but I could definitely see Shibata taking the second round so I’m expecting a split decision.
Winner: Hiroshi Izumi by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 1 DREAM 0
Dynamite Team Fights #2- Featherweight Fight- Michihiro Omigawa (Sengoku) (8-8) vs. Hiroyoki Takaya (DREAM)
Omigawa lost in the Featherweight Grand Prix final and is coming off a controversial split decision over top ranked Featherweight fighter Hatsu Hioki. Takaya was a finalist of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix. So we have a match-up of the runners-up of each company’s Featherweight Grand Prix tournaments.
R1- Omigawa landed some good shots about half way through the first round and dropped Takaya and finished him on the ground. Good showing by Omigawa.
Winner: Michihiro Omigawa by TKO (Strikes) R1
Sengoku 2 DREAM 0
Dynamite Team Fights #3- Welterweight Fight- Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (DREAM) (35-9-2) vs. Akihiro Gono (Sengoku)
R1- Sakurai caught Gono coming in about half way through the round and landed some good strikes. Gono got a strong take down with about one minute left in the round. Close round probably went to Sakurai because the Japanese judges don’t count take downs as much as US judges.
R2- Pretty even first half of the round. Gono caught a kick of Sakurai’s and took him down. Gono grabbed an arm bar and got the submission. Big win for Gono.
Winner: Akihiro Gono by Submission (Arm Bar) R2
Sengoku 3 DREAM 0
Dynamite Team Fights #4- Middleweight Fight- Melvin Manhoef (DREAM) (23-6-1) vs. Kazuo Misaki (Sengoku) (22-9-1)
Miaski has won 4 of his last 5 fights. 22 of Manhoef’s 23 wins have come by TKO/KO.
R1- Manhoef charged in about two minutes into the round and moved forward throwing strikes. Melvin knocked Misaki down and the ref quickly stopped the fight. Melvin landed 4 good strikes on the feet but the ref definitely stopped the fight early.
Winner: Melvin Manhoef by TKO (Strikes) R1
Sengoku 3 DREAM 1
Dynamite Team Fights #5- Featherweight Fight- Hideo Tokoro (DREAM) (22-15-1) vs. Jong Man Kim (Sengoku) (21-10-3)
Kim is a last minute replacement for Marlon Sandro and has taken this fight on only a few days notice. Kim is 1-6-3 in his last 10 fights.
R1- Tokoro hit a good knee during an exchange in the first minute of the fight. Tokoro hit another good knee with two minutes left in the round. Tokoro pulled guard into a flying triangle and then moved into an arm bar submission. Kim put his legs around Tokoro’s neck so he could not straighten out and get the maximum effect of the submission. Tokoro finally got free and tried to straighten out the arm bar again but couldn’t. Kim’s nose got bloodied up during the exchange. Really good end to the first round. Tokoro 10-9.
R2- Not as much action this round but I’ve got Tokoro taking it to lead 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Tokoro hit a nice jumping knee in the first minute of the final round. Kim landed a good combo and floored Tokoro. Kim jumped on top and went for a Rear Naked Choke but Tokoro fought him off. Tikoro comes back at the end of the round and nails some good strikes including two knees. Tokoro is really swinging for the fences at the end of the fight going for the knockout and Kim ends up getting taken down. Good round and I’ve got Tokoro taking this one. Kim showed a lot of heart in taking this fight on short notice and never giving up.
Winner: Hideo Tokoro by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 3 DREAM 2
Dynamite Team Fights #6- Lightweight Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM) (25-5-2) vs. Kazunori Yokota (Sengoku)
Kawajiri has won 8 of his last 10 and 4 of his last 5. Kawajiri is sporting a sweet mullet for this fight.
R1- Kawajiri got a quick take down in the first 20 seconds of the fight. Kawajiri got another take down about half way through the round. Kawajiri got the mount with two minutes left in the round. Kawajiri easily took this round.
R2- Yokota landed some strikes at the beginning of the round but Kawajiri got a take down. Kawajiri clamped in an arm triangle with about a minute and a half left in the round. but Yokota slipped out. Kawajiri took the mount position and landed some Ground and Pound. Kawajiri has taken the first two rounds so far in this fight.
R3- Kawajiri got an early take down despite Yokota doing his best to hold onto the ropes. Kawajiri mounted Yokota with three minutes left in the round. Kawajiri grabbed an arm bar near the end of the round and his arm bent in a weird way but he survived until the bell rang to end the round. Kawajiri takes this fight via unanimous decision.
Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 3 DREAM 3
Dynamite Team Fights #7- Kid Yamamoto (DREAM) vs. Masanori Kanehara (Sengoku)
Kanehara is the Sengoku Featherweight Champion. He lost to Hatsu Hioki in the semi-finals but Hioki could not continue so Kanehara took his place in the finals and won the fight.
R1- Both guys came out quickly. Kid hit a good shot that briefly brought Kanehara to his knees but it could have been a slip as he bounced right back up. Kid hit another jab that sent Kanehara back against the ropes. Kanehara has a large height advantage. Kanehara hit a left hand and Kid briefly went down. Kanehara got a take down with about a minute and a half left in the round. Pretty good first round and close to call. Metzger calls it an even round and says that they can score even rounds in Japan.
R2- Kid ducked down and got tagged by a right hand and went down. Kanehara jumped on top but Kid wrapped him up to try and give himself time to recover. Kanehara didn’t really do anything after that punch but he’s going to take this round.
R3- Close round and Kid hit a left hand that took Kanehara down and then he clinched him and kneed him in the head a few times until they fell through the ropes. Kid hit another good left hand. Kid took this round. This one is a toss up with each guy taking one round a piece and the first round up for grabs.
Winner: Masanori Kanehara by Decision (Unanimous)
Sengoku 4 DREAM 3
Dynamite Team Fights #8- Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem (DREAM) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (Sengoku) (15-8)
Fujita has only fought once this year and he lost by split decision. Alistair has a huge size advantage.
Mayhem Miller on Alistair Overeem: “He looks like a freakin’ super hero”
R1- Alistair hit a knee in the clinch to start things off. Alistair hit a big left knee and this one is over before it started. Wow. Alistair really needs to come over to Strikeforce.
Winner: Alistair Overeem by TKO (Knee) R1
Sengoku 4 DREAM 4
Gegard Mousasi vs. Gary Goodridge (23-19-1)
Goodridge comes out to “We Will Rock You”. He hasn’t won a fight since 2007 and is 0-4 since then so I’m not sure why he picked that music.
R1- Mousasi hit some quick light strikes and then got a take down in the first twenty seconds of the round. Mousasi lands some Ground and Pound. Mousasi with some hammer fists and the ref stops the fight. Goodridge protests the stoppage but he was taking hard shots and not improving his position.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi by TKO (Strikes) R1
Dynamite Team Fights #9- Shinya Aoki (DREAM) (22-4) vs. Mizuto Hirota (Sengoku) (12-3-1)
Hirota is the Sengoku Lightweight Champion. Aoki is the DREAM Lightweight Champion having defeated Joachim Hansen at DREAM 11. This is the final fight of the Dynamite Team Fights.
R1- Aoki shot in quickly and got a take down in the first minute of the fight. Aoki stuck Hirota’s arm behind his back and mounted him and landed some punches to the face. Aoki got on top of Hirota and got him in a body triangle and cranked back on the hammer lock and broke Hirota’s arm. Aoki then got in Hirota’s face and shot him with bird after he won the fight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Kimura)
DREAM defeated Sengoku 5 fights to 4
Heavyweight Fight- Hidehiko Yoshida (8-7-1) vs. Satoshi Ishii (0-0)
This is Ishii’s much awaited MMA debut. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo. Yoshida was also an Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo back in the 90s. All of Yoshida’s victories have come by submission.
R1- Ishii looks a little uncomfortable in the first couple of minutes as they stand up and feel each other out. Yoshida landed a big time right hand that almost sent Ishii to the mat. Yoshida then landed several shots in the clinch but Ishii stays on his feet. Yoshida is just having his way with Ishii and Ishii has a bloody nose. Yoshida landed another good right hand. Ishii is really going for the fakes. Yoshida definitely took this round.
R2- Ishii starts off the round by landing some strikes in the clinch. Ishii was trying to get a take down but Yoshida just grabbed the ropes and avoided it and got admonished by the ref. Ishii landed some more good strikes. Ishii hit a low blow and got a point deducted. Ishii got a take down and took side control right at the bell. Ishii took this round but with the point deduction it’s a 9-9 round so we are looking at 19-18 or 19-17 in favor of Yoshida going into the final round.
R3- Not a ton of action in this round as both guys are pretty worn out but Ishii is landing more strikes. Yoshida went for a take down in the last minute and Ishii sprawl to avoid it. Ishii took this round so he will take two rounds but will lose the fight. Guy Metzger calls this one a draw and so does Mayhem Miller as they are thinking 28-28. I’m thinking there is a judge or two out there that scored the fight 10-8 in the first round and thus making Yoshida the winner 28-27.
Winner: Hidehiko Yoshida by Decision
K-1: Masato vs. Andy Souwer
Souwer is 21-4 in K-1 with 7 KOs but has an overall record 134-8-1 with 84 KOs. Masato is the only Japanese fighter to ever win a K-1 World Grand Prix Title. He was the K-1 Max 2003 and 2008. Masato has lost only 2 fights in the last 4 years and both of those fights were against Andy Souwer (by TKO and 2007 and by Decision in 2006). Masato has a K-1 record of 35-4-1 with 10 KOs and has a career record 54-6-2 with 24 KOs. This is a 5-round fight. Ray Sefo joins the announce team for this fight.
R1- Masato looked really good and took the first round. Two judges gave the first round to Masato and one judge gave the first round a draw.
R2- They start to open things up a bit at the beginning of this round and are throwing strikes more freely. Souwer landed a really good right hand half way through the round. Souwer really started to come on at the end of the round. I’ve got Souwer taking that round even through it looked like Masato hit more strikes. All judges gave this round a draw.
R3- And my DVR cut off during this fight after taping the live HDNet feed for 7 and a half hours.
Winner: Masato by Decision (Unanimous)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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)
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)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
DREAM 10 Welterweight Grand Prix Final Round 7/20/09 Re-Cap
DREAM.10 Welterweight Grand Prix Final Round (7/20/09) – Saitama, Japan (Saitama Super Arena)
Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: Hayato Sakurai (35-8-2) vs. Marius Zaromskis (9-2)
Sakurai won his first round fight against Top Lightweight Shinya Aoki by TKO. Zaromskis won by decision against Seichi Ikemoto. Sakurai comes in as the favorite to win this tournament but he had a really tough time cutting weight and had to be weighed like three times before he finally made weight so it will be interesting to see how ready he is for this fight.
R1- Both guys are really throwing leather early. Zaromskis hit some good punches and then tried a flying knee but didn’t fully connect. The first minute and a half of this fight has been a slugfest. Sakurai got a take down at the two minute mark. Sakurai has a cut under his eye. They are back on their feet and throwing leather but the ref stops the fight to look at the eye. Zaromskis landed a big left round kick and Sakurai leaned in and then Zaromskis jumped on top and the ref dove in to stop the fight. This was a fun brawl. Big upset for Zaromskis!
Winner: Marius Zaromskis by TKO (Strikes) R1 4:03
Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: André Galvão (3-0) vs. Jason High (7-1)
Galvao won his first round fight against John Alessio by Arm Bar Submission in the first round. High won his first round fight against Yuya Shirai by Rear Naked Choke in less than a minute. Galvao seems to be the favorite going into this fight.
R1- Unfortunately did not get a chance to see this fight.
Winner: Jason High by Decision (Split)
Lightweight Fight- Katsunori Kikuno (11-1-1) vs. André Amade (6-3-1)
Kikuno is on a 10 fight win streak dating back to 2006. Amade is on a two fight losing streak with those losses coming to Eddie Alvarez and JZ Cavalcante. Amade does hold a win over Caol Uno.
R1- Amade went for some haymakers early and then landed a right hand that floored Kikuno but he got back to his feet. Not a lot of action in the first part of this round and the ref warns them to be more active. Kikuno got a take down and mounted Amade. Amade gave up his back and Kikuno pelted his ears with strikes and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Once Kikuno got the take down he was all over Amade.
Winner: Katsunori Kikuno by TKO (Strikes) R1 3:47
Middleweight Fight- Jesse Taylor (12-3) vs. Dong Sik Yoon (4-6)
Taylor is on a 6 fight win streak with his last loss being to CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 14. Yoon is on a two fight losing streak with one of those losses coming to Gegard Mousasi. Yoon does hold a career win over Melvin Manhoef.
R1- Taylor went for a quick take down and was able to eventually get Yoon down to the ground. Taylor kept a dominant position and the fight ended awkwardly with Yoon giving up as it looked like he hurt himself.
Winner: Jesse Taylor by Submission (Injury) R1 1:02
Middleweight Fight- Paulo Filho (16-1) vs. Melvin Manhoef (23-5-1)
Manhoef has won 6 of his last 7 fights with the loss coming to Gegard Mousasi. Filho is a former WEC Middleweight Champion who was once considered one of the Top Middleweights in the world before having a meltdown in the ring in a loss against Chael Sonnen in his last fight back in November of 2008. Apparently Filho came into the fight thinking it was at a different weight and had to quickly drop 9 pounds to get to the right weight for the fight.
R1- Filho tried to work a take down early but Manhoef fought him off and then threw some bombs but they didn’t land. Manhoef avoided another take down and then landed some shots. Manhoef nailed Filho and Filho went down. Manhoef jumped on top but couldn’t finish. Filho did a good job of weathering the storm. Back to their feet and Manhoef threw bombs again but Filho got a take down and went for an arm bar and won the fight. Good fight, great job by Filho in absorbing punishment and coming back for the win.
Winner: Paulo Filho by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 2:36
Lightweight Fight- Shinya Aoki (20-4) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (20-2)
R1- Aoki is landing some good kicks to Vitor’s elbow. Surprisingly they have kept the fight standing for the maority of the round. Not a real exciting first round but Aoki is controlling the fight so far but it’s still anybody’s fight going into the 2nd and final round.
R2- About half way through the round Vitor got a take down. Aoki used the rubber guard at times to control Vitor but it was pretty much a stale mate on the ground. I think Aoki will get the decision based on his control of the first round. Not a real good fight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Grand Prix Finals: Marius Zaromskis (10-2) vs. Jason High (8-1)
If you asked most MMA fans who they thought would be in the finals of this tournament it would have been Sakurai and Galvao so these two guys being here is a big upset. The winner of this will definitely rise up the ladder much like Gegard Mousasi did when he won the Middleweight Tournament.
R1- Zaromskis went for a flying knee immediately but High clinched him and eventually got him down on the mat. Zaromskis was able to take High’s guard after High failed ot lock in a guillotine but the fight went quickly back to the feet. Out of nowhere Zaromskis threw a couple punches and then a quick high right kick and knocked High out. Fantastic knockout finish and big time tournament win by Zaromskis. On the re-play Zaromskis actually got in a right hand after hitting the leg kick as High just kind of stiffened up before he fell.
Winner and new DREAM Welterweight Champion: Marius Zaromskis by KO (High Kick) R1
Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: Hayato Sakurai (35-8-2) vs. Marius Zaromskis (9-2)
Sakurai won his first round fight against Top Lightweight Shinya Aoki by TKO. Zaromskis won by decision against Seichi Ikemoto. Sakurai comes in as the favorite to win this tournament but he had a really tough time cutting weight and had to be weighed like three times before he finally made weight so it will be interesting to see how ready he is for this fight.
R1- Both guys are really throwing leather early. Zaromskis hit some good punches and then tried a flying knee but didn’t fully connect. The first minute and a half of this fight has been a slugfest. Sakurai got a take down at the two minute mark. Sakurai has a cut under his eye. They are back on their feet and throwing leather but the ref stops the fight to look at the eye. Zaromskis landed a big left round kick and Sakurai leaned in and then Zaromskis jumped on top and the ref dove in to stop the fight. This was a fun brawl. Big upset for Zaromskis!
Winner: Marius Zaromskis by TKO (Strikes) R1 4:03
Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals: André Galvão (3-0) vs. Jason High (7-1)
Galvao won his first round fight against John Alessio by Arm Bar Submission in the first round. High won his first round fight against Yuya Shirai by Rear Naked Choke in less than a minute. Galvao seems to be the favorite going into this fight.
R1- Unfortunately did not get a chance to see this fight.
Winner: Jason High by Decision (Split)
Lightweight Fight- Katsunori Kikuno (11-1-1) vs. André Amade (6-3-1)
Kikuno is on a 10 fight win streak dating back to 2006. Amade is on a two fight losing streak with those losses coming to Eddie Alvarez and JZ Cavalcante. Amade does hold a win over Caol Uno.
R1- Amade went for some haymakers early and then landed a right hand that floored Kikuno but he got back to his feet. Not a lot of action in the first part of this round and the ref warns them to be more active. Kikuno got a take down and mounted Amade. Amade gave up his back and Kikuno pelted his ears with strikes and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Once Kikuno got the take down he was all over Amade.
Winner: Katsunori Kikuno by TKO (Strikes) R1 3:47
Middleweight Fight- Jesse Taylor (12-3) vs. Dong Sik Yoon (4-6)
Taylor is on a 6 fight win streak with his last loss being to CB Dollaway at UFC Fight Night 14. Yoon is on a two fight losing streak with one of those losses coming to Gegard Mousasi. Yoon does hold a career win over Melvin Manhoef.
R1- Taylor went for a quick take down and was able to eventually get Yoon down to the ground. Taylor kept a dominant position and the fight ended awkwardly with Yoon giving up as it looked like he hurt himself.
Winner: Jesse Taylor by Submission (Injury) R1 1:02
Middleweight Fight- Paulo Filho (16-1) vs. Melvin Manhoef (23-5-1)
Manhoef has won 6 of his last 7 fights with the loss coming to Gegard Mousasi. Filho is a former WEC Middleweight Champion who was once considered one of the Top Middleweights in the world before having a meltdown in the ring in a loss against Chael Sonnen in his last fight back in November of 2008. Apparently Filho came into the fight thinking it was at a different weight and had to quickly drop 9 pounds to get to the right weight for the fight.
R1- Filho tried to work a take down early but Manhoef fought him off and then threw some bombs but they didn’t land. Manhoef avoided another take down and then landed some shots. Manhoef nailed Filho and Filho went down. Manhoef jumped on top but couldn’t finish. Filho did a good job of weathering the storm. Back to their feet and Manhoef threw bombs again but Filho got a take down and went for an arm bar and won the fight. Good fight, great job by Filho in absorbing punishment and coming back for the win.
Winner: Paulo Filho by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 2:36
Lightweight Fight- Shinya Aoki (20-4) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (20-2)
R1- Aoki is landing some good kicks to Vitor’s elbow. Surprisingly they have kept the fight standing for the maority of the round. Not a real exciting first round but Aoki is controlling the fight so far but it’s still anybody’s fight going into the 2nd and final round.
R2- About half way through the round Vitor got a take down. Aoki used the rubber guard at times to control Vitor but it was pretty much a stale mate on the ground. I think Aoki will get the decision based on his control of the first round. Not a real good fight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Grand Prix Finals: Marius Zaromskis (10-2) vs. Jason High (8-1)
If you asked most MMA fans who they thought would be in the finals of this tournament it would have been Sakurai and Galvao so these two guys being here is a big upset. The winner of this will definitely rise up the ladder much like Gegard Mousasi did when he won the Middleweight Tournament.
R1- Zaromskis went for a flying knee immediately but High clinched him and eventually got him down on the mat. Zaromskis was able to take High’s guard after High failed ot lock in a guillotine but the fight went quickly back to the feet. Out of nowhere Zaromskis threw a couple punches and then a quick high right kick and knocked High out. Fantastic knockout finish and big time tournament win by Zaromskis. On the re-play Zaromskis actually got in a right hand after hitting the leg kick as High just kind of stiffened up before he fell.
Winner and new DREAM Welterweight Champion: Marius Zaromskis by KO (High Kick) R1
Saturday, May 02, 2009
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
(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
Saturday, March 28, 2009
DREAM 7 3/8/09 Re-Cap
DREAM 7 Featherweight Grand Prix 1st Round
March 8th, 2009
Saitama Super Arena - Saitama, Japan
Both DREAM and Sengoku are starting their Featherweight Tournaments this month so it will be a good chance to see how their divisions stack up against WEC. This show features the first round of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix and also features fights with Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are the commentators. In DREAM the first round is 10 minutes and the second is 5 minutes. Fights are judged not round by round but as an entire fight.
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Takafumi Otsuka (8-3-1) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (3-2)
Fernandes’s losses are against Urijah Faber and Kid Yamamoto, two of the top Featherweight fighters in the world. Fernandes is a jiu jitsu fighter. Otsuka is a free style fighter.
R1- Fernandes gets the dominant position very early. Fernandes draws some blood from Otsuka’s nose with some strikes on the ground. The ref gives a yellow card to Fernandes (not sure why as he was dominating the fight and Otsuka was basically curled up in a little ball in the corner for the first 4 minutes of the fight). Otsuka seems to be more style than substance so far as he’s losing the fight but is being kind of cocky. Otsuka got in a combo and then got hit with a low blow. Fernandes is ahead after the first round but Otsuka is starting to come on.
R2- Fernandes took Otsuka’s back about a minute into the round. Otsuka gets away and celebrates like he won the fight. Fernandes basically had to release the hold as Otsuka did a good job of defending. Fernandez got in a couple of shots and floored Otsuka but Otsuka held on. Fernades got another take down and lands some strikes but Otusuka gets back to his feet. Fernades gets yet another take down. Fernandes wins this fight and will advance to the second round.
Winner: Bibiano Fernandes by Decision (Unanimous)
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Chase Beebe (12-3) vs. Joe Warren (0-0)
This is Joe Warren’s pro debut at the age of 32. Beebe is a 23 year old veteran of 15 fights and has fought for WEC. Warren is a wrestler and Beebe is also a wrestler and freestyle fighter.
R1- Lots of clinching early with Warren pushing the action trying for a take down and Beebe hitting some strikes. Good even fight after the first five minutes of the round. Warren got a take down with three and a half minutes left in the round but Beebe gets out after about a minute on the bottom. Warren rushed in and bounces Beebe off the rounds and then slams him. Beebe goes for an arm bar but Warren gets free. Good first round that was pretty even. Warren has three take downs and Beebe got cut near the end of the round. Beebe has won the striking battle but the take downs and the damage have Warren ahead right now.
They stop the fight between rounds due to the cut that was caused by a knee.
Winner: Joe Warren by TKO (cut)
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Akiyo Nishiura (9-3-1) vs. Abel Cullum (13-2)
Abel Cullum comes out to a Heath Herring esque entrance and to Kid Rock’s “Cowboy”. Cullum is the King of the Cage Featherweight Champion and has brought his belt with him. The last time I saw Cullum fight was on the Sho XC 9/26/08 show when he lost a bantamweight fight to Wilson Reis by Unanimous Decision (it was a 5 round title fight). Cullum is a Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu fighter. Nishiura has pink hair, is nicknamed “Wicky Akiyo” and is a freestyle fighter.
R1- Cullum got an arm bar a couple minutes into the fight but couldn’t get the finish with it. Good first round that was pretty even. Cullum had 4 or so submission attempts in the first round and closed out the round strongly.
R2- Cullum controlled the first part of round two. They swung at each other and Cullum pulled guard and tried a triangle but was unsuccessful. Close fight but I’ve got Cullum winning.
Winner: Abel Cullum by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Daisuke Nakamura (19-9) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (17-4-1)
Daisuke is from the U-File Camp and his nickname is “The Arm Bar Genius”. Ishida recently fought for Strikeforce and destroyed an overmatched Justin Wilcox in that fight. He also fought and lost to Caol Uno during the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix. Ishida’s nickname is “The Endless Warrior.” I thought Ishida deserved a shot at Josh Thomson in Strikeforce but I guess he’s back in DREAM instead.
R1- Ishida got a take down about a minute and a half into the fight. Ishida catches Nakamura with a couple of knees. Ishida really controlled the first half of this round. Ishida opens up a cut over the eye of Nakamura. Ishida is definitely up so far in this fight.
R2- Ishida grabbed a leg and Nakamura tried to pull guard into an arm bar or triangle but couldn’t and Ishida ended up on top. Ishida is going to take this fight. Not a dominate win but a convincing one. The announcers seem convinced that Nakamura would have won if the fight went on ten more seconds.
Winner: Mitsuhiro Ishida by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Shinya Aoki (19-3) vs. David Gardner (16-10)
Aoki is the #2 Lightweight fighter in the world but is going to be fighting some at Welterweight this year as he tries to win the upcoming DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix. Aoki is fighting at 163 and Gardner at 162.5 tonight. Aoki definitely has the worst tights in MMA.
R1- Aoki went for a take down but got stuffed by Gardner and then Aoki flipped him over to take the dominate position. Really boring fight through 5 minutes but Aoki is dominating position. Aoki went for a sub and Gardner slipped out but then Aoki wrapped Gardner back up in his Spider Web and dragged him back to the ground. Aoki grabs a Rear Naked Choke. Gardner moved his arm and yelled out “I Love You Japan” and Aoki seized the moment and clamped in a Rear Naked Choke immediately. What a bone head move by Gardner. Aoki dominated a lesser opponent in this fight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Lightweight Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-5-2) vs. Ross Ebanez (19-6)
Kawajiri is coming off a dominating K-1 victory against Kozo Takeda on New Year’s Eve. Prior to that Kawajiri lost in a FOTYC to Eddie Alvarez in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix Tournament but Kawajiri took enough out of Alvarez that he could not continue to the finals of the Grand Prix. Ebanez if fighting out of BJ Penn’s camp and Kawajiri says he wants to use this fight to send a message to BJ Penn. Ebanez comes in at 158 lbs and Kawajiri at 154 lbs. Ebanez gets a yellow card before the fight because he did not make weight.
R1- Ibanez went for a flying knee and Kawajiri took him down but didn’t do any damage. Kawajiri got him back to the ground for the second time in the first two minutes. Kawajiri mounts and gets some Ground and Pound and Ebanez gives up his back. Kawajiri gets a body triangle and goes for a Rear Naked Choke but can’t clamp it in. Kawajiri loosens him up and gets the Rear Naked successfully this time. Good showing by Kawajiri.
Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Micah Miller (10-2) vs. Yoshiro Maeda (23-6-2)
Micah is a former WEC fighter and his brother Cole fights for UFC. Maeda fought for the WEC Bantamweight title last year in a FOTYC against Miguel Torres. The light time I saw Miller he got destroyed on the WEC Condit/Miura under card when he lost to Josh Grispi in 50 seconds by TKO. Miller has a 5 inch height advantage, he just dwarfs Maeda when they meet in the center of the ring. This should be a good fight, I really liked what Maeda did in his fight against Torres so I’m going to have to say that he’s going to be one of the fighters to beat in this tournament.
R1- They clinched and went through the ropes to the ring apron early in the fight. They clinched and Miller pulled guard at the two minute mark. Maeda controls the fight on the ground for the next stanza of the fight. Miller uses a rubber guard and Maeda pelts him with knees to the rear end. Miller looks like he’s working towards an arm triangle but the ref stands them up and appears to give them both a yellow card. The quickly clinch and Maeda gets a take down or Miller could have pulled guard. Miller definitely seems to want to be on his back in this fight. Miller goes after Maeda’s arm but can’t do anything. Not a real exciting fight at all. I’ve got Maeda up so far as he’s been on top for the majority of the fight and is the one that is trying to strike.
R2- Maeda looks really fresh coming out of his corner. Miller has such a great reach advantage it’s almost puzzling why he doesn’t have better stand up and is constantly trying to get the fight on the ground despite his huge advantage in reach. The ref stands them up and they exchange strikes with Miller actually trying to fight on his feet and Maeda gets a take down. I’m going to give this fight to Maeda as he seemed to control the fight and Miller seemed to be fighting a more defensive fight. Not a fight to go out of your way to see. The announcers give the fight to Miller due to submission attempts.
Winner: Yoshiro Maeda by Decision (Unanimous)
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Hiroyuki Takaya (9-6-1) vs. Jong Won-Kim
This is Kim’s pro debut. He represented South Korea in Judo at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Takaya is dropping all the way from Middleweight to Featherweight for this tournament! That’s a HUGE drop! Won has his shoulder tapped up.
R1- Takaya is the aggressor early as they are staying on their feet at the beginning of the fight. They gave Kim a warning for stalling around the 3 minute mark. I must have missed that because about 30 to 45 seconds earlier he landed a strike right to the face of Takaya. Kim caught a kick thrown by Takaya and took him down to the mat but couldn’t do anything and they stood the fight back up with 3 and a half minutes to go in the round. Kim grabbed another kick and got another take down but Takaya clung to the ropes and got up quickly and the ref re-started on their feet. Pretty even first round with Takaya coming on strong at the end of the round.
R2- Takaya lands a big right hand and then gets some Ground and Pound and the fight is stopped.
Winner: Hiroyuki Takaya by TKO (Strikes) R2
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Atsushi Yamamoto (12-5-1) vs. Masakazu Imanari (15-6-1)
Yamamoto is no relation to Kid Yamamoto but they both train together. Yamamoto was a collegiate wrestler and is known for his ground game. Yamamoto won a decision victory over Hideo Tokoro at DREAM 6 back in September. Yamamoto flips over the ropes and then does a back flip upon entering the ring. Imanari is coming into the fight as a big favorite. He is a leg lock specialist and has a background in wrestling and BJJ.
R1- Yamamoto got a strike in early that floored Imanari. Yamamoto jumped on top but Imanari wrapped him up but Yamamoto remained on top. The ref stands them up about half way through the round. Yamamoto got in another shot but Imanari popped back up. Imanari pulled guard and got a funky arm bar on Yamamoto with his legs but Yamamoto spun out and Imanari landed in side control. Imanari went hard after a traditional arm bar but Yamamoto fought through the attempt. Pretty decent first round with Imanari really going after submission in the second half of the round.
R2- Imanari is given a yellow card shortly into the round for stalling (Yamamoto got one in the first round). Imanari is really clowning around in this round and looks a little bored even though he is nowhere near dominating this fight. It’s going to be interesting to see how this fight is scored. Imanari had a bunch of submission attempts but Yamamoto landed the best strikes and landed more of them. Imanari has more talent but just seemed bored and uninspired to be in the ring tonight. Not a good way to end the night.
Winner: Masakazu Imanari by Decision (Split)
This was a decent show. The first half of the show was actually better than the second half. I really enjoyed the first 3 Featherweight fights but the card was kind of flat after that. The second round of the Featherweight Tournament should be pretty interesting as we have:
Kid Yamamoto (got a bye in the first round of the tournament)
Masakazu Imanari
Yoshiro Maeda
Abel Cullum
Joe Warren
Bibiano Fernandes
Hiroyuki Takaya
First Round Fight on DREAM 8: Hideo Tokoro vs. Daiki Hata
March 8th, 2009
Saitama Super Arena - Saitama, Japan
Both DREAM and Sengoku are starting their Featherweight Tournaments this month so it will be a good chance to see how their divisions stack up against WEC. This show features the first round of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix and also features fights with Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are the commentators. In DREAM the first round is 10 minutes and the second is 5 minutes. Fights are judged not round by round but as an entire fight.
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Takafumi Otsuka (8-3-1) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (3-2)
Fernandes’s losses are against Urijah Faber and Kid Yamamoto, two of the top Featherweight fighters in the world. Fernandes is a jiu jitsu fighter. Otsuka is a free style fighter.
R1- Fernandes gets the dominant position very early. Fernandes draws some blood from Otsuka’s nose with some strikes on the ground. The ref gives a yellow card to Fernandes (not sure why as he was dominating the fight and Otsuka was basically curled up in a little ball in the corner for the first 4 minutes of the fight). Otsuka seems to be more style than substance so far as he’s losing the fight but is being kind of cocky. Otsuka got in a combo and then got hit with a low blow. Fernandes is ahead after the first round but Otsuka is starting to come on.
R2- Fernandes took Otsuka’s back about a minute into the round. Otsuka gets away and celebrates like he won the fight. Fernandes basically had to release the hold as Otsuka did a good job of defending. Fernandez got in a couple of shots and floored Otsuka but Otsuka held on. Fernades got another take down and lands some strikes but Otusuka gets back to his feet. Fernades gets yet another take down. Fernandes wins this fight and will advance to the second round.
Winner: Bibiano Fernandes by Decision (Unanimous)
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Chase Beebe (12-3) vs. Joe Warren (0-0)
This is Joe Warren’s pro debut at the age of 32. Beebe is a 23 year old veteran of 15 fights and has fought for WEC. Warren is a wrestler and Beebe is also a wrestler and freestyle fighter.
R1- Lots of clinching early with Warren pushing the action trying for a take down and Beebe hitting some strikes. Good even fight after the first five minutes of the round. Warren got a take down with three and a half minutes left in the round but Beebe gets out after about a minute on the bottom. Warren rushed in and bounces Beebe off the rounds and then slams him. Beebe goes for an arm bar but Warren gets free. Good first round that was pretty even. Warren has three take downs and Beebe got cut near the end of the round. Beebe has won the striking battle but the take downs and the damage have Warren ahead right now.
They stop the fight between rounds due to the cut that was caused by a knee.
Winner: Joe Warren by TKO (cut)
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Akiyo Nishiura (9-3-1) vs. Abel Cullum (13-2)
Abel Cullum comes out to a Heath Herring esque entrance and to Kid Rock’s “Cowboy”. Cullum is the King of the Cage Featherweight Champion and has brought his belt with him. The last time I saw Cullum fight was on the Sho XC 9/26/08 show when he lost a bantamweight fight to Wilson Reis by Unanimous Decision (it was a 5 round title fight). Cullum is a Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu fighter. Nishiura has pink hair, is nicknamed “Wicky Akiyo” and is a freestyle fighter.
R1- Cullum got an arm bar a couple minutes into the fight but couldn’t get the finish with it. Good first round that was pretty even. Cullum had 4 or so submission attempts in the first round and closed out the round strongly.
R2- Cullum controlled the first part of round two. They swung at each other and Cullum pulled guard and tried a triangle but was unsuccessful. Close fight but I’ve got Cullum winning.
Winner: Abel Cullum by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Daisuke Nakamura (19-9) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (17-4-1)
Daisuke is from the U-File Camp and his nickname is “The Arm Bar Genius”. Ishida recently fought for Strikeforce and destroyed an overmatched Justin Wilcox in that fight. He also fought and lost to Caol Uno during the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix. Ishida’s nickname is “The Endless Warrior.” I thought Ishida deserved a shot at Josh Thomson in Strikeforce but I guess he’s back in DREAM instead.
R1- Ishida got a take down about a minute and a half into the fight. Ishida catches Nakamura with a couple of knees. Ishida really controlled the first half of this round. Ishida opens up a cut over the eye of Nakamura. Ishida is definitely up so far in this fight.
R2- Ishida grabbed a leg and Nakamura tried to pull guard into an arm bar or triangle but couldn’t and Ishida ended up on top. Ishida is going to take this fight. Not a dominate win but a convincing one. The announcers seem convinced that Nakamura would have won if the fight went on ten more seconds.
Winner: Mitsuhiro Ishida by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Shinya Aoki (19-3) vs. David Gardner (16-10)
Aoki is the #2 Lightweight fighter in the world but is going to be fighting some at Welterweight this year as he tries to win the upcoming DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix. Aoki is fighting at 163 and Gardner at 162.5 tonight. Aoki definitely has the worst tights in MMA.
R1- Aoki went for a take down but got stuffed by Gardner and then Aoki flipped him over to take the dominate position. Really boring fight through 5 minutes but Aoki is dominating position. Aoki went for a sub and Gardner slipped out but then Aoki wrapped Gardner back up in his Spider Web and dragged him back to the ground. Aoki grabs a Rear Naked Choke. Gardner moved his arm and yelled out “I Love You Japan” and Aoki seized the moment and clamped in a Rear Naked Choke immediately. What a bone head move by Gardner. Aoki dominated a lesser opponent in this fight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Lightweight Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-5-2) vs. Ross Ebanez (19-6)
Kawajiri is coming off a dominating K-1 victory against Kozo Takeda on New Year’s Eve. Prior to that Kawajiri lost in a FOTYC to Eddie Alvarez in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix Tournament but Kawajiri took enough out of Alvarez that he could not continue to the finals of the Grand Prix. Ebanez if fighting out of BJ Penn’s camp and Kawajiri says he wants to use this fight to send a message to BJ Penn. Ebanez comes in at 158 lbs and Kawajiri at 154 lbs. Ebanez gets a yellow card before the fight because he did not make weight.
R1- Ibanez went for a flying knee and Kawajiri took him down but didn’t do any damage. Kawajiri got him back to the ground for the second time in the first two minutes. Kawajiri mounts and gets some Ground and Pound and Ebanez gives up his back. Kawajiri gets a body triangle and goes for a Rear Naked Choke but can’t clamp it in. Kawajiri loosens him up and gets the Rear Naked successfully this time. Good showing by Kawajiri.
Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Micah Miller (10-2) vs. Yoshiro Maeda (23-6-2)
Micah is a former WEC fighter and his brother Cole fights for UFC. Maeda fought for the WEC Bantamweight title last year in a FOTYC against Miguel Torres. The light time I saw Miller he got destroyed on the WEC Condit/Miura under card when he lost to Josh Grispi in 50 seconds by TKO. Miller has a 5 inch height advantage, he just dwarfs Maeda when they meet in the center of the ring. This should be a good fight, I really liked what Maeda did in his fight against Torres so I’m going to have to say that he’s going to be one of the fighters to beat in this tournament.
R1- They clinched and went through the ropes to the ring apron early in the fight. They clinched and Miller pulled guard at the two minute mark. Maeda controls the fight on the ground for the next stanza of the fight. Miller uses a rubber guard and Maeda pelts him with knees to the rear end. Miller looks like he’s working towards an arm triangle but the ref stands them up and appears to give them both a yellow card. The quickly clinch and Maeda gets a take down or Miller could have pulled guard. Miller definitely seems to want to be on his back in this fight. Miller goes after Maeda’s arm but can’t do anything. Not a real exciting fight at all. I’ve got Maeda up so far as he’s been on top for the majority of the fight and is the one that is trying to strike.
R2- Maeda looks really fresh coming out of his corner. Miller has such a great reach advantage it’s almost puzzling why he doesn’t have better stand up and is constantly trying to get the fight on the ground despite his huge advantage in reach. The ref stands them up and they exchange strikes with Miller actually trying to fight on his feet and Maeda gets a take down. I’m going to give this fight to Maeda as he seemed to control the fight and Miller seemed to be fighting a more defensive fight. Not a fight to go out of your way to see. The announcers give the fight to Miller due to submission attempts.
Winner: Yoshiro Maeda by Decision (Unanimous)
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Hiroyuki Takaya (9-6-1) vs. Jong Won-Kim
This is Kim’s pro debut. He represented South Korea in Judo at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Takaya is dropping all the way from Middleweight to Featherweight for this tournament! That’s a HUGE drop! Won has his shoulder tapped up.
R1- Takaya is the aggressor early as they are staying on their feet at the beginning of the fight. They gave Kim a warning for stalling around the 3 minute mark. I must have missed that because about 30 to 45 seconds earlier he landed a strike right to the face of Takaya. Kim caught a kick thrown by Takaya and took him down to the mat but couldn’t do anything and they stood the fight back up with 3 and a half minutes to go in the round. Kim grabbed another kick and got another take down but Takaya clung to the ropes and got up quickly and the ref re-started on their feet. Pretty even first round with Takaya coming on strong at the end of the round.
R2- Takaya lands a big right hand and then gets some Ground and Pound and the fight is stopped.
Winner: Hiroyuki Takaya by TKO (Strikes) R2
Featherweight Grand Prix First Round Fight- Atsushi Yamamoto (12-5-1) vs. Masakazu Imanari (15-6-1)
Yamamoto is no relation to Kid Yamamoto but they both train together. Yamamoto was a collegiate wrestler and is known for his ground game. Yamamoto won a decision victory over Hideo Tokoro at DREAM 6 back in September. Yamamoto flips over the ropes and then does a back flip upon entering the ring. Imanari is coming into the fight as a big favorite. He is a leg lock specialist and has a background in wrestling and BJJ.
R1- Yamamoto got a strike in early that floored Imanari. Yamamoto jumped on top but Imanari wrapped him up but Yamamoto remained on top. The ref stands them up about half way through the round. Yamamoto got in another shot but Imanari popped back up. Imanari pulled guard and got a funky arm bar on Yamamoto with his legs but Yamamoto spun out and Imanari landed in side control. Imanari went hard after a traditional arm bar but Yamamoto fought through the attempt. Pretty decent first round with Imanari really going after submission in the second half of the round.
R2- Imanari is given a yellow card shortly into the round for stalling (Yamamoto got one in the first round). Imanari is really clowning around in this round and looks a little bored even though he is nowhere near dominating this fight. It’s going to be interesting to see how this fight is scored. Imanari had a bunch of submission attempts but Yamamoto landed the best strikes and landed more of them. Imanari has more talent but just seemed bored and uninspired to be in the ring tonight. Not a good way to end the night.
Winner: Masakazu Imanari by Decision (Split)
This was a decent show. The first half of the show was actually better than the second half. I really enjoyed the first 3 Featherweight fights but the card was kind of flat after that. The second round of the Featherweight Tournament should be pretty interesting as we have:
Kid Yamamoto (got a bye in the first round of the tournament)
Masakazu Imanari
Yoshiro Maeda
Abel Cullum
Joe Warren
Bibiano Fernandes
Hiroyuki Takaya
First Round Fight on DREAM 8: Hideo Tokoro vs. Daiki Hata
Saturday, January 17, 2009
K-1/DREAM Dynamite 12/31/08 Show Re-Cap
K-1/DREAM Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2008
December 31, 2008
Saitama Super Arena,
Saitama, Japan
DREAM Open-Weight Fight- Ikuhisa Minowa (40-19-8) vs. Errol Zimmerman 0-0)
R1- Minowa pretty much immediately got a take down and submission due to a leg hold.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Submission (Toe Hold) R1 1:01
K-1 (156.5 pounds) Fight- Yoshihiro Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko
This was fought under K-1 rules.
R1- Artur took a slight advantage in this round with a brief knockdown and hit a really nice spinning back fist.
R2- Artur got a kick for a knockdown and then basically got a trip for a second one. Good round.
R3- Artur basically controlled this round and got a take down. This was a good and competitive fight.
Winner: Artur Kyshenko by Majority Decision
DREAM Heavyweight Fight- Bob Sapp (9-3-1) vs. Akihito Tanaka (0-0)
Tanaka wore a fish mask to the ring and fought in it. I think this was supposed to be a "comedy" fight but man it was bad.
R1- The first 4 minutes were controlled by the guy in the fish mask. He got Sapp down and Sapp was like a turtle on his back. Sapp finally got back to his feet and finished the guy off. Embarrassing fight.
Winner: Bob Sapp by TKO (punches) R1 5:22
DREAM Heavyweight Fight- Semmy Schilt (25-14-1) vs. Siala Siliga (3-0)
R1- Siliga controlled most of the fight keeping Schilt on his back but Schilt was able to get a triangle from his back to get the win.
Winner: Semmy Schilt by Submission (Arm Triangle) R1 5:31
DREAM (176.4 pounds) Fight- Hayato Sakurai (33-8-2) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-5-1)
Shibata is a former New Japan Pro Wrestler who has more heart than brains. Coming into this fight he is 2-5-1 and regularly takes on fights that he is almost no chance of winning (he has already fought Ralek Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba, Jason Miller and Yoshihiro Akiyama in his young career). Sakurai is highly favored to win this fight. Shibata has a height advantage going for him.
R1- Shibata runs straight for him at the beginning and it almost looks like Sakurai tries to hit him with a leg lariot as they collide in mid-air. They go toe to toe right after each other from the opening bell. Hayato gets on top with some Ground and Pound but also gets bloodied up around his eyes. Hayato finally finished off the tough Shibata with a TKO at the 7 minute mark. Decent fight- a lot better than the first 3 DREAM fights.
Winner: Hayato Sakurai by TKO (Punches) R1 7:01
K-1 (154.3 pounds) Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda
This was fought under K-1 rules.
R1- Kawajiri quickly got a knock down and Takeda got a standing 10 count. Kawajiri was just all over him hitting huge uppercuts. Takeda's nose was busted open really badly. Kawajiri got a jumping knee knockdown and Takeda again took a standing 10 count but Kawajiri quickly finished him off. Kawajiri looked AWSOME in this fight.
Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO R1
K-1 Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem vs. Badr Hari
R1- Overeem hit a giant knee early in round 1 and then got a left handed KO. Domination.
Winner: Alistair Overeen by TKO R1
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (23-6-2) vs. Hong Man Choi (1-1)
Cro Cop got destroyed in his last fight against Alistair Overeem but was able to get a "no decision" out of it when he took a low blow and could not continue. Overeem wanted a re-match on this show but Cro Cop wanted no part of that. Instead Cro Cop takes on a 7'2" 352 lb giant who has little to no mobility. All Cro Cop needs to do here is stay out of his reach for the first couple of minutes until he tires out.This guy lost to Fedor last year in under two minutes.
R1- Hong Man is winning the fight early. Cro Cop nails Hong Man with a low blow. Hong Man gets up from the low blow and then Cro Cop destroys his leg with one kick to the knee. Cro Cop looked bored.
Winner: Cro Cop TKO (Low Kick) R1 6:32
K-1 Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi
Mousasi is a Top 10 (maybe Top 5) Middleweight MMA fighter with superior submissions. He's had a great year.
R1- Mousasi shows great stand up in this fight and gets a quick knock down. He gets another knock down by basically pushing Musashi down. He gets a third knock down of the fight and gets a standing 10 count. Mousasi finally finishes him off. He just basically ate his lunch in this fight. Fantastic showing by Mousasi.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi by TKO R1
DREAM Heavyweight Fight- Melvin Manhoef (22-5-1) vs. Mark Hunt (5-4)
Manhoef destroyed Sakuraba (who is in the Main Event tonight) last year before losing to Gegard Mousasi in the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix. Hunt has lost his last 3 matches. He has lost to Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, and Josh Barnett (all Top 10 Heavyweights). Manhoef has a weight disadvantage in this fight. Hunt holds victories over Wanderlei Silva and Cro Cop in a past life.
R1- Hunt charged right in and ate a big right hook and then Manhoef reigned down shots on him until the ref stopped the fight.
Winner: Melvin Manhoef by KO (punches) R1 0:18
WAMMA Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Eddie Alvarez (15-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (18-3)
Both of these guys are legit Top 5 Lightweights. Alvarez is a Fighter of the Year Candidate and has had two of the most exciting fights in all of MMA this year (Hansen and Kawajiri). Aoki is a jiu jitsu beast who has beaten JZ Cavalcante (had a very controversial no contest and then just rode JZ to a lay and pray victory in the re-match), Katsuhiko Nagata, Todd Moore and Caol Uno in 2008. His only loss in 2008 was to Joachim Hansen in the finals of the Dream Lightweight tournament in which both guys fought twice that night and Hansen was filling in for an injured Alvarez.
This is defnitely the most anticipated fight of the show. Alvarez comes out to "The Champ is Here." Aoki is wearing his trade mark HIDEOUSLY UGLY tights. For this fight they are pink and yellow.
R1- Aoki grabbed an Alvarez kick shortly into the fight and took him down. Aoki grabbed a heel hook. Alvarez tried to counter but Aoki just had to good of a grip and Alvarez tapped. Very impressive showing for Aoki. He's one of the top jiu jitsu guys going in MMA and his jiu jitsu trumped Alvarez's stand up before Alvarez could even get going tonight.
Winner and new WAMMA Lightweight Champion: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Heel Hook) R1 1:32
DREAM Fight- Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-3) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1)
I'm not going to lie. This fight put me to sleep. From what I can remember Tamura controlled and got some good Ground and Pound in during the first round. Sakuraba basically just fought to stay in the fight and tried to grab submissions where possible.
Winner: Kiyoshi Tamura by Decision (Unanimous)
This was not a good show. Aoki, Kawajiri and Mousasi were really impressive in their victories. Joachim Hansen vs JZ was unfortunately cancelled but I don't think that could have saved this wreck.
December 31, 2008
Saitama Super Arena,
Saitama, Japan
DREAM Open-Weight Fight- Ikuhisa Minowa (40-19-8) vs. Errol Zimmerman 0-0)
R1- Minowa pretty much immediately got a take down and submission due to a leg hold.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Submission (Toe Hold) R1 1:01
K-1 (156.5 pounds) Fight- Yoshihiro Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko
This was fought under K-1 rules.
R1- Artur took a slight advantage in this round with a brief knockdown and hit a really nice spinning back fist.
R2- Artur got a kick for a knockdown and then basically got a trip for a second one. Good round.
R3- Artur basically controlled this round and got a take down. This was a good and competitive fight.
Winner: Artur Kyshenko by Majority Decision
DREAM Heavyweight Fight- Bob Sapp (9-3-1) vs. Akihito Tanaka (0-0)
Tanaka wore a fish mask to the ring and fought in it. I think this was supposed to be a "comedy" fight but man it was bad.
R1- The first 4 minutes were controlled by the guy in the fish mask. He got Sapp down and Sapp was like a turtle on his back. Sapp finally got back to his feet and finished the guy off. Embarrassing fight.
Winner: Bob Sapp by TKO (punches) R1 5:22
DREAM Heavyweight Fight- Semmy Schilt (25-14-1) vs. Siala Siliga (3-0)
R1- Siliga controlled most of the fight keeping Schilt on his back but Schilt was able to get a triangle from his back to get the win.
Winner: Semmy Schilt by Submission (Arm Triangle) R1 5:31
DREAM (176.4 pounds) Fight- Hayato Sakurai (33-8-2) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-5-1)
Shibata is a former New Japan Pro Wrestler who has more heart than brains. Coming into this fight he is 2-5-1 and regularly takes on fights that he is almost no chance of winning (he has already fought Ralek Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba, Jason Miller and Yoshihiro Akiyama in his young career). Sakurai is highly favored to win this fight. Shibata has a height advantage going for him.
R1- Shibata runs straight for him at the beginning and it almost looks like Sakurai tries to hit him with a leg lariot as they collide in mid-air. They go toe to toe right after each other from the opening bell. Hayato gets on top with some Ground and Pound but also gets bloodied up around his eyes. Hayato finally finished off the tough Shibata with a TKO at the 7 minute mark. Decent fight- a lot better than the first 3 DREAM fights.
Winner: Hayato Sakurai by TKO (Punches) R1 7:01
K-1 (154.3 pounds) Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda
This was fought under K-1 rules.
R1- Kawajiri quickly got a knock down and Takeda got a standing 10 count. Kawajiri was just all over him hitting huge uppercuts. Takeda's nose was busted open really badly. Kawajiri got a jumping knee knockdown and Takeda again took a standing 10 count but Kawajiri quickly finished him off. Kawajiri looked AWSOME in this fight.
Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO R1
K-1 Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem vs. Badr Hari
R1- Overeem hit a giant knee early in round 1 and then got a left handed KO. Domination.
Winner: Alistair Overeen by TKO R1
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (23-6-2) vs. Hong Man Choi (1-1)
Cro Cop got destroyed in his last fight against Alistair Overeem but was able to get a "no decision" out of it when he took a low blow and could not continue. Overeem wanted a re-match on this show but Cro Cop wanted no part of that. Instead Cro Cop takes on a 7'2" 352 lb giant who has little to no mobility. All Cro Cop needs to do here is stay out of his reach for the first couple of minutes until he tires out.This guy lost to Fedor last year in under two minutes.
R1- Hong Man is winning the fight early. Cro Cop nails Hong Man with a low blow. Hong Man gets up from the low blow and then Cro Cop destroys his leg with one kick to the knee. Cro Cop looked bored.
Winner: Cro Cop TKO (Low Kick) R1 6:32
K-1 Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi
Mousasi is a Top 10 (maybe Top 5) Middleweight MMA fighter with superior submissions. He's had a great year.
R1- Mousasi shows great stand up in this fight and gets a quick knock down. He gets another knock down by basically pushing Musashi down. He gets a third knock down of the fight and gets a standing 10 count. Mousasi finally finishes him off. He just basically ate his lunch in this fight. Fantastic showing by Mousasi.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi by TKO R1
DREAM Heavyweight Fight- Melvin Manhoef (22-5-1) vs. Mark Hunt (5-4)
Manhoef destroyed Sakuraba (who is in the Main Event tonight) last year before losing to Gegard Mousasi in the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix. Hunt has lost his last 3 matches. He has lost to Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, and Josh Barnett (all Top 10 Heavyweights). Manhoef has a weight disadvantage in this fight. Hunt holds victories over Wanderlei Silva and Cro Cop in a past life.
R1- Hunt charged right in and ate a big right hook and then Manhoef reigned down shots on him until the ref stopped the fight.
Winner: Melvin Manhoef by KO (punches) R1 0:18
WAMMA Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Eddie Alvarez (15-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (18-3)
Both of these guys are legit Top 5 Lightweights. Alvarez is a Fighter of the Year Candidate and has had two of the most exciting fights in all of MMA this year (Hansen and Kawajiri). Aoki is a jiu jitsu beast who has beaten JZ Cavalcante (had a very controversial no contest and then just rode JZ to a lay and pray victory in the re-match), Katsuhiko Nagata, Todd Moore and Caol Uno in 2008. His only loss in 2008 was to Joachim Hansen in the finals of the Dream Lightweight tournament in which both guys fought twice that night and Hansen was filling in for an injured Alvarez.
This is defnitely the most anticipated fight of the show. Alvarez comes out to "The Champ is Here." Aoki is wearing his trade mark HIDEOUSLY UGLY tights. For this fight they are pink and yellow.
R1- Aoki grabbed an Alvarez kick shortly into the fight and took him down. Aoki grabbed a heel hook. Alvarez tried to counter but Aoki just had to good of a grip and Alvarez tapped. Very impressive showing for Aoki. He's one of the top jiu jitsu guys going in MMA and his jiu jitsu trumped Alvarez's stand up before Alvarez could even get going tonight.
Winner and new WAMMA Lightweight Champion: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Heel Hook) R1 1:32
DREAM Fight- Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-3) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1)
I'm not going to lie. This fight put me to sleep. From what I can remember Tamura controlled and got some good Ground and Pound in during the first round. Sakuraba basically just fought to stay in the fight and tried to grab submissions where possible.
Winner: Kiyoshi Tamura by Decision (Unanimous)
This was not a good show. Aoki, Kawajiri and Mousasi were really impressive in their victories. Joachim Hansen vs JZ was unfortunately cancelled but I don't think that could have saved this wreck.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
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
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
Thursday, July 24, 2008
DREAM.5 7/21/08 Show Re-Cap
DREAM 5 Lightweight Gran Prix Tournament
Kenny Rice(man he looks jet lagged) and Bas Rutten are once again the announcers for this show. I like Bas more the more I listen to him. I think he's an acquired taste.
Lightweight Semifinals and Finals are fighting tonight to decide the championship. We've got Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno with the winners facing off later tonight. They hype these fighters as "4 of the Top 11 fighters in the world." I'm guessing Kenny is just talking about lightweight fighters. This should be a fun little tournament as I like all of these guys except Shinya Aoki (so he will probably win).
Lightweight Fight- Daisuke Nakamura (14-9) vs. Andy Ologun (1-0)
Apparently Nakamura just fought 4 days ago at a different show and won by decision. So he either owes someone money or just loves to fight. This match is scheduled for 2 five minute rounds. All other DREAM fights have been 1 ten minute round and 1 five minute round. Ologun has a background in K-1.
R1- Olagun gets a good kick and it takes Nakamura down but Nakamura grabs a leg and then they get back up. Olagun swings wildly and misses 2 big shots. Nakamura pulls guard and gets an arm bar finishes the fight quickly. Really quick fight and a great move by Nakamura. Very exciting opener with a great finish by Nakamura. Nakamura has now won 2 fights in 4 days and 7 of his last 8 fights.
Winner: Daisuke Nakamura by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Shinya Aoki (16-2) vs. Caol Uno (25-10-4)
Aoki is hyped as #3 in the world. Uno is hyped as the sentimental favorite. They say that Aoki is a 3 to 1 favorite. Uno is 8 years older than Aoki and Aoki has a 4" height advantage.My prediction is that Aoki lays on top of Uno for 15 minutes and wins a decision but I'm hoping for an Uno win. Uno comes out to a re-mix of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." This match has a good feel to it, looks like it will be fun. They get a pretty even response from the crowd at introductions. Aoki is once again wearing some hideous looking tights.
R1- Long feeling out process at the beginning as they are both waiting for the other to make a move. I wish DREAM showed the time clock but it was at least a minute before the first shot was landed- Aoki hit a jumping knee on Uno up against the ropes. Aoki takes Uno down to the mat. Uno flips him over and is now in Aoki's guard. The crowd chants for Aoki. Uno hits a punch and the ref moves them to the center of the ring. Uno gets in a shot and Aoki tries to get an arm bar and is now wrapping his legs around Uno's looking for a submission. Aoki has a very active guard. Aoki has him in a heel hook. Uno gets out of it but Aoki takes his back. Aoki is like an octopus in this fight so far. Aoki has him in a body lock but is not doing any damage. Uno turns into Aoki and they take a small break to work on Aoki's gloves. Aoki moves back over and takes Uno's back and goes for a Rear Nake Choke. Aoki doesn't get it but he still has his legs wrapped around Uno's midsection. Uno flips over and Aoki catches him in a triangle but I don't think he's got his arm trapped, it looks like basically a head scissors type move. He does actually have his arm trapped and Uno is trying to hold on. Uno gets to his feet with the move still on and Uno buts his knee on Aoki's face to get out but Aoki holds on and rolls him back over. Aoki grabs his arm and rolls him over and Uno is bucking and trying to kick Aoki's back to get out of the move. Uno somehow escapes the move. Great survival by Uno and he is now in Aoki's guard. Uno postures up and is getting some punches in on Aoki. Aoki gets an up kick. The first round end with Uno landing a punch. Fantastic first round. Great mat work by Aoki and great survival instincts by Uno. The chess match these guys had was just great. Aoki is winning the fight so far as he had Uno in several submissions and it felt like he could have gotten a submission on a few of them.
R2- Uno charges in early and Aoki takes Uno's guard. Uno gives up his back trying to get out of Aoki's clutches. Uno delivering some elbows to the side of Aoki trying to get free. Aoki is just kind of holding onto him at this point. Uno turns over and is now in Aoki's guard. Uno needs a knockout here with about 1 minute left. Aoki grabs him and latches on to try and ride Uno to victory. Second round was nowhere near as exciting as the first round as Aoki knew he was ahead in the fight and simply latched on and rode Uno for the last 5 minutes. Still a top notch fight but I'm a little disappointed with Aoki not really trying to finish the fight. Probably still (mostly based on the 1st round) the second best fight DREAM has had so far (Hansen vs. Alvarez is my #1 for this promotion this year).
Winner and advancing to the Finals: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2) vs. Eddie Alvarez (14-1)
Eddie Alvarez comes out to a song with the "The Champ is Here" line repeating at the beginning. Alvarez does the Pro Wres jump into the ring over the ropes.
R1- Kawajiri landing some kicks early. Alvarez goes in and Kawajiri jumps on top guarding against a take down. They clinch against the ropes and the ref breaks them up. Alvarez misses a punch and Kawajiri gets a good right. Alvarez hits a good combo as he leads with a kick and then hits some quick punches. Alvarez's right eye is really red. Alvarez with some leg kicks. Alvarez with a big combo and Kawajiri is knocked down. They get back up and they are brawling with lots of dirty boxing. Kawajiri lands a nice punch but then slips and they are clinched again. The round is about half way over. Alvarez has a cut on his right eye and the ref stops the fight to look at it.
Kawajiri gets a big punch and knock Alvarez down. Kawajiri is on top and is trying to end the fight and Alvarez has closed his guard. Kawajiri is trying to pass guard but not having much success. Kawajiri passes into the full mount position but Alvarez is still holding his head down. Alvarez muscles to his feet and these guys are swinging wildly with both guys connecting on some shots. Both guys are just laying into each other. Very exciting fight. Kawajiri hitting some knees in the clinch. Alvarez landing some punches and knocks down Kawajiri. Alvarez thinks the fight is over and doesn't pounce on Kawajiri. Alvarez then jumps down and starts to pound on Kawajiri and the ref stops the fight. Alvarez almost makes a huge mistake but ends up winning. Alvarez has a nasty mouse under his eye.
AWESOME fight.
"It's like a Rocky movie"- Bas Rutten
DREAM has just delivered maybe the best 2 consecutive matches this year. It's right up there with Torres/Maeda and then Pulver/Faber from the last WEC show.
Lightweight "Reserve" Fight- Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill (9-7) vs. Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (17-7-1)
Gill lost to Kawajiri in the Lightweight Grand Prix and Hansen lost to Alvarez. The winner of this fight would step into the finals if Alvarez or Aoki could not fight. It's a possibility that Alvarez may not be able to with that big mouse under his eye but Kenny Rice doesn't seem to think that it will come to that as he doesn't even mention it as a possibility.
R1- Hansen immediately moves into Gill and Gill clinches him and hits some good knees but Hansen muscles him down and they sprawl. They ref separates them and they re-start. Gill hitting some leg kicks. Gill tries for a take down but Hansen shows good balance and strength staying on his feet but then eventually goes down. Hansen looks like he is going for an arm bar and he gets it and taps Gill. Shorter fight then it felt like it was going to be but a good fight and exciting while it lasted.
Very strong show so far for DREAM.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
They show Urijah Faber on the big screen to hype up a fighter that he is training that is fighting next, Joseph Benavidez.
Joseph Benavidez (7-0) vs. Junya “Kodo” Kudo
Faber is in Joseph's corner.
R1- Joe gets a quick take down and takes Kudo's guard. Back to their feet. Joe hits a big slam and is in position to take Kudo's back. Joe takes full mount and Kudo taps to the guillotine. Impressive showing for the Faber trainee Joseph Benavidez.
Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1
Middleweight Fight- Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) vs. Motoki Miyazawa (4-0)
R1- Two minutes in, not much action so far. Motoki pulls guard on Hironka. Hironaka gets in a better position and gets some shots in on Motoki. They stand back up and Hironaka looks to be the better fighter on the feet. Motoki has a cut on his left eye and Motoki's nose is bleeding. Hironaka starts to open up on Motoki and the ref stops the fight to look at Motoki's cut just as Hironaka started to get going. The ref stops the fight.
Winner: Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO (Cut) R1
Urijah Faber joins Kenny Rice doing an intermission for an interview and they talk about Joseph Benavidez, Aoki/Alvarez, the Alistair Overeem fight coming up and Faber's upcoming fight with Mike Brown.
141 lb Fight- Hideo Tokoro (21-13-1) vs. Takeshi Yamazaki (14-7-2)
R1- Tokoro hits an early low blow on Yamazaki and they take a break. Yamazaki gets the first take down and Tokoro has a very active guard and goes for some submissions. Tokoro gets a big punch after they stand up and jumps on top and pounds on Yamazaki but Yamazaki recovers. Tokoro hits another low blow and they take another break. Gotta love the slow motion instant replay of the low blows. Ouch. They gave a yellow card to Tokoro. Tokoro hurt Yamazaki with two big punches and then got a nice knee in before they clinched and Yamazaki took Tokoro down. Tokoro tried to grab a knee bar but could not. Tokoro then tried to take Yamazaki's back but couldn't. Tokoro trying to get a triangle on Yamazaki but couldn't get it locked it. Decent fight so far but not quite what they were looking for coming out of intermission. Tokoro is winning the fight so far but did get the yellow card for the low blows.
R2- Not a real exciting second round and they kind of limp to a finish. Yamazaki's face looks really beat up after the fight.
Winner: Hideo Tokoro by Decision (Unanimous)
THEY ANNOUNCE THAT EDDIE ALVAREZ CANNOT FIGHT TONIGHT IN THE FINALS DUE TO THE CUT UNDER HIS EYE AND HE WILL BE REPLACED BY JOACHIM HANSEN.
Middleweight Fight- Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-4)
Shibata runs down to the ring and jumps over the ring ropes. This one should be all Akiyama.
R1- Akiyama is apparently going to fight in his full Gi outfit. Long feeling out process. Early leg kicks by Shibata. Not much action as we are three minutes in and all we've got so far are leg kicks by both guys. Shibata seems to be the aggressor and Akiyama seems content to just wait for Shibata to make a mistake. Akiyama missed a gigantic kick that would have taken Shibata's head off and they clinch but Akiyama ends up with the take down. Akiyama moves into full mount and has a weird choke on Shibata and gets the win in about six and a half minutes.
Winner: Yoshihiro Akiyama by TKO (ref stoppage due to choke) R1
Eddie Alvarez is in the ring and his eye is jacked up. They announce that he will not be fighting in the finals tonight against Shinya Aoki. Alvarez breaks up during his in ring promo and his smoking hot girlfriend is sad at ringside. Alvarez says that he's glad that Hansen is his replacement. Alvarez says that he is officially challenging the winner of the fight and that he will be back to fight for the fans here again and that he loves the fans. They show the replay of Kawajiri going for a punch and ending up nailing Alvarez in his eye with an elbow, which caused the huge bruise on Eddie's eye. Alvarez does a back flip off the ropes into the ring to the pop of the crowd before he leaves. Alvarez is a beast, can't wait to see him take on the winner of Aoki/Hansen.
Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt
Overeem stepped in at the last moment (about 3 days notice) to take this fight. Hunt has not fought since 2006 (against Fedor). Hunt has victories over Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva in his career.
R1- Hunt gets a quick take down. Hunt passes Overeem's guard but Overeem tries to get an arm bar in and he has it and Hunt taps out in about 1:15. Great showing by Alistair on 3 days notice as he got taken down but adjusted and finished the fight quickly.
Winner: Alistair Overeem by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Eddie Alvarez joins the announce crew for the finals of the Lightweight GP.
Lightweight GP Title Final: Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (18-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (17-2)
I'm not a huge fan of a guy who lost already in the tournament stepping in and getting a fight for the title but I think Hansen is deserving as he put up a hell of a fight against Eddie Alvarez in the Quarterfinals. Either way Alvarez will get his re-match with the champ in a show or two. Alvarez is at ringside with his busted eye and his hot girlfriend. Aoki has some different but equally hideous tights on for this fight- they compare him to a bumble-bee.
R1- Hansen swings and misses immediately and Aoki takes him down. Hansen gets a low blow on Aoki and Aoki sells it like death (can't tell with this guy the way he sold that one shot from JZ when he was losing the fight if it was something that really hurt or not). Hansen again throws a big punch and misses and Aoki pulls guard. Aoki gets Hansen in the rubber guard. Aoki goes for a submission but misses and Hansen lands some good punches to Aoki. Hansen lands another big punch on Aoki and then hits Aoki with some big punches and the ref stops the fight. Great finish by Hansen. Eddie Alvarez comes in the ring post-fight and congratulates the new champion. Good but surprisingly short fight. Aoki cries after the fight.
Post-fight Hansen says that his first defense will be against Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez comes in the ring and congratulates Hansen again.Caol Uno and Kawajiri also come out and they present the fights with trophies and checks.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by TKO (strikes) R1
In a weekend that was hyped as UFC vs Affliction, DREAM put on the best show and the best fight of the weekend. Alvarez/Kawajiri was just an awesome fight and is definitely the best fight in DREAM so far and a legit FOTY candidate. Aoki/Uno was also very good. Good showings on the fight from Nakamura, Overeem, and Benavidez in under card action. Aoki/Hansen was a solid final and I'm definitely looking forward to Alvarez/Hansen II. This was definitely the best DREAM show so far (even though the first half was better than the second half of the show) and it was the best event this past weekend beating out both Affliction and UFC.
Kenny Rice(man he looks jet lagged) and Bas Rutten are once again the announcers for this show. I like Bas more the more I listen to him. I think he's an acquired taste.
Lightweight Semifinals and Finals are fighting tonight to decide the championship. We've got Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno with the winners facing off later tonight. They hype these fighters as "4 of the Top 11 fighters in the world." I'm guessing Kenny is just talking about lightweight fighters. This should be a fun little tournament as I like all of these guys except Shinya Aoki (so he will probably win).
Lightweight Fight- Daisuke Nakamura (14-9) vs. Andy Ologun (1-0)
Apparently Nakamura just fought 4 days ago at a different show and won by decision. So he either owes someone money or just loves to fight. This match is scheduled for 2 five minute rounds. All other DREAM fights have been 1 ten minute round and 1 five minute round. Ologun has a background in K-1.
R1- Olagun gets a good kick and it takes Nakamura down but Nakamura grabs a leg and then they get back up. Olagun swings wildly and misses 2 big shots. Nakamura pulls guard and gets an arm bar finishes the fight quickly. Really quick fight and a great move by Nakamura. Very exciting opener with a great finish by Nakamura. Nakamura has now won 2 fights in 4 days and 7 of his last 8 fights.
Winner: Daisuke Nakamura by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Shinya Aoki (16-2) vs. Caol Uno (25-10-4)
Aoki is hyped as #3 in the world. Uno is hyped as the sentimental favorite. They say that Aoki is a 3 to 1 favorite. Uno is 8 years older than Aoki and Aoki has a 4" height advantage.My prediction is that Aoki lays on top of Uno for 15 minutes and wins a decision but I'm hoping for an Uno win. Uno comes out to a re-mix of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." This match has a good feel to it, looks like it will be fun. They get a pretty even response from the crowd at introductions. Aoki is once again wearing some hideous looking tights.
R1- Long feeling out process at the beginning as they are both waiting for the other to make a move. I wish DREAM showed the time clock but it was at least a minute before the first shot was landed- Aoki hit a jumping knee on Uno up against the ropes. Aoki takes Uno down to the mat. Uno flips him over and is now in Aoki's guard. The crowd chants for Aoki. Uno hits a punch and the ref moves them to the center of the ring. Uno gets in a shot and Aoki tries to get an arm bar and is now wrapping his legs around Uno's looking for a submission. Aoki has a very active guard. Aoki has him in a heel hook. Uno gets out of it but Aoki takes his back. Aoki is like an octopus in this fight so far. Aoki has him in a body lock but is not doing any damage. Uno turns into Aoki and they take a small break to work on Aoki's gloves. Aoki moves back over and takes Uno's back and goes for a Rear Nake Choke. Aoki doesn't get it but he still has his legs wrapped around Uno's midsection. Uno flips over and Aoki catches him in a triangle but I don't think he's got his arm trapped, it looks like basically a head scissors type move. He does actually have his arm trapped and Uno is trying to hold on. Uno gets to his feet with the move still on and Uno buts his knee on Aoki's face to get out but Aoki holds on and rolls him back over. Aoki grabs his arm and rolls him over and Uno is bucking and trying to kick Aoki's back to get out of the move. Uno somehow escapes the move. Great survival by Uno and he is now in Aoki's guard. Uno postures up and is getting some punches in on Aoki. Aoki gets an up kick. The first round end with Uno landing a punch. Fantastic first round. Great mat work by Aoki and great survival instincts by Uno. The chess match these guys had was just great. Aoki is winning the fight so far as he had Uno in several submissions and it felt like he could have gotten a submission on a few of them.
R2- Uno charges in early and Aoki takes Uno's guard. Uno gives up his back trying to get out of Aoki's clutches. Uno delivering some elbows to the side of Aoki trying to get free. Aoki is just kind of holding onto him at this point. Uno turns over and is now in Aoki's guard. Uno needs a knockout here with about 1 minute left. Aoki grabs him and latches on to try and ride Uno to victory. Second round was nowhere near as exciting as the first round as Aoki knew he was ahead in the fight and simply latched on and rode Uno for the last 5 minutes. Still a top notch fight but I'm a little disappointed with Aoki not really trying to finish the fight. Probably still (mostly based on the 1st round) the second best fight DREAM has had so far (Hansen vs. Alvarez is my #1 for this promotion this year).
Winner and advancing to the Finals: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2) vs. Eddie Alvarez (14-1)
Eddie Alvarez comes out to a song with the "The Champ is Here" line repeating at the beginning. Alvarez does the Pro Wres jump into the ring over the ropes.
R1- Kawajiri landing some kicks early. Alvarez goes in and Kawajiri jumps on top guarding against a take down. They clinch against the ropes and the ref breaks them up. Alvarez misses a punch and Kawajiri gets a good right. Alvarez hits a good combo as he leads with a kick and then hits some quick punches. Alvarez's right eye is really red. Alvarez with some leg kicks. Alvarez with a big combo and Kawajiri is knocked down. They get back up and they are brawling with lots of dirty boxing. Kawajiri lands a nice punch but then slips and they are clinched again. The round is about half way over. Alvarez has a cut on his right eye and the ref stops the fight to look at it.
Kawajiri gets a big punch and knock Alvarez down. Kawajiri is on top and is trying to end the fight and Alvarez has closed his guard. Kawajiri is trying to pass guard but not having much success. Kawajiri passes into the full mount position but Alvarez is still holding his head down. Alvarez muscles to his feet and these guys are swinging wildly with both guys connecting on some shots. Both guys are just laying into each other. Very exciting fight. Kawajiri hitting some knees in the clinch. Alvarez landing some punches and knocks down Kawajiri. Alvarez thinks the fight is over and doesn't pounce on Kawajiri. Alvarez then jumps down and starts to pound on Kawajiri and the ref stops the fight. Alvarez almost makes a huge mistake but ends up winning. Alvarez has a nasty mouse under his eye.
AWESOME fight.
"It's like a Rocky movie"- Bas Rutten
DREAM has just delivered maybe the best 2 consecutive matches this year. It's right up there with Torres/Maeda and then Pulver/Faber from the last WEC show.
Lightweight "Reserve" Fight- Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill (9-7) vs. Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (17-7-1)
Gill lost to Kawajiri in the Lightweight Grand Prix and Hansen lost to Alvarez. The winner of this fight would step into the finals if Alvarez or Aoki could not fight. It's a possibility that Alvarez may not be able to with that big mouse under his eye but Kenny Rice doesn't seem to think that it will come to that as he doesn't even mention it as a possibility.
R1- Hansen immediately moves into Gill and Gill clinches him and hits some good knees but Hansen muscles him down and they sprawl. They ref separates them and they re-start. Gill hitting some leg kicks. Gill tries for a take down but Hansen shows good balance and strength staying on his feet but then eventually goes down. Hansen looks like he is going for an arm bar and he gets it and taps Gill. Shorter fight then it felt like it was going to be but a good fight and exciting while it lasted.
Very strong show so far for DREAM.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
They show Urijah Faber on the big screen to hype up a fighter that he is training that is fighting next, Joseph Benavidez.
Joseph Benavidez (7-0) vs. Junya “Kodo” Kudo
Faber is in Joseph's corner.
R1- Joe gets a quick take down and takes Kudo's guard. Back to their feet. Joe hits a big slam and is in position to take Kudo's back. Joe takes full mount and Kudo taps to the guillotine. Impressive showing for the Faber trainee Joseph Benavidez.
Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1
Middleweight Fight- Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) vs. Motoki Miyazawa (4-0)
R1- Two minutes in, not much action so far. Motoki pulls guard on Hironka. Hironaka gets in a better position and gets some shots in on Motoki. They stand back up and Hironaka looks to be the better fighter on the feet. Motoki has a cut on his left eye and Motoki's nose is bleeding. Hironaka starts to open up on Motoki and the ref stops the fight to look at Motoki's cut just as Hironaka started to get going. The ref stops the fight.
Winner: Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO (Cut) R1
Urijah Faber joins Kenny Rice doing an intermission for an interview and they talk about Joseph Benavidez, Aoki/Alvarez, the Alistair Overeem fight coming up and Faber's upcoming fight with Mike Brown.
141 lb Fight- Hideo Tokoro (21-13-1) vs. Takeshi Yamazaki (14-7-2)
R1- Tokoro hits an early low blow on Yamazaki and they take a break. Yamazaki gets the first take down and Tokoro has a very active guard and goes for some submissions. Tokoro gets a big punch after they stand up and jumps on top and pounds on Yamazaki but Yamazaki recovers. Tokoro hits another low blow and they take another break. Gotta love the slow motion instant replay of the low blows. Ouch. They gave a yellow card to Tokoro. Tokoro hurt Yamazaki with two big punches and then got a nice knee in before they clinched and Yamazaki took Tokoro down. Tokoro tried to grab a knee bar but could not. Tokoro then tried to take Yamazaki's back but couldn't. Tokoro trying to get a triangle on Yamazaki but couldn't get it locked it. Decent fight so far but not quite what they were looking for coming out of intermission. Tokoro is winning the fight so far but did get the yellow card for the low blows.
R2- Not a real exciting second round and they kind of limp to a finish. Yamazaki's face looks really beat up after the fight.
Winner: Hideo Tokoro by Decision (Unanimous)
THEY ANNOUNCE THAT EDDIE ALVAREZ CANNOT FIGHT TONIGHT IN THE FINALS DUE TO THE CUT UNDER HIS EYE AND HE WILL BE REPLACED BY JOACHIM HANSEN.
Middleweight Fight- Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-4)
Shibata runs down to the ring and jumps over the ring ropes. This one should be all Akiyama.
R1- Akiyama is apparently going to fight in his full Gi outfit. Long feeling out process. Early leg kicks by Shibata. Not much action as we are three minutes in and all we've got so far are leg kicks by both guys. Shibata seems to be the aggressor and Akiyama seems content to just wait for Shibata to make a mistake. Akiyama missed a gigantic kick that would have taken Shibata's head off and they clinch but Akiyama ends up with the take down. Akiyama moves into full mount and has a weird choke on Shibata and gets the win in about six and a half minutes.
Winner: Yoshihiro Akiyama by TKO (ref stoppage due to choke) R1
Eddie Alvarez is in the ring and his eye is jacked up. They announce that he will not be fighting in the finals tonight against Shinya Aoki. Alvarez breaks up during his in ring promo and his smoking hot girlfriend is sad at ringside. Alvarez says that he's glad that Hansen is his replacement. Alvarez says that he is officially challenging the winner of the fight and that he will be back to fight for the fans here again and that he loves the fans. They show the replay of Kawajiri going for a punch and ending up nailing Alvarez in his eye with an elbow, which caused the huge bruise on Eddie's eye. Alvarez does a back flip off the ropes into the ring to the pop of the crowd before he leaves. Alvarez is a beast, can't wait to see him take on the winner of Aoki/Hansen.
Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt
Overeem stepped in at the last moment (about 3 days notice) to take this fight. Hunt has not fought since 2006 (against Fedor). Hunt has victories over Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva in his career.
R1- Hunt gets a quick take down. Hunt passes Overeem's guard but Overeem tries to get an arm bar in and he has it and Hunt taps out in about 1:15. Great showing by Alistair on 3 days notice as he got taken down but adjusted and finished the fight quickly.
Winner: Alistair Overeem by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Eddie Alvarez joins the announce crew for the finals of the Lightweight GP.
Lightweight GP Title Final: Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (18-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (17-2)
I'm not a huge fan of a guy who lost already in the tournament stepping in and getting a fight for the title but I think Hansen is deserving as he put up a hell of a fight against Eddie Alvarez in the Quarterfinals. Either way Alvarez will get his re-match with the champ in a show or two. Alvarez is at ringside with his busted eye and his hot girlfriend. Aoki has some different but equally hideous tights on for this fight- they compare him to a bumble-bee.
R1- Hansen swings and misses immediately and Aoki takes him down. Hansen gets a low blow on Aoki and Aoki sells it like death (can't tell with this guy the way he sold that one shot from JZ when he was losing the fight if it was something that really hurt or not). Hansen again throws a big punch and misses and Aoki pulls guard. Aoki gets Hansen in the rubber guard. Aoki goes for a submission but misses and Hansen lands some good punches to Aoki. Hansen lands another big punch on Aoki and then hits Aoki with some big punches and the ref stops the fight. Great finish by Hansen. Eddie Alvarez comes in the ring post-fight and congratulates the new champion. Good but surprisingly short fight. Aoki cries after the fight.
Post-fight Hansen says that his first defense will be against Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez comes in the ring and congratulates Hansen again.Caol Uno and Kawajiri also come out and they present the fights with trophies and checks.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by TKO (strikes) R1
In a weekend that was hyped as UFC vs Affliction, DREAM put on the best show and the best fight of the weekend. Alvarez/Kawajiri was just an awesome fight and is definitely the best fight in DREAM so far and a legit FOTY candidate. Aoki/Uno was also very good. Good showings on the fight from Nakamura, Overeem, and Benavidez in under card action. Aoki/Hansen was a solid final and I'm definitely looking forward to Alvarez/Hansen II. This was definitely the best DREAM show so far (even though the first half was better than the second half of the show) and it was the best event this past weekend beating out both Affliction and UFC.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
