10/25 DREAM 12 - James Thompson Added - Filho out!

FEG have today announced the opponent for Alistair Overeem for the this Sundays event in Osaka. James Thompson have been rumored to take the fight, and that has now been confirmed.

Both these fighters are popular with the Japanese crowd, and I think it will be an entertaining fight.

This card has had some setbacks and are missing a few of the fighters that were announced to participate. FEG have had to face some critizism for that, but I think and hope this card delivers.

The card should now be complete, with 9 fights.

Because this card is so close to Sengoku 11, I have added a servey, which card do you think is better? (on the right)

***UPDATE***
Paulo Filho is off the card, no announcement has been made official as to who is replacing him, but the rumor is that it will be Tarec Saffiedine.

Added:
Heavy: Alistair Overeem 30-11-0 vs. James Thompson

The rest of the card:
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 12-1-2 vs. 18-2-0 Eddie Alvarez
Light: "Parky" Won Sik Park 7-1-1 vs. 15-6-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Middle: Yoon Dong Sik 4-7-0 vs. TBA
Feather: Yoshiro Maeda 25-7-2 vs. 12-5-0 Chase Beebe
Feather: Keisuke Fujiwara 7-1-3 vs. 12-5-6 Tomoya Miyashita
Welter: Myeon Ho Bae 8-4-0 vs. 12-3-0 Marius Zaromskis
Middle: Katsuyori Shibata 3-6-1 vs. 1-4-1 Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Middle: Kazushi Sakuraba 25-12-1 vs. 9-4-0 Zelg Galesic

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4/5 DREAM 8 - Kharitonov to take on Monson!

DREAM has finalized the card for their 8th event, and I think it should be an interesting event. FEG have signed some interesting talent and there will be good fights also outside the GP.

In particular, it is interesting to see that Jeff Monson is now fighing in DREAM after fighting in Sengoku earlier. Add to that his legal problems and I am very happy to see him back in Japan.

For the welterweight GP FEG have picked up some every talented fighters and mixed with the experienced fighters already in, it should be good. In particular I am looking forward to seeing Andre Galvao in this GP, a fight between him and Sakurai should be very good. Galvao is taking on the veteran John Alessio, both making their DREAM debuts.

There might be another fight added, making it a 9-10 fight card. As has been reported, Zelg Galesic is off the card, and Andrews Nakahara is taking on Shungo Oyama instead.

Welterweight GP Round 1:
Yuya Shirai vs. 6-1-0 Jason High
Marius Zaromskis 8-2-0 vs. Seichi Ikemoto
John Alessio vs. Andre Galvao
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 34-8-2 vs. 20-3-0 Shinya Aoki

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

Non-GP Fights:
Middle: Dong Sik Yoon vs. 16-9-1 Murlio "Ninja" Rua
Middle: Andrews Nakahara vs. 7-11-0 Shungo Oyama
Heavy: Sergey Kharitonov vs. Jeff Monson
88kg: Katsuyori Shibata 2-6-1 vs. 41-29-8 Ikuhisa Minowa

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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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6/15 DREAM 4 - Live Results ***SPOILER***

For those counting down, 6 hours to go! I am not planning a play-by-play today, but will be giving a live result service.

The weigh-in results, posted in a Sherdog discussion thread with no source, but it looks ligit (DREAM weigh-ins are normally closed):

MW: Kazushi Sakuraba (83.6 kg) vs. Melvin Manhoef (84 kg)
MW: Ronaldo Jacare (83.9 kg) vs. Jason Miller (84 kg)
MW: Kin Taiei (84 kg) vs. Zelg Galesic (83.8 kg)
MW: Yoon Dong Sik (83.9 kg) vs. Gegard Mousasi (83.8 kg)
FW: Hideo Tokoro (62.9 kg) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (62.6 kg)
HW: Gadzhiev Alavutdin (89.5 kg) vs. Ralek Gracie (96 kg)
HW: Alistair Overeem (108.8 kg) vs. Lee Tae Hyun (126.7 kg)
LW: Shinya Aoki (69.7 kg) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (69.8 kg)

I had a feeling Alavutdin would be giving up a lot of weight, and this seems to confirm it. This time he has to be careful not to get mounted... Think it would be much harder to get out of this time.

Here are the fights coming up:

Lightweight Tournament:
1. Shinya Aoki Def. Katsuhiko Nagata by mounted gogopalata Round 1 (?)
Total domination by Aoki!

Non-Tournament Fights:
2. Alistair Overeem Def. Tae Hyun Lee by KO (Right hook) Round 1 0:35

This next one I am really looking forward to. It will be quick.
3. Ralek Gracie Def. Alavutdin Gadzhiyev by arm-bar Round 1
Alavutdin needs to work on his guard/ground game.

4. Hideo Tokoro Def. Darren Uyenoyama by Decision 3-0
AWESOME fight!!! This will be fight of the night.

They are drawing the LW tournament semi's in the intermission. I am confused as they asked the fans to vote for the match-ups... Either way, we will get the match-up tonight!

Matcu-ups are:
Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno

BTW, I got my wish! This is how I voted!

5. Gegard Mousasi Def. Dong Sik Yoon by decision 3-0
First round was awesome! Both fighters looked like they had their chances, Dong should maybe have finished it, but Mousasi did well in defending himself.

6. Zelg "Benkei" Galesic Def. Taiei Kin by TKO injury to right armduring take down (dislocated elbow)
Again disappointing, 2nd time Taiei Kin got injured against Galesic.

7. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza Def. Jason "Mayhem" Miller by Decision 3-0
Both these fighter would have won some fans on this performance. I have a feeling "Mayhem" is really getting a lot of fans here!

8. Melvin Manhoef Def. Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO Round 1

Read more...

DREAM 4 - Warm-Up

Some of the fighters competing on Sunday presented here:

DREAM 4 PROMO



The Middleweight Tournament Fighters:

Kazushi Sakuraba:
Highlight (any doubt he is one of the biggest names in the sport ever?)
vs. Yurij Kiselov
vs. Andrews Nakahara
vs. Carlos Newton
vs. Ebenezer Fontes Braga
vs. Kevin Randleman (last 2 min.)

Melvin Manhoef:
vs. Kim Dea Won
vs. Fabio Silva
vs. Bernard Ackah
vs. Bob Schreiber
vs. Mika Ilmen
vs. Ian Freeman
vs. Shungo Oyama
vs. Yoshiki Takahashi

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza:
Highlights
vs. Ian Murphy
vs. Alexsander Shamelenko
vs. Jorge Patino
vs. Haim Gozali
vs. Victor Babkin

Jason "Mayhem" Miller:
vs. Katsuyori Shibata
vs. Lodune Sincaid
vs. Sean Taylor
vs. Mark Moreno
vs. Falaniko Vitale

Zelg "Benkei" Galesic:
Highlights
Another Highlight, try to ignore sound quality
vs. Taiei Kin
vs. Magomed Sultanakhmedov
vs. John Flemming
vs. Michael Holmes

Taiei Kin:
vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
vs. Yusuke Fujimoto (K-1)
vs. Sentoryu (K-1)

Gegard Mousasi:
vs. Damir Mirenic
vs. Steve Mensing
vs. Hidetada Irie
vs. Tsuyoshi Kurihara
vs. Stefan Klever
vs. Denis Kang

Dong Sik Yoon:
vs. Zelg Galesic
vs. Melvin Manhoef
vs. Fabio Silva


Some of The Non-Tournament Fighters on the card:

Hideo Tokoro Highlights:




Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs. Hikaru Sato - A MUST WATCH BEFORE TOMORROW!
- You can see why I am excited about seeing Alavutdin make his DREAM debut. I think Ralek Gracie will prove a better opponent though.



Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs. Yuji Hisamatsu



Darren Uyenoyama:
vs. Ramba Somdet
vs. Anthony Figueroa

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6/15 DREAM 4 - Fight Order Announced

No big surprise that Sakuraba vs. Manhoef is the main event, it is the one the Japanese fans are looking forward too and I don't think they are alone this time! It will be very interesting to see how Sakuraba approaches that task.

I am a bit surprised that, again, Shinya Aoki is in the opening fight. Either way, lots to look forward to in this event. I will be giving the results live on Sunday, but no plans for a Play-by-Play this time.

Middleweight Tournament:
8. Kazushi Sakuraba 24-10-1 vs. 21-4-1 Melvin Manhoef
7. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza 8-1-0 vs. 21-5-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller
6. Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 8-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Taiei Kin
5. Gegard Mousasi 21-2-1 vs. 4-4-0 Dong Sik Yoon

4. Hideo Tokoro 19-13-1 vs. 4-1-0 Darren Uyenoyama
3. Alavutdin Gadzhiyev 7-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Ralek Gracie
2. Alistair Overeem 26-11-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tae Hyun Lee

Lightweight Tournament:
1. Shinya Aoki 15-2-0 vs. 4-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata

Read more...

6/15 DREAM 4 - Fight added

FEG has managed to save the situation a bit. They have had 2 fighters withdraw this week and have been lucky in that the 2 remaining fighters have agreed to face eachother.

Ralek Gracie will take on Gadzhiev Alavutdin, in a fight added to the DREAM 4 card today. Gracie was meant to fight CroCop in a special rules grappling match, and Gadzhiev Alavutdin was fighting Cacareko. Unfortunately both these fights were cancelled and now they are fighting each other. It should be an interesting fight, Gadzhiev Alavutdin has been very good in his Pancrase fights and I am really looking forward to him getting his DREAM debut.

I will give live result update from this, but since most of you hopefully are able to catch the HDNet or SkyPerfect broadcast, I am not planning a play-by-play.

The card:
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev 7-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Ralek Gracie
Hideo Tokoro 19-13-1 vs. 4-1-0 Darren Uyenoyama
Alistair Overeem 26-11-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tae Hyun Lee

Lightweight Tournament:
Shinya Aoki 15-2-0 vs. 4-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata

Middleweight Tournament:
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-10-1 vs. 21-4-1 Melvin Manhoef
Gegard Mousasi 21-2-1 vs. 4-4-0 Dong Sik Yoon
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza 8-1-0 vs. 21-5-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 8-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Taiei Kin

Read more...

6/15 DREAM 4 - CroCop Grappling Fight Official

Well, it is official, Crocop will fight a grappling fight against Ralek Gracie. Will this be a highlight in this event? Probably not, will it be good practice for Crocop? Most definately. Then I guess the question is if people want to pay to watch... I have a feeling the Japanese fans will be happy to and the average UFC fan would probably not.

Also added to the card is the fight between Hideo Tokoro and Darren Uyenoyama who holds a win agaist Rambaa Somdet in his last fight in Japan.

Added:
Grappling Fight:
Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic vs. Ralek Gracie

Featherweight Fight:
Hideo Tokoro 19-13-1 vs. 4-1-0 Darren Uyenoyama

Priviously announced:
Middleweight Tournament:
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-10-1 vs. 21-4-1 Melvin Manhoef
Gegard Mousasi 21-2-1 vs. 4-4-0 Dong Sik Yoon
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza 8-1-0 vs. 21-5-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 8-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Taiei Kin

Lightweight Tournament:
Shinya Aoki 15-2-0 vs. 4-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata

Read more...

6/15 DREAM 4 Middleweight Tournament Fights Announced

DREAM have announced the match-ups for the 2nd round in the middleweight tournament. As I expected, Manhoef made it in. There are some very interesting fights in this round, I am really looking forward to Mayhem vs. Jacare.

Middleweight Tournament:
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-10-1 vs. 21-4-1 Melvin Manhoef
Gegard Mousasi 21-2-1 vs. 4-4-0 Dong Sik Yoon
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza 8-1-0 vs. 21-5-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 8-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Taiei Kin

Lightweight Tournament:
Shinya Aoki 15-2-0 vs. 4-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata

Read more...

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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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.

Read more...

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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