5/29 DREAM 14 - "Kid" Yamamoto Added

FEG have announced the addition of Japanese star "Kid" Yamamoto to Dream 14. His opponent will be Team Quest's Federico "Kiko" Lopez. This fight was supposed to be on the Strikeforce undercard, but has been moved to the Dream 14 event. Both fighters are coming of 2 straight losses, "Kid" losing to "Kiko"'s team-mate, Joe Warren. No doubt that "Kid" will be the crowd favorite here, but both fighters will be eager to start another winning streak. It will be interesting to see what Warren has been able to teach his team-mate.

Picture from GBRing.com


Added:
Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-3-0 vs. 4-2-0 Federico "Kiko" Lopez

Previously Announed:
Feather: Joachim Hansen vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Feather: Hideo Tokoro vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Feather: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Kenji Osawa
88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie
Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz

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MMA Events in Japan 15-31 May

May is going to be a busy month of MMA in Japan, and there are some very good cards coming up.

Here is a list of what is coming up:

16th May:
-In Tokyo, this will be a day of kickboxing events. In Differ Ariake, Rise will hold their 65th event and in Korakuen Hall will be the New Japan Kickboxing event.

-DEEP is putting on a clubDEEP card in Toyama's Eventplaza. Of course, the Club Barbarian fighters come out in force and there are some good fights on the card. Including Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka vs. Koichiro Matsumoto and Yuya Osugi vs. Kleber Koike. Missing from the card is the retired Miku Matsumoto, but I am sure she will be there watching over things.

-Shooto's Grapplingman 11 will be held in Hiroshima Industrial Hall. Headlining the event will be Kazuhiro Ito vs. Bae Yong Kwon. In addition to that there will be some Rookie Tournament fights on the card.

22. May:
-Tribalate vol. 28 will be in Shinjuku Face.

23. May:

-The female fighters of Jewels will be followed by ClubDEEP in Shinkiba 1st Ring. I am expecting a sold out event for JEWELS again, the card includes the popular Saori Ishioka vs. Mai Ichii and another crowd favorite in Mika Nagano will take on Team Hellboy's Celine Haga. Hellboy himself might be ringside for this one, and it should be a fight the crowd gets into. Being Norwegian I know who I am cheering for! I also know that Celine has had very good training leading up to this fight.

The ClubDEEP event will follow Jewels, and is headlined by Hiroki Sato vs. Shuji Morikawa.

27. May:
-Krush 7 in Shinjuku Face. This should be a good kickboxing (K-1 rule) event. On the card will be amoung others, the HEAT veteran Danilo Zanolini.

29. May:

-The month of May really finishes on a high! DREAM 14 is looking like a very very good event! Arguably some of the best featherweights in the world will square off in Saitama Superarena:

Joachim Hansen vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Hideo Tokoro vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Yoshiro Maeda vs. Kenji Osawa

Add to that the non-featherweight fights:
88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie
Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz

This should be an awesome event!

30. May:

-The DREAM event will be followed by a very awesome Shooto event in JCB Hall.

The card has 3 title fights:
Light: "Lion" Takeshi Inoue vs. Hatsu Hioki
Bantam: Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Ryuichi Miki
Welter: Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire vs. Yusuke Endo

Some very good fighters will return:
62kg: Rumina Sato vs. Ryota Matsune
Feather: Akitoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Ueda

Then there are some other very solid fights:
Welter: Kotetsu Boku vs. Yoshihiro Koyama
Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo
Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Wataru Miki

It looks like another very strong Shooto card, maybe the best in years.

-On the same day, MA Japan Kickboxing is holding an event in Differ ariake.
-And the J-Network has a double event in Shinjuku Face

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5/30 The Way of SHOOTO 03 - "Shooto Junkie" Returns!!

I have been hoping this day would come for a long time! Ryota Matsune will return to the ring, against another Shooto legend, Rumina Sato. The fight was announced today at Shooto GIG Tokyo Vol. 4.

The card is shaping up to be one of the best Shooto cards in a while, even with the Vale Tudo card last year. There are 3 fights on the card, and they are all good fights too.

Also worth noting is that there are 3 fighters from Paraestra Matsudo, where Ryota Matsune is the MMA coach.

Bantamweight World Title Fight:
Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Ryuichi Miki

Welterweight World Title Fight:
Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire 15-2-0 vs. 13-3-2 Yusuke Endo

Lightweight World Title Fight:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 18-3-0 vs. 20-4-2 Hatsu Hioki

62kg: Rumina Sato 25-14-2 vs. 15-1-1 Ryota Matsune
Welter: Kotetsu Boku 16-6-2 vs. 14-3-1 Yoshihiro Koyama
Feather: Akitoshi Tamura 14-8-2 vs. 10-1-2 Masakatsu Ueda
Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas 8-2-0 vs. 6-1-2 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari 6-3-3 vs. 16-9-3 Wataru Miki

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4/25 ASTRA - Yoshida's Farewell Event - Fighters missing weight

Astra is hosting the final fight in Hidehiko Yoshida's long career. The event will take place in Nippon Budokan, and it should be a perfect setting for this event. Yoshida will face Kazuhiro Nakamura, a team mate and friend in this fight. He also outweights his opponent with almost 20kg going in.

3 fighters missed weight in the weigh-in, but the fights will go as planned. Naoyuki Kotani managed to cut the 0.1kg and make weight on his second attempt, but Jorge Masvidal and Che Mills also missed weight.

Also on this card, Enson Inoue will return to the ring against Antz Nansen.

There are lots of good fights on this card, that can only be seen by the people in attendence or by ordering it on SkyPerfect PPV.

Main-Event - Hidehiko Yoshida Retirement Fight:
11. Open: Hidehiko Yoshida (113.0kg) 9-7-1 vs. 13-10-1 Kazuhiro Nakamura (95.7kg)

10. Feather: Michihiro Omigawa (65.0kg) 9-8-1 vs. 13-3-0 Micah Miller (65.0kg)
9. Light-Heavy: Enson Inoue (92.9kg) 11-8-0 vs. 1-0-0 Antz Nansen (94.5kg)
8. Welter: Ryo Chonan (76.8kg) 17-10-0 vs. 6-5-1 Jung Hwan Cha (76.1kg)
7. Light: Naoyuki Kotani (70.1kg→70.0kg) 20-9-7 vs. 19-5-0 Jorge Masvidal (70.5kg)
6. Light: Daisuke Nakamura (69.3kg) 20-12-0 vs. 9-4-2 Ganjo Tentsuku (69.5kg)
5. Welter: Yuya Shirai (76.9kg) 18-8-0 vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills (77.4kg)
4. Feather: Tatsunao Nagakura (64.8kg) 5-0-0 vs. 8-7-1 Akihiko Mori (64.8kg)

Opening Fight:　
3. Heavy: Seigo Mizuguchi 7-5-0 vs. 0-1-0 Baru Harn
2. Middle: Yusuke Sakashita 6-2-0 vs. 6-10-2 Kenji Nagai
1. Bantam: Ryosuke Komori 4-2-0 vs. 7-11-6 Takumi Murata

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Fernendes perseveres, defends featherweight title at DREAM 13....

Thanks to Kris Hartrum who has sent me this report from yesterday's event.

It was another solid event for FEG's DREAM as the promotion succeeded in delivering their 13th installment on Monday March 22, 2010 in Yokohama Japan.


Defending champ Bibiano Fernandes kept the championship belt after narrowly defeating former lightweight standout Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen by a close split decision in the night's headlining bout.

The first round clearly went to fast paced Fernandes who managed to dominate the former DREAM lightweight champ on the feet for the majority of the first. The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ace impressed from the opening seconds of round 1, throwing an assorted arsenal of strikes including a head kick, followed by an aggressive double-leg take down, landing Hansen on his back. Hellboy managed to keep the distance with up-kicks and was quickly back to his feet, to the crowd's approval. Hansen, the more experienced of the two, seemed to have little to offer the 2009 DREAM featherweight GP winner in first period. Fernandes continuously took advantage of Hansen's lack of takedown defense, but failed to profit from the dominant position due to the Norwegian's ferocious up-kicks and quick recovery.

Round 2 saw more of the same with the champ taking Joachim down with relative ease only to find Hansen standing, but not before avoiding the lone submission attempt of the fight as Bibiano reached for a leg-lock to no avail. As the first minute rolled away it was clear that the Pride FC veteran Hansen was gaining the upper-hand in the striking game. The resilient Brazilian remained stalwart and did not take enough damage to sway judges Gen Isono and Matt Hume, both giving Bibiano Fernandes the win by split decision after 2 rounds of featherweight action.


In the only unfortunate happening of the evening, Josh Barnett defeated Siala-Mou (Mighty Mo) Siligia, in a surprisingly “at odds," groin smashing heavyweight competition that saw an effective Mighty Moe knock-down # 3 ranked Barnett in the first moments of Round 1.

After a pair of ineffective takedown attempts, the pro-wrestling veteran Barnett nearly crippled the American/Samoan K1 kickboxer when he landed a powerful, yet off target savate (which Barnett has been recently training) kick to Siligia's groin. The shot resulted in a excruciatingly long time-stop where it seemed that Mighty Moe would not be able to continue. To the crowd's delight a reluctant Siligia decided he was able to battle on only to be thrown to the mat with a double-leg and submitted by straight armlock at 4:41 in the first round.

Post fight, an apologetic Barnett spoke the crowd and allowed Mighty Moe a free shot to the groin of his own that sent Barnett down to a knee. He told the fans in Japanese that he would fight "Anyone...anywhere!"

In his anticipated comeback fight, Boxer K.J. Noons returned successfully in defeating striker Andre "Dida" Amade with superior hands in a lightweight 5th fight of the night. Brazilian banger Amade could do little to penetrate the game of K.J. Noons who used hard boxing combinations to punish the K1 fighter's midsection. Amade used the ring to his advantage circling and evading, but Noons ability proved to be too much as he continued to pepper the Brazilian with punches.


Round 2: Amade exploded from his corner with a flying knee from across the ring but it was easily evaded. Both fighters landed impressive blows, with Noons coming out the better man in the exchanges. Amade managed to stir up the crowd by edging Noons to come at him, all the while continuing to defend and circle, throwing a few wild punches along the way. Noons continued to stalk, screaming with every punch landed. In the last minute, both fighters went for broke unleashing a fury of hay-makers, but lacking the "finishing touch," with all three judges giving the nod to Noons after 2 rounds.


In the post fight presser, Noons expressed disappointment that he was not able to knock-out his opponent and was excited to be fighting for Strikeforce in Japan.

Other Bouts:

In a battle of the Karate fighters, Ryo Chonan worked his way to a unanimous decision after 2 rounds against Kyokushin fighter Andrews Nakahara. Chonan had the upper hand in first round staying on top of the Brazilian and chipped away with punches after transitioning to a crucifix.

The second round saw more of the same save a shinning moment where Nakahara shot for the stars, nearly putting away UFC and Pride FC veteran in Chonan with heavy strikes in the clinch. Chonan held on and dragged Nakahara to the ground once more where he sealed the deal punching to the back of the head and neck in full mount taking the unanimous.


Osaka born Yoshihiro Maeda lost to Cole Escoveda by way of the most terrifying KO of the night. Pride, WEC and Pancrase veteran Maeda dominated from the start using speed and overhand punches to break through Escovedo's reach advantage, but it did not last as Escovedo planted a leg kick followed by a devastating high kick to Maeda's chin, knocking Maeda through the air, only to be finished (for good measure) by a graceful falling punch, ending the featherweight match by way of KO at 2 mintues 20 seconds in the first. Maeda was visibly shaken after the fight, and even vomited. The American WEC veteran was thrilled and told the fans he had always dreamed of fighting for the Japanese fans.

Karate bad-ass and DEEP promotion champ Katsunori Kikuno entered the ring valiantly to We are the World to meet UFC veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka in the second bout of the evening. In the first exchanges of the match, Kikuno jumped in, throwing his famous crescent-style front kick, Hironaka defending and opting for the safety of the clinch. After a 1 minute. Kikuno landed his dreaded kick to Kuniyoshi's midsection and then followed through with a right hook, KO-ing the recent shootbox victor at 1 minute and 20 seconds. Post fight, Kikuno told the crowd he hoped to move up further in the LW ranks.


"The pressure was great and I knew that if I lost I would lose a lot more than just the match," said Kikuno in the post fight interviews

In the first bout of the evening, Japan's favorite giant killing superhero Ikuhisa Minowa managed to brave the storm and submit former King of The Cage super heavy-weight champ Jimmy Ambriz by way of toe hold in 2 minutes 42 seconds in the second round. Amrbiz was successful in stuffing Minowaman's wrestling game in the first, but seemed exhausted after punching the Japanese Super Hulk champ into oblivion. At the post fight interview a happy Minowaman said Ambriz "...was able to meet me on my terms and I was able to grow as a result."

During the opening ceremony, DREAM stylistically plugged their 2010 DREAM /Strike Force inter-promotion deal, focusing heavily on Shinya Aoki and Strikeforce LW champ Gilbert Melindez's fight in mid April.

Yokohama Arena- March 22, 2010

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3/22 DREAM 13 - LIVE RESULTS

I will be putting up the live results here, discussion is in the forum.

Main Event - Featherweigth Title Fight:
7. Bibiano Fernandes (c) Def. Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen by Decision 2-1

6. Heavy: Josh Barnett Def. Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga by straight armbar Round 1

5. Light: K.J. Noons Def. Andre Dida by Decision 3-0

4. Welter: Ryo Chonan Def. Andrews Nakahara by Decision 3-0

3. Feather: Cole Escovedo Def. Yoshiro Maeda by KO Round 1
Inside legkick sets up the highkick and a BIG KO!

2. Light: Katsunori Kikuno Def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka by KO Round 1
Set up, as expected, by the cresent kick.

1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa Def. Jimmy Ambriz by heel-hook Round 2

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3/22 Shooto "The way of Shooto 2"- Fight Order

With the big DREAM event tomorrow, it is easy to forget the Shooto event in Korakuen Hall. But Sustain is putting on an awesome card with 2 belts on the line.

There are 9 fights on the card, including 4 in the traditional Rookie tournament.

Shooto World Title Fight:
9. Masakatsu Ueda 10-0-2 vs. 10-7-3 Shuichiro Katsumura

Shooto Pacific Rim Middlweight Title Fight:
8. Jung Min Kang 1-0-0 vs. 6-2-1 Yoichiro Sato

7. Bantam: Yuki Shojo 9-5-2 vs. 7-6-2 Jesse Taitano
6. Light: Katsuya Toida 11-9-3 vs. 3-0-0 Yusuke Yachi
5. Welter: Paolo Milano 8-5-1 vs. 7-4-1 Hisaki "Kotobukimaru" Hiraishi

Rookie Tournament:
4. Bantam: Yoshiyuki Takano 2-2-0 vs. 0-0-1 Kosuke "Rambo" Suzuki
3. Welter: Fumihiko Kawamura 0-1-0 vs. Shotoku Suzuki
2. Fly: Shuichiro Okumura 1-0-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tomokazu "Kewpie" Sato
1. Light: Satoshi Inaba 3-3-1 vs. Kensuke Nakamura

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3/22 DREAM 13 - Fight Order and Weigh-in

DREAM held the weighin for their 13th event today. It should be a good one, but I wish there were a few more fights on the card.

The main event should be an awesome fight, and with "Hellboy" dropping to featherweight, it will be interesting to see how he handles the challenge of meeting the DREAM champion.

The fighters have made weight, and I can't wait for tomorrow!

Main Event - Featherweigth Title Fight:
7. Bibiano Fernandes (c) (62.9kg) 7-2-0 vs. 19-8-1 (63kg) Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen

6. Heavy: Josh Barnett (115kg )24-5-0 vs. 3-1-0 (115kg) Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga
5. Light: K.J. Noons (71.8kg) 7-2-0 vs. 6-3-1 (71.5kg) Andre Dida
4. Welter: Ryo Chonan (75.8kg) 16-10-0 vs. 2-1-0 (75.4kg) Andrews Nakahara
3. Feather: Yoshiro Maeda (62.5kg) 26-7-2 vs. 15-4-0 (62.8kg) Cole Escovedo
2. Light: Katsunori Kikuno (70kg) 12-2-2 vs. 16-6-0 (70kg) Kuniyoshi Hironaka
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa (89kg) 44-30-8 vs. 14-12-1 (125kg) Jimmy Ambriz

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3/19 Jewels 7th Ring - RESULTS

Jewels had their 7th event in a packed Shinjuku Face today.

A few upsets, Hiroko gets her revenge in a close decision.

Main Event:
9. -65kg: Hiroko Yamanaka Def. Hitomi Akano by Decision 2-1

8. -52kg: Mika Nagano Def. Mai Ichii by Decision 3-0
7. -58kg: Miki Morifuji Def. Shizuka Sugiyama by Decision 3-0

ShootBoxing Rule:
6. -54kg: Ai Takahashi Def. ASAKO by TKO Round 2 1:08

5. Exhibition Fight: 5. Rena vs. Seo Hee Ham
4. -52kg: Hiroko Kitamura Def. Celine Haga by armlock Round 1 2:07
3. -48kg: Miyoko Kusaka Def. Kikuyo Ishikawa by Decision 2-1
2. -52kg: Sakura Nomura Def. Yuko Kagoshima by armbar Round 2 4:35

Opening Fight Grappling Rule:
1. -48kg: Shiho Yaginuma Def. Satoko Kameda by armbar Round 1 2:20

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3/19 Jewels 7th Ring - Weigh-in and Fight Order

Tomorrow Jewels will hold their 7th event, and again it is sold out. If you want to go, they will have some standing tickets on sale.

The main event will see StrikeForce veteran Hitomi Akano take on HIROKO in a rematch. Akano is the only loss on Hiroko's record, it will be interesting to see if she can get her revenge.

Lots of good promising fighters on the card, and it should be a good event.

Main Event:
9. -65kg: Hitomi Akano (64.7kg) 15-6-1 vs. 7-1-1 (64.2kg) Hiroko Yamanaka

8. -52kg: Mika Nagano (52.0kg) 5-2-0 vs. 3-1-0 (51.6kg) Mai Ichii
7. -58kg: Miki Morifuji (58.0kg) 8-6-0 vs. 6-1-0 (58.0kg) Shizuka Sugiyama

ShootBoxing Rule:
6. -54kg: Ai Takahashi (53.9kg) vs. (not available) ASAKO

Exhibition Fight:
5. Rena vs. Seo Hee Ham

4. -52kg: Hiroko Kitamura (52.0kg) 3-0-0 vs. 0-2-0 (51.9kg) Celine Haga
3. -48kg: Kikuyo Ishikawa (48.0kg) 2-1-0 vs. 0-1-0 (47.8kg) Miyoko Kusaka
2. -52kg: Yuko Kagoshima (51.6kg) 1-2-0 vs. (52.0kg) Sakura Nomura

Opening Fight Grappling Rule:
1. -48kg: Shiho Yaginuma vs. Satoko Kameda

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