Olympic Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii: "I Want to Fight in the UFC"

Olympic gold medlist Satoshi Ishii was meant to be the next big signing for FEG and DREAM. His value to them in Japan would have been huge, but yesterday the Ishii deceided to speak again. Everytime he does, its controversial...

“I’m only thinking of joining UFC. If I can’t join the UFC then my having quit judo was meaningless." He said. Zuffa on their side is saying they have not had any concrete negotiations with Ishii.

Everyone knows that the UFC contracts are exclusive and currently they dont hold events in Japan. You might think that Ishii would be a way for them to come back in to the Japanese market. Well, ishii has another golden nugget "The UFC that they hold here in Japan is a fake. I’m only shooting for America."

It looks like Ishii will debut in an MMA ring some time after next fall. Where, I think we have to wait and see. If you ask me, he is a matchmaker's dream and nightmare in one... Fact is that if not matched properly, he will end up on Jake Rossen's list.

Source:
SportsNavi

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3/15 DREAM - Tickets on sale

Looking for some thing to do March 15? Well, tickets went on sale today. This will be the biggest event since Pride (maybe bigger). I know for a fact that the ticket sales are going very well, its impossible to get through on phone and the net to book buy.

Took me 40 minutes to get through yesterday. Hope everyone that wanted tickets managed to get. If you didn't get through during the initial rush, there are still tickets available. Here is a link for the internet booking: http://eplus.jp/sys/main.jsp?prm=U=14:P0=GGWC01:P6=981:P2=022216:P3=0001:P1=0042

If you're looking for a way to kill time while trying to get through, why not try Salmon Panic? Help Joachim save the Norwegian village from the evil salmon.

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DREAM is Born - FEG and Yarennoka (DSE) unite

FEG/Pride/Yarennoka event announced! The First event Dream 1 is to be held3.15 Part of this event will be a Lightweight GP.

Our friends at Nightmare of Battle were first with the news, and have presented this list of participants.
One fight is announced, and I cant believe they are putting this in round 1.

Fights:
Shinya Aoki 12-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 Gesias "J.Z." Calvancante

Participants:
Shinya Aoki 12-2-0
Gesias "J.Z." Calvancante 14-1-1
Andre "Dida" Amade 6-2-1
Mitsuhiro Ishida 15-3-1
Tatsuya Kawajiri 20-4-2
Caol Uno 24-10-4
Joachim Hansen 16-6-1
Gilbert Melendez 13-1-0
Artur Oumakhanov 7-2-0
Koutetsu Boku 13-4-1
Bu Kyung Jung 0-1-0
Kazuyuki Miyata 5-6-0
Luiz Firmino "Buscape" 11-3-0
+another 3 (!) fighters (16 man tournament)

This is one event I will not miss. The only question is really, will Crocop participate? He was at the press conference. In my eyes, this is the start of some very exciting things in Japanese MMA!

++UPDATE++
It is confirmed that Crocop will fight in this event, the opponent is yet to be determined.

There will also be a Middleweight GP, the fighters for this will be announced at a later stage, but there is the schedule for DREAM in 2008

Dream .1 - March 15 - Saitama Superarena - Lightweight GP Round 1
Dream .2 - April 29 - Saitama Superarena - Middleweight GP Round 1
Dream .3 - May 11 - Saitama Superarena - Lightweight GP Round 2
Dream .4 - Begining of June - Korea or Yokohama Arena - Middleweight GP Round 2
Dream .5 - July 21 - Osaka Jo-Hall - Lightweight GP Finals
Dream .6 - Begining of Sept. - Saitama Superarena- Middleweight GP Finals

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