4/25 ASTRA - Omigawa vs. Miller Announced

The Astra card will be all about Yoshida's farewell. But I am sure there will be some other big fights on the card too. Today one of them was announced.

Omigawa really turned his career around with his performance in the Sengoku featherweight tournament. In 2009 he went 5-1-1, making his MMA record 9-8-1. He will be taking on ATT fighter and DREAM, WEC and Shine veteran Micah Miller.

The other fight announced today will see the very promising Tatsunao Nagakura, who will take on the more experienced Akihiko Mori.

Added:
Michihiro Omigawa 9-8-1 vs. 13-3-0 Micah Miller
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-0-0 vs. 8-7-1 Akihiko Mori

Previously announced:
Yuya Shirai vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills

Participants:
Hidehiko Yoshida 9-7-1
Makoto Takimoto 6-5-0
Kazuhiro Nakamura 13-10-0
Denis Kang 32-12-1

Discuss in the FORUM

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4/25 ASTRA - First Fight Announced, Denis Kang Added

J-Rock have announced their first fight for the Astra card on April 25. DEEP champion, Yuya Shirai will take on Che Mills in a welterweight fight.

Also announced as a participant is Denis Kang, who is returning to Japan after his disapointing loss in the Dream middleweight tournament in 2008. Kang will be eager to get back to winning here.

Announced:
Yuya Shirai vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills

Participants:
Hidehiko Yoshida 9-7-1
Makoto Takimoto 6-5-0
Michihiro Omigawa 9-8-1
Kazuhiro Nakamura 13-10-0
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-0-0
Denis Kang 32-12-1

Discuss in the FORUM

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7/21 DREAM 5 - Another Participant Announced

SportsNavi has in an article added Japanese Pro-Wrestler Katsuyori Shibata. He is a guy that really needs a win, will be interesting to see who they pair him up with.

I expect there will be further announcements around this card in the coming days as the Fight Fesitval draws to a close

Participant added:
Katsuyori Shibata 2-4-0

Already confirmed:
Lightweight Final: Winners of Semi-Finals

Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Non-tournament:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez

Other participants (previously announced):
-Mark Hunt 5-3-0
-Joachim Hansen 17-7-1
-Mirko CroCop 23-6-2
-Minowaman 39-28-8
-Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 (1NC)
-Denis Kang 29-10-1 (rumored)

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7/21 DREAM 5 - Mark Hunt is back?!?!

As some of you will notice, and NoB has done as well, the graphics on the left side (the DREAM 5 graphic) has announced some new participants in this event! Who are they?

None other than:
-Mark Munt 5-3-0
-Joachim Hansen 17-7-1
-Mirko CroCop 23-6-2
-Minowaman 39-28-8

Other participants (previously announced):
-Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 (1NC)
-Denis Kang 29-10-1 (rumored)

This card is really taking shape!

I have a feeling Joachim might be in a reserve fight, but lets wait and see. For me, I am thinking this is enough to buy my ticket!

Already confirmed:
Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Non-tournament:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez

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7/21 DREAM 5 - Semi-Finals Deceided

DREAM drew teh semi-final match-ups during the event today. DREAM 4 turned out to be an awesome event, and DREAM 5 promises to further improve on that.

The semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Also on the card:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez

Participating:
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 (1NC)
Denis Kang 29-10-1

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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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Random Bits 4/17

There are some big news for MMA fans in Japan today, if you are not in Japan I guess the news is that good quality stuff will make it to YouTube and the likes.

-Again, credit goes to Nightmare of Battle!! Don't know how they do it, but they were before the Japanese media with this one... Anyway, DREAM is on SkyPerfect PPV!!! Why am I happy about this? To be honest, I appreaciate the TBS coverage, but the production is not good. I think the live production will be better. They will not have a time limit and will show the full fights. If you are in Japan, here is where you order.

http://www.ppvj.co.jp/battle/dream/dream2.html
http://www.ppvj.co.jp/battle/dream/dream3.html

DREAM 3, Hellboy is fighting, I will be there!!!

Oh, almost forgot, Shooto on May 3 is also on PPV!!!! This has to be one of the best Shooto cards I have ever seen!! Will be worth the PPV.

http://www.ppvj.co.jp/battle/shooto/

-Denis Kang is preparing for his DREAM debut. Here is an awesome article on Combatstyle.com. Well worth the read!!!

http://www.combatlifestyle.com/words/gdetail.php?id=58

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4/29 DREAM 2 - Fights Announced

DREAM has announced their first fights for the Middleweight tournament. I thought Sakuraba was out, but looks like they pulled him back in... He is facing Andrews Nakahara, a Brazilian Karate specialist.

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

http://www.dreamofficial.com/news/detail.php?id=1206599249
http://www.dreamofficial.com/

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4/29 DREAM 2 - Participants

DREAM has announced (it was actually done at the DREAM event on Saturday) 7 participants for the Middleweight tournament. It is more a field designed to please the Japanese audience than the hard-core MMA fan, from what I can see. But still, it should be an exciting event and these are only half of the tournament participants.

After the dissapointing TBS results for the first event, I am sure they will have some Super-Fights that will draw more viewers.

The fighters announced for the Middleweight tournament:
Kazushi Sakuraba 23-10-1 (2 NC)
Yoon Dong Sik 3-4-0
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 (2 NC)
Shungo Oyama 7-10-0
Taiei Kin 2-2-0
Masakatsu Funaki 38-12-1
Ikuhisa Minowa “Minowaman” 39-27-8

Rumored:
Kiyoshi Tamura 27-14-0
Denis Kang 29-9-1

I am putting in the rumored fighters, because the are, as NOB has pointed out, featured on the poster.

Also, just in case you are wondering, DREAM has said they will make an announcement this week with regards to the Lightweight tournament and the controversy surrounding the Aoki vs. JZ decision.

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K-1 Hero's 10/28

Marcelinho Garcia has signed to fight Kim Dae Won in Hero's in Korea October 28. This is a video of Marcelinho Garcia from last year. He is an accomplished BJJ fighter with 1 MMA fight (win). I have only seen Kim Dae Won in one fight, his loss to Joe Doerksen in DEEP 29. This was a fight he was tied up and submitted by a triangle choke within 4 minutes.

Other fighter confirmed for this event:
-Yoshihiro Akiyama
-Denis Kang
-Minowaman
-Dong Sik Yoon
-Taiei Kin
-Kim Min Soo
-Shugo Oyama
-Bernard Ackah

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HERO'S KOREA 2007 10/28

It is official, FEG announced today that Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama will fight in HERO'S in Seoul 10/28. Denis Kang's debut in HERO'S will be eagerly anticipated by his Korean fans.

Also due to appear is Dong Sik Yoon who had an impressive win in Hero's last month. In addition to Taiei Kin who has 3 fights in Heros with a 2-1 record.

The oponents for these fighters have not yet been set, but this will be a very exciting event for the Korean fans.

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Denis Kang in Korea!

During today's K-1 GP in Korea, the cameras showed Denis Kang in the audience. Does this mean that he will fight in the HERO's event 10/28?? This is very likely, we just have to wait and see if this is confirmed and who will be the opposition?

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