3/15 DREAM - Fight Order Announced

DREAM has announced the fight order for Saturday's event. It was expected that the main event would be between Aoki and JZ, but I thought they might slip CroCop in there, they didn't.

I am surprised that Oumakhanov vs. Nagata is so high up though... I think the Hansen vs. Boku fight will be better...

Anyway, I think there will be some upsets in this first round. I think Eddie Alvarez will take out Dida. Also, Boku and Miyata are underestimated. I think Hellboy will win, but it is not an easy fight (as I have seen in some discussions).

In the superfight, look out for Monma, another fighter I think is underestimated.

This will be an awesome event, I can't wait!! Just to make it clear, I will be at the event so NO PLAY-BY-PLAY this time, sorry.

10- Shinya Aoki 12-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 Gesias "J.Z." Calvancante
9- Tatsuya Kawajiri 20-4-2 vs. 9-6-0 Kultar “Black Mamba” Gil
8- Andre "Dida" Amade 6-2-1 vs. 12-1-0 Eddie Alvarez
7- (SF) Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic 22-6-2 vs. 3-2-0 Tatsuya Mizuno
6- Mitsuhiro Ishida 15-3-1 vs. 0-1-0 Bu Kyung Jung
5- Artur Oumakhanov 7-2-0 vs. 3-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata
4- Kazuyuki Miyata 5-6-0 vs. 11-3-0 Luiz Firmino "Buscape"
3- Koutetsu Boku 13-4-1 vs. 16-6-1 Joachim Hansen
2- (SF) Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 31-7-2 vs. 14-7-3 Hidetaka Monma
1- (SF) Minowaman 38-27-8 vs. TBA

(SF) = Super Fight

Source:
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080313-00000012-spnavi-fight.html

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Mark Hunt to fight in DREAM

Mark Hunt has had an interview with Rogue Magazine. In it he explains why he is taking the K-1 fight with Schilt and where his future is.

Seems the K-1 fight is a once of return to K-1, after that there will be MMA fights. Since K-1 and DREAM are closely related, DREAM will be his likely home. When asked about his first MMA fight, his answer was May 8. There is no DREAM event on that date... But there is one May 11. We have to wait and see what happens. Either way, Mark Hunt is on his way back to MMA!

Read the complete interview here:
http://www.roguemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=231&Itemid=86

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4/5 Cage Force 06 - Fights confirmed

Finally, Cage Force has published their fights for the bantamweight tournament. There was also a surprise main event on this card. As we know, Artur Oumakhanov will compete in the DREAM tournament this year. Because of that, he has returned his Cage Force belt. There will be a fight for the vacant title on April 5.

The card looks awesome and I think this will be a very good event.

Main event: Cage Force Lightweight Title Fight
Tomonari Kanomata 11-2-3 vs. 8-2-0 Mizuto Hirota

Featherweight tournament fights:
Yuji Hoshino 13-7-7 vs. 10-3-0 Antonio Carvalho
Adrian Pang 13-5-1 vs. 9-5-0 Armando Sanchez

Bantamweight tournament fights:
Ryota 2-0-0 vs. 8-6-0 Taiyo Nakahara
Daichi Fujiwara 6-1-1 vs. Katsuya Toida
Masahiro Oishi 17-9-7 vs. 12-4-0 Paul McVeigh

Non-tournament fights:
Bantamweight: Naoya Uematsu 14-7-2 vs. 6-1-0 James Doolan
Lightweight: Wataru Miki 12-7-2 vs. 9-2-1 Yoshihiro Koyama

Preliminary fights:
Featherweight: Tomoyuki Miyaji 2-0-0 vs. Nobutaka Hiyoshi
Lightweight: Junichi Ota vs. Naoto Miyazaki

***UPDATE***
Takeya Mizugaki 8-2-2 vs. 2-1-1 Robson Moura - Mizugaki got injured during training, but will be fit in June. Moura excepted to fight in June, but for an increased fee. This was unacceptable to GCM, so we will see if this fight will happen.

Source:
http://gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_03/0312_gcm_02.htm
http://gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_03/0312_gcm_03.htm
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080312-00000028-spnavi-fight.html

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3/15 DREAM - Mirko has opponent, DREAM has rules

Mirko's opponent for his return to Japan is Tatsuya Mizuno. Mizuno is a Pancrase fighter in a very thin Pancrase Heavyweight division. The best fighter he has fought to date is Assuerio Silva, he lost by TKO in round 2. None of his fights to date has gone the distance, and I am willing to bet that this one won't go the distance either.

Also, DREAM has announced that they will have 10 minutes first round, followed by 5 min. second round.
-No kicking a downed opponent, which means, soccer-kicks are not allowed.
-In case of No Contest, the fighter who can continue will go through to the next round, if neither fighter is able to contine the promoter will chose a fighter to go through.
-In case of injury, the fighter who can continue will go through to the next round, if neither fighter is able to contine the promoter will chose a fighter to go through.

Weight divisions:
Light weight under 70kg
Welter weight under 76kg
Middle weight under 84kg
Light-heavy weight under 93kg
Heavy weight Over 93.1 kg

Superfights:
Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic 22-6-2 vs. 3-2-0 Tatsuya Mizuno
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 31-7-2 vs. 14-7-3 Hidetaka Monma

Lightweight GP:
Mitsuhiro Ishida 15-3-1 vs. 0-1-0 Bu Kyung Jung
Artur Oumakhanov 7-2-0 vs. 3-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata
Andre "Dida" Amade 6-2-1 vs. 12-1-0 Eddie Alvarez
Shinya Aoki 12-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 Gesias "J.Z." Calvancante
Tatsuya Kawajiri 20-4-2 vs. 9-6-0 Kultar “Black Mamba” Gil
Kazuyuki Miyata 5-6-0 vs. 11-3-0 Luiz Firmino "Buscape"
Koutetsu Boku 13-4-1 vs. 16-6-1 Joachim Hansen

Participating:
Minowaman 38-27-8

Source:
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080311-00000014-spnavi-fight.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080311-00000012-spnavi-fight.html

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3/23 Shooto - Hiroshima

March 23 Shooto will hold an event in Hiroshima. Again, think the main purpose is to complete the Rookie Tournament fight, there are also a few amateur fights.

Takeshi Okada 4-3-1 vs. 1-3-1 Nobuhiro “Mike” Hayakawa

Shooto Rookie Tournament:
Ono 虎眼 賢良 vs. Makoto Akazawa
Jun Nakazoe vs. Kentaro Watanabe

Grappling fight:
Toshihiko Sugimoto vs. Masahiro Aihara

Amateur Shooto:
Raita Koike vs. Daisuke Hara
Shou Nishida vs. Shingo Makita
Noriyuki Takei vs. Yamato Okada

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3/21 Shooto - Kitazawa Townhall

For this event, there are more losses than wins on the card... Still I want to take you back to 2003 Katsuhisa Akasaki stepped into the ring against a debutant Nat McIntyre. At the time Akasaki's record was 0-10-1. Before the night was over, Akasaki had secured his first win. Nat McIntyre has not lost since (I would like to see him back here!). The 21st, Akasaki is facing Matsufuji from Fukuoka (his record isnt much better...). I always cheer for fighters from Fukuoka, its where I studied Japanese. If you go to this event, cheer for these guys, they both deserve it.

This card I am actually more excited about the rookie tournament than the main-card, but this will be an event where some fighters will get an hard earned victory.

Kenichi Sawada 3-7-2 vs. 2-2-0 Katsuya Murofushi
Yuji Inoue 3-3-1 vs. 5-6-2 Kyotaro Nakao
Shinichi Hanawa 3-6-1 vs. 1-3-0 Joji Shimada
Katsuhisa Akasaki 2-13-1 vs. 1-4-0 Hiroharu Matsufuji

Shooto Rookie Tournament:
KG Shinto vs. Kazuya Satomoto
Youichiro Sato vs. Ishinaka　暢
Naoki Hirayama vs. 小知和 晋

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3/28 Shooto - Back to Our Roots 8

I have a lot of Shooto cards to catch up on... Truth is that there are SO many of them this month. This will one of the big ones. Shooto has a lot of passionate fans and they have a lot of great fighters, this event we will see more than a few of them in action.

The main event will be for the Lightweight title. As has been discussed earlier, rumor is that Antonio Carvalho gave up this title shot to fight in the Cage Force tournament. The title fight has gone to Hideki Kadowaki. Kadowaki will not be an easy opponent for Tamura thought, in his last fight he choked out Rumina Sato and he is very strong on the ground. Other names to take note of Baret Yoshida (returning after almost 5 years), Hatsu Hioki, Koetsu Okazaki (let's see if he can finish Ueda, all his fights seem to go the distance), Masakatsu Ueda and "Lion" Takeshi.

There are more fights to be announced, this will be a very good event!

Main Event:
Akitoshi Tamura 11-5-2 vs. 12-7-2 Hideki Kadowaki
Masakatsu Ueda 7-0-1 vs. 5-0-1 Koetsu Okazaki
Baret Yoshida 5-5-1 vs. 14-3-1 Hatsu Hioki
Tetsu Suzuki 5-5-3 vs. 6-3-1 Hiroyuki Tanaka
Tenkei Fujimiya 7-2-2 vs. Hiroshi Nakamura

Rookie Lightweight Tournament:
Kenichiro Marui vs. Hiroshige Tanaka

Also participating:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 14-2-0

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2/22 DEEP Impact 34 - More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from DEEP 34, thanks to Cliff.

IMG_3432
Originally uploaded by japanmma

Yoshiyuki Nakanishi Def. Shunsuke Inoue in a fight that really got the crowd going. The heavyweights showed a lot of heart in this fight.

IMG_3668
Originally uploaded by japanmma

The fight between Toshiaki Kitada and Isao Terada ended in a draw.

IMG_3688
Originally uploaded by japanmma

Of course there were ring girls. I like the DEEP production, but the ring girls are not as good as Pancrase IMO. Also, they don't pose after the event, something that makes it harder to get good shots.

IMG_3728
Originally uploaded by japanmma

IMG_3991
Originally uploaded by japanmma

Ryuta Sakurai and Riki Fukuda in what was fight of the night.

IMG_3992
Originally uploaded by japanmma

IMG_4078
Originally uploaded by japanmma

Daijiro Matsui defeated Ryo, but I think he was lucky to win this... It was a decision that could have gone either way.

IMG_4325
Originally uploaded by japanmma

Some times life can be painful, we've all been there... Another thing to note, we take a lot of pictures at these events. It is not easy, because the auto-focus focuses on the ropes... Hanging over the ropes makes it easier.

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5/3 Shooto - Road to 20th Anniversary

Shooto has announced what promises to be a very good event. Probably their main event for the year. In 2007, the best card Shooto put up (IMO) was Back to Our Roots 6. Let's hope this event will be as good. Considering the Back to Our Roots 8 card, this looks like it will be a good Shooto year.

Currently, only 2 fights are announced. It is also known that Shooto star Rumina Sato will fight in this event. The main event will be the welterweight title fight between Takashi Nakakura and Ganjo Tentsuku.

Confirmed:
Takashi Nakakura 9-2-1 vs. 9-2-2 Ganjo Tentsuku
Ryuichi Miki 6-2-2 vs. 14-3-5 Yasuhiro Urushitani

Participating:
Rumina Sato 24-11-2

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3/29 ClubDEEP and DEEP Megaton GP

On March 29 DEEP will hold 2 events in Shinjuku Face. First out is ClubDEEP. This is mainly a grappling event, but there are a few MMA fights on the card. The main event is most likely Ryan Bow versus Naoki Matsushita, just this fight should justify the enterance fee. Ryan Bow is always exciting to watch and I think he should win this.

CLUB DEEP Doors Open 13：30　Start 14：00
Han Su Fan (?) Vs.. 6-5-2 LUIZ
Ryan Bow 16-8-1 Vs. 9-9-8 Naoki Matsushita

Grappling Rule:
Seiichi Ikemoto Vs. Kosuke Umeda
Atsuhiro Tsuboi Vs. Tomoya Miyashita（POWER OF DREAM）
Hirotaka Miyakawa VS Ippo Watanuki
Yuki Inoue VS Yoshitomo Watanabe
Jin Kitasaki Vs Kanetaro
Kosei Kubota Vs. Taruhika Kubo
Tetsuya Yoshioka Vs. Kenji Shiota
Participating
Guy Delameau (?)ガイ・デルモ
Sadao Kondo

In the evening, they will hold the Megaton tournament. DEEP has been promoting the heck out of this one. I am sure it will be entertaining, though I suspect the skills on display will be more strength related than technique. These are big guys!

Chance for a good DEEP day!

DEEP Megaton GP2008 Doors Open 18：00　Start 18：30
Participants:

Muscle Hironuma
Yusuke Kawaguchi
Yoichi Babaguchi
Kintaro Tsurukame
Nobuyoshi Takahara
Ken Orihashi
Wakaarashi
Ariyama Iiitomo
Tadahiro Kosaka
Ryosuke Kojima
Masanari Hosaka
Shunji Kosaka
Muneyuki Suzuki
Wakamusashi☆Kazuki
Mamoru Nakamura
Katsuhika Kumano

Opening fight　Oyaji MEGATON
Hiroshi Kiyohara VS Yoshihito Takahashi

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