DREAM/K-1 Dynamite looking good

I recently read an article about the upcoming DREAM/K-1 New Years Show which will feature a mixture of K-1 rules and DREAM MMA rules matches. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this fight card is looking. The things I was worried about were 1) a lack of Fedor who was meant to headline and b) a lack of Cro Cop-Alastair Overeem rematch which I’m still not sure why it was scrapped (help someone?). Still, a few of the K-1 WGP competitors have backed up and a few of the lightweights have stepped up to make this a very interesting card and one I will definately cover. I’m not sure what the main event will be and I don’t care because this is a stacked card for the hardcore MMA fans. In no particular order, here are the fights of interest:

Semmy Schilt vs Mighty Mo (MMA)
Whether this was K-1 or DREAM rules, Schilt is going to tear him a new one. Still, it’ll be good to see where Schilt’s confidence level is after losing to Aerts in the Final 16 as well as how he looks in MMA after a few years of not really competing in the sport on a full time basis.

Mirko Cro Cop vs Hong Man Choi
Not sure what rules this fight is under (again help somebody?) but this will be interesting either way. Fedor had trouble getting Choi on his back so this will be a stand-up war whether forced or by force of habbit between a former K-1 runner up in Cro Cop and a man mountain who troubles everyone in Hong Man. With 4oz gloves on it’ll be interesting to see how Cro Cops chin holds up to someone like Hong Man.

Mark Hunt vs Jerome Le Banner (MMA Rules)
So I hear anyway. Both guys are very similar standing up but due to Hunt’s MMA experience he’ll have a huge advantage if he gets Le Banner on his back, especially with the weight advantage. If this is indeed MMA rules I expect Hunt to win by ground and pound.

Eddie Alvarez vs Shinya Aoki
MMA rules of course here for what should have been the DREAM lightweight grand prix final. This will be an interesting scrap with Alvarez having the huge edge in strength and standing up and Aoki having a huge advantage on the ground. The winner will likely get a shot at the winner of the JZ vs Joachim Hansen fight on the same card for the title should DREAM not go bankrupt next year.

Joachin Hansen vs Gesias ‘JZ’ Calvacante
Another great fight here. I expect this to be fight of the night with both guys liking to bang on their feet. I’m leaning towards JZ by close decision but it could go either way.

Kazuhsi Sakuraba vs Kiyoshi Tamura
A battle between Japanese MMA pioneers/legends. As long as one guy doesn’t get injured walking into the ring it should be an excellent fight. I think Tamura might go to work on Sakuraba’s dodgey knees with his leg kicks and may score a stoppage in this fight.

Artur Kyshenko vs Yoshihiro Sato (K-1 Rules)
I really don’t know much about either guy other then they’re both K-1 MAX super stars. If MAX is all it’s cracked up to be then this could be a war!

Gegard Mousasi vs MUSASHI (K-1 Rules)
Strange fight this one. MUSASHI is a bigger guy but he’s been in shit form lately and why they’re getting Mousasi to go up in weight and fight a Heavyweight K-1 fighter in K-1 rules is a mystery to anyone. Even their name’s are the same which will make things confusing.

Oh, a quick word on the site. Next year looks like a go for boxing rankings and maybe MMA rankings for the five main divisions. Also I will be writing a feature article at the start of each month based on whatever anyone wants me to write it on. January’s will be the end of year awards. I’m looking to do things in there like ’10 greatest fights of the 80s’ or ‘Best MMA fighters of the 90s’ etc where basically I’m given a topic and I’ll go and research it for a month by watching fight films etc and then do an article on it for all you guys to flame me over. If anyone has anything in particular for February’s edition then post it in this thread. First decent idea in will get their choice. Expect a UFC 92 Predictions article and recap, a K-1 predictions article and recap plus the end of year awards and Rankings up over the next two-three weeks.

DREAM.6 post fight thoughts

DREAM.6 took place on Tuesday and I think everyone agrees that it didn’t live up to expectations. The tournament went down without a hitch though, but the rest of the fights left a sour taste in the mouths of most fans. Then to add to all of this, the ratings were something like half of what the DREAM people expected them to be, meaning this could be the end of high quality Japanese MMA. In my opinion anyway, MMA won’t be the same without the crazy Japanese woman screaming the fighters names out as they enter the ring on the giant ramp. It won’t be the same without the 10 minute first round (which I think all MMA should have) or the PRIDE/DREAM scoring system which I think works better in MMA then the 10 point must system ever will. Anyway enough mourning; onto the fights:

Mousasi wins the Grand Prix
Gegard Mousasi won a tournament that lasted less then five minutes total with a triangle choke over Melvin Manhoef and an upkick knockout over Ronaldo Jacare. Earlier in the night Jacare eliminated Galesic with an armbar in a little over a minute but in the final he shows he’s still got a bit of work to do. I’m sure he’ll be back better, but he seems to have a very suspect chin and could struggle against guys he can’t take down who can strike.
I had a bitch after the last DREAM event that the best fighter doesn’t usually win the tournaments, well that can’t be said about this one. Mousasi beat Denis Kang who was probably the favourite before it started in the first round, Yoon Dong-sik in the quarter finals, then the two guys who a lot of people picked to be in the final in Melvin Manhoef and Jacare in just over one and two minutes respectively. Mousasi is definately a top ten middleweight after this. He’s had a good run since he was eliminated by Akhiro Gono in the second PRIDE Bushido Welterweight (Middleweight) Grand Prix and with these four impressive wins in under a year he has definately proved he’s one of the better guys in the World. I’m not saying he’s going to challenge Anderson Silva or anything, but I’d definately like to see him fight someone like Trigg or Misaki if he were to fight in the USA and if the UFC signs him after DREAM goes under I’d be all for that as well. Oh yeah before I forget, who did I pick to win the tournament again?

Overeem “Golota’s” Cro Cop
The reference might be lost on some of you hardcore MMA fans but in the mid 90s there were two fights between former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe and up and comer Andrew Golota. In both fights Golota beat the dog shit out of Bowe, and then both times got himself disqualified for low blows when Bowe was basically ready to go. The same thing happened here.
Overeem is a fucking monster at 240lbs and he monstered Cro Cop. He beat him standing up and he battered him on the ground. The referee was disgraceful as he repeatedly stood the fighters up and gave Mirko a chance to win. The fight shouldn’t have been stood up at all. Mirko was cut over both eyes and taking a beating so Overeem starts kneeing him in the balls. He only got called for two of them, but there was at least one other clear nut shot and half a dozen border line at best shots that I saw. In my opinion Overeem should have been disqualified because he was warned and then went right back to doing it again. The fight was ruled a no contest and I (as well as probably everyone) was left thinking ‘well that sucked.’ It always sucks when the matchup of the night ends like that. I’d like to see them fight again but I’d also like to see Cro Cop retire because he hasn’t got it anymore.

Kharitonov vs some guy after Mighty Mo pulled out
The other match I was looking forward to was Sergei Kharitonov vs K-1 veteran Mighty Mo. Mighty Mo apparently got injured in training and pulled out at the last minute which was totally lame. Sergei then faced some guy I hadn’t heard of and beat him up.

Japanese fights
Probably the best non tournament fight of the night was Hayato Sakurai and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Sakurai worked him over and won a unanimous decision. Sakurai looked good, but he really should be fighting lightweights. There was a noticeable size difference between the two of them and against someone who knows how to throw a punch he could be in trouble again. With KJ Noons out of EliteXC’s lightweight title picture, a fight between these two could be very interesting.
Funaki submitted The Punk with a heel hook a lot quicker then I expected but I got it right nonetheless. The Punk was stupid enough to wear shoes against a leg lock master and got punished for it.
Shinya Aoki won by rear naked neck crank.

All in all, the card didnt live up to expectations and I hope DREAM doesn’t go under before they put on another show. Maybe a show with Fedor on it for New Years Eve will be the thing they need to bring themselves out of trouble. Fedor was there and said he will be fighting in Japan on New Years Eve. Hopefully after this freakshow match (and I doubt it’ll be anything less and DILLIGAF) he’ll fight Arlovski (who’s been added to the EliteEX show next weekend against Roy Nelson) or Barnett.

DREAM.6 this week

The long awaited conclusion to the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix takes place this week (on Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever the 23rd is) and they’ve got some big names on the card. The return of PRIDE 2004 GP Semi Finalist Sergei Kharitonov who takes on K-1 star Mighty Mo as well as a highly anticipated matchup between Mirko Cro Cop and Alistair Overeem; not to mention the tournament semi finals and final! Then throw in fights with Japanese stars Hayato Sakurai, Shinya Aoki and a good matchup between PRIDE Bushido star Ikuhisa ‘The Punk’ Minowa, fresh off a win over UFC legend Don Frye, and Pancrase Legend Masakatsu Funaki and this is a very solid card. Let’s hope this isn’t DREAM’s last hurrah as the death of quality Japanese MMA would make things a little boring.

The Tournament
The four finalists in this tournament are Ronaldo Jacare, Gegard Mousasi, Melvin Manhoef and Zelg Galesic. A lot of people think Jacare is a shoe-in to take this title, not me. Pure submission guys tend to struggle in one night tournaments against quality opposition. My pick for this tournament is Mousasi because he’s the most well-rounded of all of the finalists.
I think he’ll submit Manhoef and then out point a weary Jacare in the final. Should Jacare have an easy nights work with Galesic (which I don’t think he will) then he should win this tournament. Galesic is a dangerous guy and I think he’ll take a lot out of the submission wrestling legend and Mousasi will be too fresh for him. There is a possibility that Mousasi is stupid enough to trade with Manhoef and get knocked out, in which case Jacare will rape him in the final no matter what condition he’s in.
Jacare is the best fighter out of these four and he would probably win the whole thing if he faced Manhoef in the first round and let Galesic and Mousasi kick the shit out of each other, but the draw favours Mousasi should he fight smart against Manhoef and put him on his back. So I think Jacare will win a gruelling battle on points against Galesic, Mousasi will submit Manhoef early and then out point Jacare in the final. There is also the possibility that the winner of the alternate bout between Yoon Dong-sik and Andrews Nakahara (Dong-sik should win this one) could win this tournament should someone get injured like last time.

Mirko Cro Cop vs Alistair Overeem
The saying goes ‘be careful what you wish for’ and that fits this scenario 100%. Overeem has been calling out Cro Cop for a long time. Cro Cop has fighting porrly for a good 18 months. The way Overeem has constantly called him out makes me think that Cro Cop will be taking this very seriously. I really think Cro Cop is going to brutalise Overeem and knock him out sometime during the first 10 minute period. Cro Cop is the bigger and stronger man and while Overeem may be the better technical striker, I think Cro Cop will simply overpower him. I’m really looking forward to this fight.

Sergei Kharitonov vs Mighty Mo
Kharitonov is an excellent boxer with great ground skills and wicked ground and pound. Mighty Mo is (was?) a world class kick boxer with little MMA experience. While Mighty Mo definately has the edge standing up, Kharitonov will dismantle him with ease when this fight hits the ground. We’ve seen Kharitonov in this situation before at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 when he faced future three time K-1 Grand Prix winner Semmy Schilt. Kharitonov took him down and beat him up until the fight was stopped. In Mighty Mo, Kharitonov faces a lesser kick boxer with a lot less MMA experience. This should be a cake walk for Kharitonov and I think he’ll win by either ground and pound or via submission within five minutes.

Ikuhisa Minowa vs Masakatsu Funaki
Its hard to figure out what Funaki has left. The two guys he’s fought in his comeback have both been better then Minowa (those two being Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba), but he’s been beaten up in both of those fights. Both guys are very good at submitting weaker foes, especially Minowa who really seems to be a gatekeeper in modern MMA. If you don’t know how to defend a submission, in particular a leglock, ‘The Punk’ will likely catch you in one. I’m picking Funaki in this fight because I think his recent outings have been more due to his opposition and I think he’s got enough left in the tank to make ‘The Punk’ tap out. This ending could be nasty as neither guy likes to submit, and I couldn’t imagine either wanting to tap out to the other guy. Expect a broken arm, leg or someone to go out as the way this fight ends.

Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs Hayato Salurai
 Recent UFC fighter Hironaka takes on Japanese legend Hayato Sakurai in another interesting all-Japanese battle. Hironaka has God awful stand-up and I think thats where Sakurai will win this fight. Sakurai is very well rounded for the type of fighter that he is and as long as he doesn’t have one of his extremely off nights that he’s famous for I think he’ll knock Kuniyoshi out. I mean if Jonathon Goulet is beating you on the feet then you know your stand-up is below par.

Shinya Aoki returns
Apparently Aoki is on the card as well against some no name American. I can’t imagine he’d be given a hard fight in his return.