Category — DREAM

I can’t let last week’s DREAM 15 go by without showing this. Shinya Aoki’s Achilles lock on Tatsuya Kawajiri is the slickest, sickest, gnarliest submission since Aoki ripped Mizuto Hirota’s arm off. Just vicious stuff. And he wasn’t even wearing his magic grappling pants.

Quick hits from DREAM 13 in Japan on Monday: Bibiano Fernandes held onto his featherweight belt with a split decision over Joachim Hansen; Josh Barnett returned to MMA action after 14 months to kick Siala-Mou “Mighty Mo” Siligia in the balls before submitting him; former EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons out-decisioned Andre “Dida” Amade; Ryo Chonan defeated Andrews Nakahara via unanimous decision; Cole Escovedo head-kicked Yoshiro Maeda into unconsciousness; Katsunori Kikuno KO’ed Kuniyoshi Hironaka; and Ikuhisa Minowa snapped on a fight-ending toe-hold on Jimmy Ambriz.

Josh Barnett vs. Siala-Mou “Mighty Mo” Siligia:

KJ Noons vs. Andre “Dida” Amade:

Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen:

Cole Escovedo vs. Yoshiro Maeda:

Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Jimmy Ambriz:

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.