7/10 DREAM 15 - Press Conference

FEG held a press conference earlier today, the main topic was DREAM 15. Although it was announced that Minowaman will take part in the DREAM 14 card, against TBA.

For DREAM 15, it will take place in Saitama Superarena on July 10. Planned participants are:

-Shinya Aoki
-Tatsuya Kawajiri
-Gegard Mousasi
-Melvin Manhoef
-Alistair Overeem

The fans asked if there would be a fight between Aoki and Kawajiri, that was not confirmed, but it was hinted that it will be a card with fights between rivals.

There will also be 2 Light-Heavyweight fights on the card, the winners of which will be facing eachother on DREAM 16, which will be held in September and air on TBS on a "Golden time", meaning primetime.

The first fights for Dream 15 should be announced at Dream 14.

On that note, Kawajiri is posing as a samurai (Ryoma Sakamoto) on the cover of Kamipro.

HT: tastetherainbow and nelson

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DREAM LHW GP in 2010?

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Mousasi manager Apy Echteld has said that Mousasi is planning to compete in a DREAM LHW tournament next year.

According to the story, round 1 will be held on May 30, with round 2 in July.

Should be something to look forward to, if DREAM continue to work with Sengoku (and Strikeforce) we might see a dream fight of Mousasi vs. King Mo.

HT: heavymetalnick

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DREAM 9 - Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou

Though not officially announced, it is confirmed by several sources that Sokoudjou will return to Japan in May. He had a very rapid rise to fame in Pride, knocking out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Richardo Arona in 2007. When the UFC bought Pride, he went to the UFC and has not been able to replicate his success there.

Now he is released from the UFC and DREAM has picked him up, on his return he will face DREAM middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who is on an 11 fight winning streak.

The fight will be fought at light-heavyweight.

Light-Heavy: Gegard Mousasi 24-2-1 vs. 5-4-0 Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

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12/31 Dynamite - Mousasi/Kawajiri Fighting K-1 Rule

I am a bit confused about the fights added today, 2 of the biggest DREAM profiles are fighting K-1 rules...

It was announced earlier this week that Gegard Mousasi will participate in next years ADCC championships. Since that announcement was made, I figured he will be focusing on his grappling... Today it is announced that he will take on the Japanese star Musashi in a K-1 rules fight on NYE.

As if that wasnt enough... Kawajiri is also fighting K-1 rules... He is taking on Kozo Takeda.

This will be something that should draw a crowd, and Mousasi is a good kick-boxer... Either way, I am sure some fans will be disappointed also...

Added:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda

Previously announced:
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-11-1 vs. 32-13-2 Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen 19-7-1 vs. 14-2-1 "JZ" Gesias Cavalcante

K-1 Youth Tournament Semi-Final (Final held same night):
Hiroya vs. Shota Shimada
Tatsuya Kusakabe vs. Koya Urabe

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9/23 DREAM 6 - PICTURES

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

DREAM kicked off their 6th event with the Middleweight reserve fight. Yoon Dong Sik was the favorite here, but Andrews Nakahara pulled out the surprise win. It has to be said that Nakahara had a lot of fans in the audience, most likely due to his karate background rather than his MMA debut fight.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

The second fight was Mousasi against Manhoef. I expected Manhoef to come out swinging for the fences, but he never really got going. Mousasi was all over him on the ground and pulled out a spectaturlar (much due to Manhoef's strength) triange choke submission. Manhoef has later announced that he will retire from MMA, but seems more to spend time with his family than disapointment.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Jacare was able to take Galesic to the ground quickly, once there he wasted no time in getting mount. Galesic showed a lot of strength in being able to turn the mount, but then he had to deal with Jacare's guard. Jacare was able to secure a quick armbar.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

K-Taro made his return to MMA and Japan against Krazy Bee's BJJ coach, Adriano Martins. The fight went the distance, but K-Taro was the better fighter in the end.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Kharitonov was meant to face Mighty Mo, but due to injury DREAM had to find a very late replacement. Up stepped Jimmy Ambriz. Taking a fight against Kharitonov on such short notice shows a lot of courage, but he was outclassed in this fight.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

The fight I had the highest expectations for was Yamamoto vs. Tokoro. Tokoro has a string of very entertaining wins in DREAM now, but this one he was not able to take Yamamoto to the ground as much as he wanted.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Once on the ground, he was close to securing an armbar, but Yamamoto was saved by the bell. The fight went the distance and Yamamoto took the decision. A strong performance by the Krazy Bee fighter.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Minowa made his signature entry. Facing him this time was the old Pro-Wrestler and Pancrase veteran, Funaki.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Funaki pulled out something that a lot of people would view as an upset, but Minowa's form lately has not been great. Funaki won by a heel-hook, or was it a toe-hold?

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Akiyama will never be finished appologizing... But it makes for a good entry, so I think he almost does it more for show now...

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

His opponent today was the relatively inexperienced Masannori Tonooka. Akiyama was able to do pretty much as he wanted.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

He secured a quick win by armbar.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Aoki faced the American wrestler Todd Moore. It went as you would expect, Aoki was able to wrap Moore up pretty quickly. Looked like he was going for a rear-naked choke, but in the end the winning submission was a neck crank.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

There were glimmers of the old Crocop, but he did not seem to threaten Overeem too much. Overeem hit Crocop with an accidental knee to the groin and the fight ended in a no contest. But until that point there was little doubt that Overeem had Crocop on the ropes. Hopefully Crocop recovers so we can see a re-match.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

The Middleweight final was between Jacare and Mousasi. Jacare took Mousasi down, but Mousasi does have a good guard. Jacare got careless diving in and Mousasi hit him with a well placed upkick. KO win for Mousasi and he is the DREAM middleweight champion.

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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Mousasi was the big winner on the night, but now comes the big question about DREAM's future.

Just on a side note, any ring girl pictures will from now be posted here: http://japanese-ringgirls.blogspot.com/

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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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9/23 DREAM 6 - Middleweight Tournament Finals

DREAM have announced the semi-finals for their Middleweight tournament. In addition to that, Hideo Tokoro will get another fight, his 3rd in DREAM. This is undoubtebly because of the popularity he has been gaining, his DREAM fights have been awesome and I am sure they are looking for him to deliver again. Tokoro is undefeated in DREAM so far.

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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