3/22 DREAM 13 - Fights Announced

FEG have announced some very interesting fights for the upcoming event in Yokohama Arena.

Former EliteXC champion, K.J. Noons, will make his Dream debut against Andre Dida. DEEP lightweight and Cage Force lightweight champions, Katsunori Kikuno and Kuniyoshi Hironaka will face each other.

Added:
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 12-2-2 vs. 16-6-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Light: K.J. Noons 7-2-0 vs. 6-3-1 Andre Dida
Open: Ikuhisa Minowa 44-30-8 vs. 14-12-1 Jimmy Ambriz
Welter: Ryo Chonan 16-10-0 vs. 2-1-0 Andrews Nakahara

Previously Announced:
Featherweigth Title Fight:
Bibiano Fernandes (champion) 7-2-0 vs. 19-8-1 Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen

Discuss in the FORUM

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10/25 DREAM 12 - Fights Announced, Cage Revealed

DREAM 12 will be a big event for FEG, not only have they announced some big names for the card, but it will also be the first FEG event in a cage. DREAM have chosen a 6-sided cage, and you can see a picture here (taken from GBR):



The fights announced today will be very interesting. Eddie Alvarez will be taking on DEEP champion, Katsunri Kikuno in what will be my pick for fight of the night. Kikuno have had a very good 2009 so far, with no losses and wins over Bu Kyung Jung, Koichiro Matsumoto and Andre "Dida".

The other fight announced today will see the newly crowned Cage Force champion, Kuniyoshi Hironaka (does this mean Cage Force will lose another champion?), will take on Korean standout "Parky". "Parky" has also gone 3-0 in DEEP this year, and deserves the step up, I still think Hironaka will be a size too big for him.

Announced:
Eddie Alvarez 18-2-0 vs. 12-1-1 Katsunori Kikuno
Won Sik "Parky" Park 7-1-1 vs. 15-6-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka

Participants:
Kiyoshi Tamura 33-13-2
Yoshiro Maeda 25-7-2
Andrews Nakahara 2-1-0
Paulo Filho 18-1-0
Alistair Overeem 29-11-0
Marius Zaromskis 12-3-0
Myeon Ho Bae 8-4-0

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10/25 DREAM 12 - Participants Announced

FEG have announced 8 participants for DREAM 12, and with 2 events with only a few weeks between it will be interesting to see if they can fill both cards.

It also is clear that this will be the first time DREAM holds their event in a cage. The shape of the cage has not been made official, but it seems like it will be similar to the Strikeforce cage rather than an octagon.

This event will be in Osaka, and on the card will be fighters such as DEEP champion, Katsunori Kikuno, Japanese legend Kiyoshi Tamura and the very popular Alistair Overeem. Add to that DREAM stars such as Marius Zaromskis and Eddie Alvarez and it is a card with a lot of potential.

Participants:
Kiyoshi Tamura 33-13-2
Katsunori Kikuno 12-1-1
Yoshiro Maeda 25-7-2
Andrews Nakahara 2-1-0
Paulo Filho 18-1-0
Alistair Overeem 29-11-0
Marius Zaromskis 12-3-0
Eddie Alvarez 18-2-0

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4/5 DREAM 8 - "Mach" will take on Aoki!

FEG has announced a big fight for round 1 in the welterweight GP. Both Aoki and Sakurai have expressed an interest in this re-match. In 2005 "Mach" defeated Aoki by decision in Shooto, and Aoki has expressed that he would like a chance for a rematch. When I met with Sakurai, he also expressed an interest in this match-up and it should be a very good one.

There are still 4 spots open in this GP, with no foreign fighter announced yet.

Welterweight GP:
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 34-8-2 vs. 20-3-0 Shinya Aoki

Non-GP Fights:
Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 9-4-0 vs. 1-1-0 Andrews Nakahara
Katsuyori Shibata 2-6-1 vs. 41-29-8 Ikuhisa Minowa

Featherweight GP:
Hideo Tokoro 21-15-1 vs. 10-5-3 Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata

Welterweight GP Participants:
Seichi Ikemoto 18-14-5
Yuya Shirai 15-7-0

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4/5 DREAM 8 - Shirai Qualifies for DREAM GP

This is news from Saturday, but I forgot my laptop in the hotel and I am just now able to catch up on news...

Anyway, DEEP held a DREAM welterweight GP qualifier in the ClubDEEP event on March 14. The winner was Yuya Shirai, and he is therefore the 4th confirmed participant in this 8-man tournament.

The event now looks like this:
Non-GP Fights:
Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 9-4-0 vs. 1-1-0 Andrews Nakahara
Katsuyori Shibata 2-6-1 vs. 41-29-8 Ikuhisa Minowa

Welterweight GP Participants:
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 34-8-2
Shinya Aoki 19-3-0
Seichi Ikemoto 18-14-5
Yuya Shirai 15-7-0

Featherweight GP:
Hideo Tokoro 21-15-1 vs. 10-5-3 Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata

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9/23 DREAM 6 - Kharitonov vs. Mighty Mo Official‏

DREAM have announced 3 additional fights for DREAM 6. We already knew CroCop vs. Overeem (should be an awesome fight, I cant wait). Also added are Kharitonov vs. Mighty Mo (both making their DREAM debut) and the reserve fight between Yoon Dong Sik and Andrews Nakahara.

I am a bit surprised at the reserve fight here... But lets wait and see how it goes.

Added:
HW: Mirko "Crocop" Filipovic 23-6-2 vs. 28-11-0 Alistair Overeem
HW: Sergei Kharitonov 15-3-0 vs. 3-0-0 Siala Siliga "Mighty Mo"

Middleweight GP Reserve Fight
Yoon Dong Sik 4-5-0 vs. 0-1-0 Andrews Nakahara

Previously announced:
DREAM Middleweight Final: Winners of semi-finals

DREAM Middleweight Semi-Finals:
Melvin Manhoef 22-4-1 vs. 22-2-1 Gegard Mousasi
Zelg Galesic 9-3-0 vs. 9-1-0 Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza

Featherweight: Hideo Tokoro 21-13-1 vs. 11-5-1 Atsushi Yamamoto

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4/29 DREAM 2 - Fight Order Announced

Well, its official. Frank Trigg is out of the DREAM tournament, his replacement is Ian Murphy. I have to admitt that Ian Murphy is a new name to me, according to NoB he is an amature wrestler.

It will be interesting to she how he does in this event.

Other than that, I am disapointed... This card looks very average... There are a few interesting fights in there (and a couple of awesome fights), but the card is thin. For the price they are charging, I would expect more. Either way, the tournament will be exciting. You can see that there is 1 fight missing in the middleweight tournament, that will be fought in DREAM 3.

Another surprice, Aoki vs. JZ has gone from being the main event in DREAM 1 to being the opening fight in DREAM 2.... I bet that has never happened before!

This is the fight order:
8. MW Tournament: Kazushi Sakuraba 23-10-1 vs. Andrews Nakahara
7. MW Tournament: Denis Kang 29-9-1 vs. 20-2-1 Gegard Mousasi
6. MW Tournament: Kiyoshi Tamura 28-14-0 vs. 38-12-1 Masakatsu Funaki
5. MW Tournament: Ronaldo Jacare vs. Ian Murphy
4. MW Tournament: Magomed Sultanakhmadov 4-1-0 vs. 7-3-0 Zelg “Benkei” Galesic
3. MW Tournament: Yoon Dong Sik 3-4-0 vs. 7-10-0 Shungo Oyama
2. MW Tournament: Ikuhisa Minowa 39-27-8 vs. 2-2-0 Taiei Kin
1. LW Tournament: Shinya Aoki 14-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 JZ Calvan

MW= Middleweight
LW=Lightweight

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4/29 DREAM 2 - Fights Announced

Most of the Middleweight tournament fights are now annouced with 4 fights announced today, and there will be some surprise additions in this. There are also some fighters that were expected.

Only 1 more fight in the tournament... Will someone get a "free" pass to the 2nd round here too?

Annouced today (all tournament fights):
Ikuhisa Minowa 39-27-8 vs. 2-2-0 Taiei Kin
Magomed Sultanakhmadov 4-1-0 vs. 7-3-0 Zelg “Benkei” Galesic
Yoon Dong Sik 3-4-0 vs. 7-10-0 Shungo Oyama
Ronaldo Jacare vs. 16-6-0 Frank Trigg

Previously announced:
Tournament fights
Kazushi Sakuraba 23-10-1 vs. Andrews Nakahara
Kiyoshi Tamura 28-14-0 vs. 38-12-1 Masakatsu Funaki
Denis Kang 29-9-1 vs. 20-2-1 Gegard Mousasi

Non-Tournament:
Shinya Aoki 14-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 JZ Calvan

Also rumored for this card is Nick Diaz, he had agreed to fight Marcelo Garcia but that did not work out. Hopefully DREAM finds an opponent for him.

http://www.graciefighter.com/?page=news&PHPSESSID=27bee539d74156e1549c0ba56ae466d9

**UPDATE***
Akiyama is gettting his knee checked, there should be an official next week but he might not be able to participate. FEG has now also denied that Akiyama will get a pass to the 2nd round like Caol Uno did.
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080418-00000033-spnavi-fight.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080419-00000003-spnavi_ot-fight.html

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