Category — DREAM

Shinya Aoki – minus those magic grappling pants of his – will make his highly anticipated Strikeforce debut in a lightweight title bout with champ Gilbert Melendez on the promotion’s April 17 card. Aoki’s DREAM title will not be on the line, although bragging rights will be. Aoki has made it clear he believes he’s the top 155-pounder on the planet and the way he snapped Mizuto Hirota’s arm in two during Dynamite!! 2009 on New Years Eve certainly solidified his reputation as a stone-cold killer.

Aoki vs. Melendez is the third title bout scheduled for that particular Strikeforce card. Gegard Mousasi will put his light heavyweight title on the line against “King Mo” Lawal and Jake Shields will defend the middleweight belt against Dan Henderson.

Just last week I complained that Josh Barnett isn’t fighting (outside of Japanese pro wrestling and local submission wrestling tournament) and he should be. Yes, the steroid scandal is still hanging over his head, but that’s really an issue for the California State Athletic Commission.

Well, somebody was listening because MMA Weekly is reporting that the former UFC, PRIDE and Affliction fighter has signed with DREAM and will make his promotion debut on March 22 against a still-unannounced opponent. Barnett was once the number two heavyweight in the world and has beaten the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture.

Toronto BJJ regular Andre “Dida” Amade will be back in action at DREAM 13 on March 22. The Chute Boxe-trained striker will face former EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons.

Dida will be looking to end a three-bout losing skid that last saw him fall to DEEP lightweight champ Katsunori Kikuno at DREAM 10. Noons, meanwhile, recently signed with Strikeforce and is on a three-fight winning streak, although he hasn’t fought since he knocked out Yves Edwards at EliteXC: Return of the King two years ago.

Also on the DREAM 13 card are Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Jimmy Ambriz, Ryo Chonan vs. Andrews Nakahara and Kikuno vs. UFC vet Kuniyoshi Hironaka.

In other TBJJ-related news, Murilo “Ninja” Rua, brother of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (who’s pictured above working out with Dida), will face Falaniko Vitale at May 15’s Shine Fight III.

Rua (18-10-1) is a PRIDE vet with a pair of knockouts in his last two bouts for the Brazil-based Bitetti Combat promotion. Vitale is a 35-fight workhorse who hasn’t competed since a loss to Frank Trigg under the Strikeforce banner two years ago. Ricardo Mayorga and Din Thomas will headline the Shine event.

Shinya Aoki just might be the most cold-blooded fighter in MMA. The magic-panted grappler broke Mizuto Hirota’s arm – he snapped the humerus, to be precise – at Dynamite!! in Japan on Friday. It was the most messed-up sick hammerlock submission that did the damage. At the post-fight press conference, the DREAM lightweight champ and recent Strikeforce recruit dubbed the move the “Keichi Sasahara 2010,” after the DREAM event producer and Aoki’s employer, who reportedly (according to Sherdog) told Aoki to “take him out.”

And while he apologized for standing over his writhing opponent and giving him the finger as well as flipping off the entire arena, Aoki was ice cold on snapping Hirota’s humerus:

“When I had his arm behind his back, I could feel it popping,” Aoki said. “I thought, ‘Well, this guy’s pride just won’t let him tap, will it?’ So without hesitation, I broke it. I heard it break, and I thought, ‘Ah, there, I just broke it.’ I was stopped afterward, but even if I hadn’t been, continuing to break it more would have been fine by me.”

Think about that. He could hear – and most-definitely feel – the bone breaking. And he didn’t care. And he had Hirota’s other arm trapped so he couldn’t tap. A lot of fighters talk a big game about ripping off opponents’ arms, but I don’t recall too many talking that tough after they actually did it.

This doesn’t quite live up to the “most brutal submission in MMA history” tag that I’d read it was, but it’s definitely top-three. Shinya Aoki and his magic grappling pants literally turns Mizuto Hirota into a pretzel before mangling his right arm during their Dynamite!! bout. Hirota’s left arm was also pinned, preventing him from tapping leaving it to the horrified referee to stop the fight. Check out the ref’s expression when he sees the wrecked arm flopping on the mat. Anybody have any idea what to call that submission? It’s not something I’ve ever been taught in BJJ.

Oh, and a note to Shinya: You just pulled off an amazing, brutal submission win that will make all the highlight reels – why show such lack of class by giving everybody the finger? Please leave those antics to Brock Lesnar.

New Year’s Eve comes early in Japan, meaning Dynamite!! 2009, the year-ending DREAM/Sengoku/K-1 event, is already in the books as of a few hours ago. And if you want to forget the year that was, I suggest you step into the ring with Alistair Overeem. I’m pretty sure Kazuyuki Fujita, who took on the Strikeforce heavyweight wrecking ball, has no memory of anything after taking a knee to the skull that dropped him through the ropes and led to him being carried out of the ring on a stretcher. Simply brutal.

Seemed like a bit of an early stoppage as Dutch sandman Melvin Manhoef dropped former PRIDE Welteweight Grand Prix Champion Kazuo Misaki with a pair of left hooks that sent him to the mat and had the referee jumping in to prevent a crime scene. It was obvious, though, that Misaki was still game – and capable – of fighting on (although I’m sure Manhoef would’ve ended it a punch or two later anyway). No matter, Manhoef, who recently inked a contract with Strikeforce, picks up the biggest win of his career thus far.

Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi made short work of Gary Goodridge with a first-round TKO via ground-and-pound. A boring fight, really, with Mousasi just packing his lunch box and going to work.

And I would love to track down video of DREAM lightweight champion (and newly signed Strikeforce fighter) Shinya Aoki ripping Mizuto Hirota’s arm out of its socket in their match-up. From all written accounts I’ve seen, it’s one of the most-horrifying, hard-to-watch submissions in MMA history. I’m sure it will pop up on Youtube shortly and when it does I’ll be sure to post it here.

Here are the full results:

* Masaaki Noiri def.Hiroya via decision (K-1)
* Shota Shimada def Katsuki Ishida via decision (K-1)
* Ikuhisa Minowa def. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou via TKO R3 (MMA/Super Hulk finale)
* Ray Sefo def. Yosuke Nishijima via decision (K-1)
* Masaaki Noiri def. Shota Shimada via decision (K-1)
* Hiroshi Izumi def. Katsuyori Shibata decision (MMA)
* Michihiro Omigawa def Hiroyuki Takaya via TKO(MMA)
* Akihiro Gono def. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai via armbar 3:56 R2 (MMA)
* Melvin Manhoef def Kazuo Misaki via TKO (MMA)
* Hideo Tokoro def. Jong Man Kim via decision (MMA)
* Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kazunori Yokota via decision (MMA)
* Masanori Kanehara def. Norofumi “Kid” Yamamoto via decision (MMA)
* Alistair Overeem def. Kazuyuki Fujita TKO knee R1 (MMA)
* Gegard Mousasi def. Gary Goodridge via TKO R1 (MMA)
* Shinya Aoki def. Mizuto Hirota via TKO/sub broken arm (MMA)
* Hidehiko Yoshida def. Satoshi Ishii via decision (MMA)
* Masato def. Andy Souwer via decision (K-1)

It ain’t New Year’s Eve without a crazy Japanese super-card. Thursday’s Dynamite!! 2009: DREAM vs. WVR (note the twin exclamation points!) promises eighteen K-1 and MMA bouts with fighters from DREAM and World Victory Road’s Sengoku series.

I’m not sure what the hell Gegard Mousasi is thinking taking on Gary Goodridge in the night’s co-headliner. Not that the Dutch fighter should have much trouble with a past-his-prime GG, I’d just rather he focus on being Strikeforce light heavyweight champ. Likewise, I’d rather Alistair Overeem get back to defending his Strikeforce heavyweight title instead of fighting Kazuyuki Fujita.

The other headliner is a K-1 match-up between Andy Souwer and Masato, which is supposed to be Masato’s career swansong. Other notables include Shinya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota, Yosuke Nishijima vs. Ray Sefo, Melvin Manhoef vs. Kazuo Misaki, Masanori Kanehara vs. Norofumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Akihiro Gono vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and DREAM’s Super Hulk open-weight tournament finale between Ikuhisa Minowa and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

Do you still want to see Fedor Emelianenko fight Josh Barnett? There are rumours of setting up the bout in the DREAM promotion in Japan early next year (possibly February). Personally, I think its time has passed. The luster is off the diamond, the bloom is off the rose. I was psyched to see the two top-ranked heavyweights in the world battle it out back in August, before bad drug tests and bad business sense caused Affliction to collapse.

Now, Fedor has just made his Strikeforce debut and should stick around to fight in that promotion. Yes, Strikeforce has a co-promotion deal with DREAM, but Fedor fighting anywhere else is a huge mistake. It’s time to capitalize on the biggest event in Strikeforce’s history, one that saw Fedor knock out challenger Brett Rogers, and to maintain and build upon that momentum Fedor needs to fight as soon as his hand heals (four- to-six weeks, by his estimate). Why waste that mainstream media exposure by having their biggest asset go off to Japan to fight? That makes no sense. Then again, neither does letting Alistair Overeem sit on his heavyweight belt while he goes off the fight in other promotions.

A couple of weeks back Japanese star Shinya Aoki talked about pitting his magic grappling pants against UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn. Well, now it seems the DREAM lightweight champ has set his sites significantly lower – on the Strikeforce lightweight division, in fact. The promotion’s CEO, Scott Coker, has confirmed to Sherdog that Aoki could make his Strikeforce debut in early 2010, possibly against lightweight champ Josh Thompson or interim champ Gilbert Melendez. Or maybe they could award Aoki a whole new lightweight title, like the magic grappling pants interim lightweight belt.

Aoki won the DREAM belt at October’s Dream 11 with a second-round armbar against Joachim Hansen. He’s also slated to face Tatsuya Kawajiri at K-1 Dynamite on New Year’s Eve in Saitama, Japan.

Strikeforce and DREAM have a talent-sharing arrangement. Last week it was announced that DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis had signed with Strikeforce and could bring his headhunting to December 19’s Strikeforce: Evolution event.

Last week I wrote briefly about 2009 DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix champ Marius Zaromskis, who has a nasty habit of head-kicking opponents into unconsciousness. Now Strikeforce has smartly snapped up Zaromskis (13-3) and signed him to a multi-fight agreement, according to MMA Mania.

The 29-year-old Lithuanian has won five straight fights and nine of his last 10, including head-kick knockouts of Jason High and Hayoto Sakurai in the same night to win the Grand Prix crown and Myeon Ho Bae at DREAM 12 just last week. All three knockouts came in the first round.

Now all Strikeforce has to do is find some welterweights to take him on considering the promotion’s 170-pound class is a little light on talent at the moment, especially with Jake Shields moving up to challenge Jason “Mayhem” Miller for the vacant middleweight title at November 7’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers event.

Tracked down a video of DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis‘ first-round head kick KO of Ho Bae Myeon at DREAM 12 on Sunday. Impressive stuff. Oh, and if you’re wide-eyed about the backflip guard pass Zaromskis attempts during the pre-fight highlight reel, it was against Seichi Ikemoto at DREAM 8 and I’ve included it below, as well. Who has the presence of mind – or lack of presence of mind considering that move is insane – to try something so risky?

And also from DREAM 12, here’s Bellator FC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez against DEEP lightweight champ Katsunori Kikuno, whose upright/arms-out Frankenstein stance can give fighters problems.

I’m reluctant to write anything about Alistair Overeem that doesn’t directly relate to him defending his Strikeforce heavyweight belt, so I’ll keep this brief. While I was still feeling stunned by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua getting robbed at UFC 104, Overeem was making short work of James Thompson at DREAM 12 in Osaka, Japan.

Overeem slapped on a guillotine choke from standing very early in the first round to end the fight and improve his record to 6-0 since winning the Strikeforce strap, although none of those fights have come in Strkeforce. BTW, I love the side-by-side comparison of Overeem circa 2006 weighing 95 kg (209.5 pounds) and the neckless Overeem of today weighing 115 kg (253.5 pounds) that’s in the video below. There’s no way to put on that much weight and remain that sculpted without a little help.

Bellator FC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez survived a tough opening frame against DEEP lightweight champ Katsunori Kikuno to end things in the second round via arm-triangle choke. Also picking up victories were DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis, who scored a head-kick KO of Ho Bae Myeon in a non-title fight; Yoshiro Maeda, a former WEC fighter, submitted former WEC bantamweight champ Chase Beebe; and the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba (26-12-1) absorbed a ton of punishment while holding onto a nasty leg-lock and finally submitting Zelg “Little Cro Cop” Galesic via kneebar in the first round.

On final observation: I like the new six-sided cage DREAM is using, especially that it’s white, making the fights crisper and clearer and easier to follow.

The full results included:

* Alistair Overeem def. James Thomson via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1
* Eddie Alvarez def. Katsunori Kikuno via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2
* Marius Zaromskis def. Myeon Ho Bae via KO (head kick) – Round 1
* Kazushi Sakuraba def. Zelg Galesic via submission (kneebar) – Round 1
* Katsuyori Shibata def. Tokimitsu Ishizawa by TKO (punches) – Round 1
* Yoon Dong Sik def. Tarec Saffiedine via split decision
* Yoshiro Maeda def. Chase Beebe via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 1
* Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. “Parky” Won Sik Park via TKO (corner’s stoppage) – Round 1
* Tomoya Miyashita def. Keisuke Fujiwara via unanimous decision

With UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun grabbing all the attention it’s easy to forget there’s another MMA event going on this weekend worth watching. Sunday will see Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem, Bellator FC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, DREAM welterweight champ Marius Zaromskis, the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba and former WEC bantamweight champ Chase Beebe all slated for action at DREAM 12 in Osaka, Japan. PRIDE FC vet and former WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho was expected to be on the card but has withdrawn because of visa issues (according Tatame).

This will be the first DREAM event to be held inside a cage (six-sided, I believe). If I’m not mistaken, the event will air on HDNet beginning at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, or roughly an hour after UFC 104 ends, which means you could make an MMA all-nighter of it.

Here’s the full DREAM 12 lineup:

* Alistair Overeem vs. James Thompson
* Zelg Galesic vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
* Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Katsuyori Shibata
* Marius Zaromskis vs. Myeon Ho Bae (non-title fight)
* Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Tomoya Miyashita
* Tarec Saffiedine vs. Yoon Dong Sik
* Chase Beebe vs. Yoshiro Maeda
* Eddie Alvarez vs. Katsunori Kikuno
* Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Won Sik Park

Speaking of spectacle, Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent company of K-1 and DREAM, has announced plans for Dynamite 2009 on New Year’s Eve. No match-ups have been announced, but there are some names being floated about, including Tatsuya Kawajiri, Shinya Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba, Hayato Sakurai, Alistair Overeem, Tim Sylvia, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto and the DREAM Super Hulk final between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Ikuhisa Minowa.

Middleweights Melvin Manhoef and Paulo Filho have signed on to October 25’s DREAM 12, which will be contested inside a six-sided cage instead of a ring.

Manhoef (23-6-1) takes on Zelg Galesic (9-4) and Filho (18-1) meets Dong Sik Yoon (4-7).

Manhoef, who recently suffered a K-1 unanimous-decision loss to Remy Bonjasky, has gone 1-2 in his last three MMA fights, including submission losses to both Gegard Mousasi and Filho.

Filho, the former WEC middleweight champion, is coming off a submission victory over Manhoef at DREAM 10 and a decision win over Alex Schoenauer at Bitetti Combat.

Also on the card are Eddie Alvarez vs. Katsunori Kikuno and Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Won Sik Park in lightweight action and Chase Beebe vs. Yoshiro Maeda in a featherweight tilt. Alistair Overeem is also expected to be on the card although that hasn’t been confirmed.