5/29 DREAM 14 - RESULTS

Dream has another one in the books. A strong card, but without any heavyweights or light-heavyweights (now that the GP was scratched).

Lots of strong featherweights on the card though. Add to that the legends of "Mach" Sakurai, Sakuraba and Minowa, what more can you ask for?

Spoilers if you read on.

Gracie broke the curse when he won the judges decision, he was simply the better man on the ground. Sakuraba had his chances though, and what the ref was thinking when he in the last round tried to pull up Ralek's pants I have no idea. Still a deserved victory.

Nick Diaz proved too strong on the ground for the legend "Mach" Sakurai, meaning that 2 of the really big Japanese stars lost on this card.

Other Japanese fighters made sure that the home crowd had plenty to cheer for though. "Kid" looks to be back on track with a quick KO win, and Minowa is staying on track with a submission win in the 1st round.

Hiroyuki Takaya has secured his spot at the #1 featherweight contender as he got a strong KO win over Joachim Hansen.

Osawa and Miyata edge out split decision wins

8. Welter: Nick Diaz Def. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai by armbar Round 1 3:54
7. 88kg: Ralek Gracie Def. Kazushi Sakuraba by Decision 3-0
6. Feather: Hiroyuki Takaya Def. Joachim Hansen by KO Round 1 4:27
5. Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto Def. Federico "Kiko" Lopez by KO Round 1 1:41
4. Feather: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Def. Hideo Tokoro by KO Round 1 2:10
3. Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata Def. Takafumi Otsuka by Decision 2-1
2. Feather: Kenji Osawa Def. Yoshiro Maeda by Decision 2-1
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa Def. Imani Lee by rear-naked choke Round 1 4:16

Discuss in the FORUM

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5/29 DREAM 14 - Weigh-in

FEG held the weigh-in for the 14th DREAM earlier today, broadcast live on their website.

Lots of good fights on the card, and Minowaman is giving up 70kg in this fight! Can he do it again?

If you, like me, are wondering about the difference in weight for the featherweights. Nightmare of Battle has the answer:

"As you can see from the weigh-in results everything isn’t as it should. All Featherweight fights on the card are contracted at different weights.

KID/Lopez is at 60kg
Takaya/Hansen is at 65kg
Tokoro/Wicky is at 63kg
Miyata/Otsuka is at 64.5kg
Maeda/Osawa is at 61kg
Mach/Diaz is at 76.6kg

As you can see, it appears that Kiko Lopez missed weight, I am not sure if he weighed in again though. Also, I am sure the fight would still be on.

Main-event:
8. Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (76.5kg) 35-10-2 vs. 21-7-0 (76.0kg) Nick Diaz

7. 88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba (86.5kg) 26-12-1 vs. 2-0-0 (87.4kg) Ralek Gracie
6. Feather: Joachim Hansen (65.0kg) 19-9-1 vs. 12-8-1 (65.0kg) Hiroyuki Takaya
5. Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (59.8kg) 17-3-0 vs. 4-2-0 (62.0kg?) Federico "Kiko" Lopez
4. Feather: Hideo Tokoro (63.0kg) 26-21-1 vs. 10-5-1 (62.8kg) "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
3. Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata (64.2kg)8-7-0 vs. 10-4-1 (64.4kg) Takafumi Otsuka
2. Feather: Yoshiro Maeda (60.7kg) 26-8-2 vs. 15-9-2 (61.0kg) Kenji Osawa
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa (88.0kg) 45-30-8 vs. 1-2-0 (150.0kg) Imani Lee

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5/29 DREAM 14 - "Kid" Yamamoto Added

FEG have announced the addition of Japanese star "Kid" Yamamoto to Dream 14. His opponent will be Team Quest's Federico "Kiko" Lopez. This fight was supposed to be on the Strikeforce undercard, but has been moved to the Dream 14 event. Both fighters are coming of 2 straight losses, "Kid" losing to "Kiko"'s team-mate, Joe Warren. No doubt that "Kid" will be the crowd favorite here, but both fighters will be eager to start another winning streak. It will be interesting to see what Warren has been able to teach his team-mate.

Picture from GBRing.com


Added:
Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-3-0 vs. 4-2-0 Federico "Kiko" Lopez

Previously Announed:
Feather: Joachim Hansen vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Feather: Hideo Tokoro vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Feather: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Kenji Osawa
88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie
Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz

Discuss in the FORUM

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3/8 DREAM 7 - Featherweight GP Match-Ups

FEG have announced the match-ups for the DREAM featherweight GP. DJ Taiki's fight is moved to DREAM 8 due to an injury he sustained in the qualifying fight with Shoji Maruyama earlier this month.

Yoshiro Maeda is returning to Japan from his WEC experience and should be a good addition to this GP.

They are keeping a spot open for "Kid", so I hope we get to see him in round 2.

The weight is set to 63kg.

Early picks for best match-ups:
-Imanari vs. Atsushi Yamamoto should be awesome!
-Takafumi Otsuka vs. Bibiano Fernandes should be a very good fight as well.

There are really no easy match-ups, even if I know next to nothing of the debutants.

Masakazu Imanari 15-6-1 vs. 12-5-1 Atsushi Yamamoto
Hiroyuki Takaya 9-6-1 vs. Kim Jong Won
Yoshiro Maeda 23-6-2 vs. 10-2-0 Micah Miller
Chase Beebe 12-3-0 vs. Joe Warren
Takafumi Otsuka 8-3-1 vs. 3-2-0 Bibiano Fernandes
"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 9-3-1 vs. 13-2-0 Abel Cullum

On a side note from the comments, does this post card reveal some participants for DREAM 8?

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9/27 Cage Force 8 - RESULTS

Cage Force held the Semi-Finals of the featherweight and bantamweight tournaments today. After today, the final in the featherweight tournament is ready, and so is one of the finalists in the bantamweight tournament.

The featherweight final will be between Yuji Hoshino and "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura. The
bantamweight final will be Masahiro Oishi against either Takeya Mizugaki or Taiyo Nakahara. Their semi final will be fought in November.

TV Tokyo should show this event, and it will air October 19 26.40 (2.40 on 20th) - 27.35 (3.35).

All the results:

Featherweight Tournament Semi-Finals:
12. Yuji Hoshino Def. Takeshi Yamazaki by Kimura Round 3 3:23
11. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Def. Fanjin Son by Decision 3-0

Bantamweight Tournament Semi-Final:
10. Masahiro Oishi Def. Tetsu Suzuki by Decision 3-0

9. Yoshihiro Koyama Def. Bum Chang Kang(?) by TKO Round 1 3:25
8. Takeya Mizugaki Def. Daisuke Endo by rear-naked choke Round 1 4:34
7. Wataru Miki vs. Tomohiko Hori DRAW
6. Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya Def. Tetsuo Seto by TKO (doctor stop) Round 1
5. Yuta Nezu Def. Ryo (?) Taguchi by KO Round 3 3:36
4. Daisuke Hoshino Def. Junichi Ota by decision 3-0

Preliminary fights:
3. Lightweight: Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa
2. Masaaki Hasegawa Def. Tomoyuki Miyaji by submission Round 3 2:55
1. Suberu Yoshikawa vs. Kenichi Kokura/Ogura (?) DRAW

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9/27 Cage Force 8 - Fight Order

This weekend will be super busy! Kicking things off on Saturday is Cage Force with their tournament semi-finals. These fight should provide some very good entertainment.

The main event is Yuji Hoshino vs. Dream "veteran" Takeshi Yamazaki. In the other featherweight semi final the always entertaining "Wicky" Akiyo will take on Fanjin Son who is a very talented fighter.

In the Bantamweight tournament the very experienced Masahiro Oishi will take on the exentric grappler Tetsu Suzuki in a fight that should also be very exciting. Oishi got through a tough opponent in Paul McVeigh in the first round, while Suzuki left Katsuya Toida with egg on his face after a 16 second TKO win.

Also on the card are fighters like Takeya Mizugaki, Yoshihiro Koyama and Wataru Miki. A very good card again from Cage Force!

The second bantamweight semi-final has been moved, you can read more on that here

Featherweight Tournament Semi-Finals:
12. Yuji Hoshino 14-7-7 vs. 14-8-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
11. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 8-2-1 vs. 5-2-0 Fanjin Son

Bantamweight Tournament Semi-Final:
10. Masahiro Oishi 18-9-7 vs. 8-5-3 Tetsu Suzuki

9. Lightweight: Yoshihiro Koyama 10-2-1 vs. 2-1 (?) Bum Chang Kang*
This is a lightweight fight, so not the guy Minowa faced in DREAM. The　record and name is from the Cage Force site, I have not been able to　work out who he is.
8. Bantamweight: Takeya Mizugaki 9-2-2 vs. 2-1-0 Daisuke Endo
7. Featherweight: Wataru Miki 13-8-2 vs. 7-3-2 Tomohiko Hori
6. Welterweight: Tetsuo Seto 4-1-2 vs. 1-2-1 Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya
5. Bantamweight: Yuta Nezu 4-2-0 vs. Ryo (?) Taguchi
4. Lightweight: Daisuke Hoshino 3-0-0 vs. 2-1-1 Junichi Ota

Preliminary fights (3x3min):
3. Lightweight: Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa
2. Featherweight: Masaaki Hasegawa 1-0-0 vs. 3-1-0 Tomoyuki Miyaji
1. Lightweight: Suberu Yoshikawa 0-1-0 vs. Kenichi Kokura/Ogura (?)

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9/27 Cage Force 8 - 2 Fights added

Cage Force have added 2 more fights to their card for September 27. This is the day before the Sengoku event, and it looks like a very good card too.

There are 3 semi-finals (1 bantam and 2 featherweight) on the card. The reminaing bantamweight semi will take place November 8.

In the welterweight fight added, we will see GCM talent Tetsuo Seto face off against Shooto fighter "Hunt" Okumiya. The other fight added is a preliminary fight between Koji Ando who was very good in his fight July 21 and Masayoshi Ichikawa, who suffered a 26 seconds KO loss in the same event.

Fights added:
Welterweight: Tetsuo Seto 4-1-2 vs. 1-2-1 Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya
Preliminary Lightweight: Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa

Previously announced:
Bantamweight Semi-Final: Masahiro Oishi 18-9-7 vs. 8-5-3 Tetsu Suzuki
Featherweight Semi-Final: Yuji Hoshino 14-7-7 vs. 14-8-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
Featherweight Semi-Final: ”Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura 8-2-1 vs. 5-2-0 Fanjin Son

Bantamweight: Takeya Mizugaki 9-2-2 vs. 2-1-0 Daisuke Endo
Lightweight: Yoshihiro Koyama 10-2-1 vs. 2-1 (?) Bum Chang Kang*
This is a lightweight fight, so not the guy Minowa faced in DREAM. The record and name is from the Cage Force site, I have not been able to work out who he is.
Featherweight: Wataru Miki 13-8-2 vs. 7-3-2 Tomohiko Hori
Lightweight: Daisuke Hoshino 3-0-0 vs. 2-1-1 Junichi Ota

Preliminary fight:
Featherweight: Masaaki Hasegawa 1-0-0 vs. 3-1-0 Tomoyuki Miyaji

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9/27 Cage Force 8 - Fights added

Cage Force have added 5 fights to their September 27 card. These are in addition to the previously announced semi-finals.

The Bantamweight semi-final between Takeya Mizugaki and Taiyo Nakahara has been moved to the November 8 "Eastern Bound" event. Nakahara was injured during training, but should be ready for the event in November. Mizugaki will instead face Daisuke Endo in a non-tournament fight.

As always, I expect Cage Force to put on a good show, and the tournament fights are looking very interesting.

The finals will be held in Cage Force 9, December 6.

Added:
Bantamweight: Takeya Mizugaki 9-2-2 vs. 2-1-0 Daisuke Endo
Lightweight: Yoshihiro Koyama 10-2-1 vs. 2-1 (?) Bum Chang Kang*
This is a lightweight fight, so not the guy Minowa faced in DREAM. The record and name is from the Cage Force site, I have not been able to work out who he is.
Featherweight: Wataru Miki 13-8-2 vs. 7-3-2 Tomohiko Hori
Lightweight: Daisuke Hoshino 3-0-0 vs. 2-1-1 Junichi Ota

Preliminary fight:
Featherweight: Masaaki Hasegawa 1-0-0 vs. 3-1-0 Tomoyuki Miyaji

Previously announced:
Bantamweight Semi-Finals:
Masahiro Oishi 18-9-7 vs. 8-5-3 Tetsu Suzuki

Featherweight Semi-Finals:
Yuji Hoshino 14-7-7 vs. 14-8-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
”Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura 8-2-1 vs. 5-2-0 Fanjin Son

Moved to November 8:
Takeya Mizugaki 9-2-2 vs. 10-6-0 Taiyo Nakahara

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9/27 Cage Force 8 - Semi-Finals Announced!

Cage Force have announced the semi-finals for their tournaments. There has already been a few surprises, not to mention changes due to the fianancial problems they are having. But the semi-finals are looking awesome!!! I was a bit dissapointed last time, but otherwise the Cage Force events have been very good. As this is on a Saturday, I think there is a good chance I will make my way to Differ Ariake again this time.

For those who didnt know Yamazaki before his DREAM fight with Hideo Tokoro, he is in this semi-final (he also fought in DREAM 3 btw). There are some really big Japanese names in these semi-finals!

Announced today, the tournament semi-finals:
Bantamweight Semi-Finals:
Takeya Mizugaki 9-2-2 vs. 10-6-0 Taiyo Nakahara
Masahiro Oishi 18-9-7 vs. 8-5-3 Tetsu Suzuki

Featherweight Semi-Finals:
Yuji Hoshino 14-7-7 vs. 14-8-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
”Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura 8-2-1 vs. 5-2-0 Fanjin Son

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"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Highlights

"Wicky" is fighting in Shooto Tradition 02 on Friday. I have seen some comments around why I am so excited about this guy. Here is why, he is very exciting to watch (at least while its standing).

A very good highlight video!

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"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura

When Shooto presented "Wicky" Akiyo as a participant of their July 18 I was very excited. But I realize a lot of people might not be familiar with his work, and if you are, there is nothing wrong with seeing some more. He is a very unorthodox fighter and always entertaining.

So here are some of his fights:
- vs. Hiroshi Nakamura
- vs. Kim Jong Man
- vs. Daisuke Ishizawa

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