Diaz KO’s Zaromskis at Strikeforce: Miami

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Nick Diaz survived a knockdown and a cut to comeback and knock DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis out late in the first round of their scheduled five round title fight for the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight belt. Diaz pinned Marius against the cage early, landing repeated knees to Zaromski’s right thigh (when I say repeated, I mean continuous for probably thirty seconds) before Diaz scored a takedown. After losing top position, Diaz seemed to be in control of the stand-up, picking Zaromskis off from range with the variety of angles he often confuses his opponents with before the Lithuanian turned it around. Midway through the round Marius rocked Diaz with a two punch combination before dropping him with a right hook that looked to have ended the fight. Diaz took some shots from guard but recovered, transitioned to his knees where he took more shots before standing up. Once up Diaz re-took control of the fight, battering Zaromskis across the cage. Once again showing that he is undoubtably the best body puncher in MMA, Diaz softened up Marius with heavy rips to the midsection before finishing him off with a barrage of shots culminating with a right hook.

The win for Diaz clearly ranks him as the top non-UFC welterweight and surely as one of the top ten welterweights in the world. Sure he lost some fights when he was in the UFC, but he was in his early 20′s. He’s shown with his last few fights that he’s one of the better boxers in MMA and with an even better ground game he is a handful for anyone in the division. Jay Hieron (who defeated Joe Riggs by decision on the undercard) is probably next but I can’t see him handling Diaz’s versatility. With Hieron’s main weapon being his wrestling, he’ll basically pick his poison against the more polished fighter. As for Zaromskis, I think this proves that he isn’t the devastating striker that everyone thought he was. The run he had to win DREAM’s Grand Prix last year wasn’t that difficult and he needs to develop a more well-rounded game if he wants to compete with the top dogs at 170lbs.

On the undercard, Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos defended her Lightweight title over Marloes Coenen via third round stoppage in a competitive fight. The difference proved to be in strength as Cyborg powered out of submission attempts while delivering heavy ground and pound and punishing Coenen standing up. The end came in the third round when a fatigued and battered Coenen was finished off with punches from on top. Robbie Lawler withstood an assault of leg kicks and body kicks from feared striker Melvin Manhoef to score a one-punch come-from-behind knockout over the K-1 contender. Manhoef was sending Lawler’s right leg airborne with the force of his kicks and just as he seemed close to finishind the former EliteXC Middleweight champion, he was clocked with a right hook and finished with an overhand left that left him unconscious for a brief period of time. Lawler limped around the cage celebrating his victory.

Other results
Bobby Lashley battered Wes Sims, scoring a first round stoppage via punches from the guard. Lashley got an easy takedown and worked his ground and pound to which Sims offered little resistance even though he wasn’t taking too many clean shots. NFL legend Herschel Walker scored a third round stoppage over Greg Nagy. Nagy was sort of in the fight in the first but Walker took over in the 2nd and closed the show in the third round with punches from the mount.

Strikeforce: Miami Preview

The first promotion by Strikeforce this year is a very solid card with two interesting title fights as well as a potential fight of the year candidate and fights by two of the biggest cross-over stars in the sport. In the main event, Middleweight giant killer Nick Diaz returns to his natural weight class of 170lbs after stopping both Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith last year to take on DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight title. The Women’s lightweight championship is up for grabs as well with defending champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos defending against Marloes Coenen. Probably the most eagerly awaited clash of the night is what should deliver either a fight of the year candidate or a knockout of the year candidate (or both) with big punching Robbie Lawler fighting K-1 star Melvin Manhoef.

Diaz vs Zaromskis
The title fight between Diaz and Zaromskis is going to be a good battle. Zaromskis has shown last year that he is one of the more powerful fighters in the 170lb division but there’s still a few unknowns about him. Very little is known of the Lithuanian’s ground game and it will also be interesting to see if his new found success will help him when he fights someone with decent stand-up skills. Enter Nick Diaz. Diaz is a great jiu jitsu player who prefers to use his good boxing skills to beat down his opponents often while talking trash to them. One way or another we’re going to get some answers about Marius in this fight.

Those of you who have followed MMA for a few years know about Diaz. He debuted in the UFC when he was only 20 and made a real name for himself when he knocked out Robbie Lawler in his 2nd fight for the organisation. His UFC career went up and down with his eventual mark ending at 6-4 when he was brought into PRIDE to battle their dominant lightweight Takanori Gomi in a non title affair. Diaz won the fight with the rare gogoplata submission from the guard after a stand-up war only for the decision to be overturned for marijuana use. Since then he lost to KJ Noons in EliteXC, had Noons leave MMA to avoid a rematch and then put in two memorable performances to defeat Shamrock and Smith last year.

I really think this fight is Diaz’s to lose. We know Zaromskis has power, especially with his kicks. Diaz has a habbit of standing up with guys he really should be taking to the ground, although it doesn’t hurt him very often, this time it could. His best bet lies in taking Marius to the ground and working his excellent ground game. Zaromskis has been winning most of his fights quickly lately while Diaz has proved in the past that he has good conditioning so I think Marius’ best chances lie early in the fight. Diaz also has a good chin so it’s going to take some big shots to take him out, but I think his boxing should allow him to survive Marius’ stand-up and eventually the fight will hit the ground and Diaz will end in there. Nick Diaz by 2nd round submission.

Cyborg vs Coenen
I really don’t see any fighters in this division who will be able to survive Cyborg right now. Coenen has a solid ground game, but Cyborg’s aggression and pitbull-like tenacity is equivalent to when Wanderlei Silva was destroying the poor Japanese contenders back in 2001-2002 in PRIDE. I don’t think this fight will last very long, Cyborg by first round stoppage.

Lawler vs Manhoef
The one thing Lawler has in this fight that could make it interesting is that he is a solid wrestler, having learnt his game from the famed Miletich camp who at one stage held three UFC champions out of it’s camp at one time, and now training with Matt Hughes. There’s no doubt that Manhoef is the bigger puncher and the better striker. Could you imagine Lawler being able to hang in there in a stand-up fight with Remy Bonjasky? I hope Lawler delivers and comes to strike with Manhoef because it’ll be entertaining while it lasts, but Manhoef should win. Melvin Manhoef by first round knockout.

The Rest
Lashley and Walker by rape. Riggs-Hieron is an interesting fight, but I think Hieron will win on points.

Aoki submits Hansen in controversial rubber match

DREAM.11 took place yesterday and I’m still a tiny bit confused about what happened in the headlining fight. Part of that is because I’m yet to see the fight with English commentary but I’ve been reading that Aoki’s submission came in the dying seconds of the fight when I was sure that DREAM title fights were fought over the old PRIDE time limit with two (not one like in most DREAM fights) additional five minute rounds after the opening 10. Aoki’s submission came with what I thought was a few seconds remaining in the 2nd round, but most sites are reporting that Aoki pulled the fight out of the bag (I thought he was a mile in front) with little time left in the fight. The other confusing part of this fight for me is the controversy surrounding the upkicks. Again some English commentary would probably clear this all up for me, but I thought upkicks were legal in DREAM and that Aoki was knocked out. The reports being circulating are that Aoki was kicked in the groin (I missed it when I watched it this morning but it was 6am so I’ll have another look later), but considering he was only really bothered about the head injury I’m a little skeptical on this. Still if he was kicked in the groin before the head injury you can’t reward Hansen with a victory that he earned by capitilising on an illegal strike.

The fight itself was a good ground battle. I expected Hansen’s takedown defence to be a bit better but his ground game has always been good enough to beat most fighters so it’s an area he hasn’t needed to work on as much. Aoki’s flexibility is just uncanny and his unorthodox method of passing guard is hard for anyone to deal with. Hansen didn’t give himself as much of a chance as he could have as he never allowed himself to get in a position where his power advantage could be used but a lot of that was due to Aoki’s gameplan. There is talk of Aoki facing fellow Japanese fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri at Dynamite. If that fight takes place I think Kawajiri will knock Aoki into next week.

The Featherweight Grand Prix produced some fireworks and some more controversy. Bibiano shocked Joe Warren in the semi finals before narrowly defeating Hiroyuki Takaya by split decision in the final. It was good to see Fernandes win as he was thrown to the wolves early in his career (he fought Urijah Faber and Kid Yamamoto in his 2nd and 3rd fights respectively which are his only two losses) and he is a very talented fighter. Takaya could be the Japanese superstar of the lower weight divisions with his never say die attitude. His last three fights were all memorable wars (although the two yesterday aren’t nearly as good as the fight with Maeda). The all Japanese semi final between Hideo Tokoro and Takaya was a great fight, but I don’t think it was as good as everyone was making out. Takaya dominated most of the fight and except for that brief scare when Tokoro caught him with the flying knee and series of shots that briefly dropped him it was all one way traffic. The other semi final saw Bibiano Fernandes score a controversial “submission” win over Joe Warren. After a heavy takedown from Warren, Fernandes set up an armbar and straightened Warren’s arm out while facing the ground himself. Without the hold being on for less then five seconds, the referee stopped the contest. Sure the armbar was on tight, but Fernandes wasn’t in the best position to apply anymore leverage. If Warren isn’t in pain, then you have to let the fight go. I agree 100% with referee stoppages if the guy is stuck in there and his arm is continually being hyperextended but Warren wasn’t given the chance to defend it. The final was interesting in that Takaya was fighting where he wanted to fight, but Fernandes’ aggression and wild striking was scoring heavily while Takaya was unable to get anything off. With champions crowned in the four lower weight classes, it’ll be interesting to see if DREAM puts on a Grand Prix with one of the heavier weight divisions next year.

Also on the card, Sokoudjou and Minowaman both advanced to the final of the Super Hulk Tournament. Sokoudjou did as he pleased with Bob Sapp, destroying him once he got on top while Minowaman survived some scary moments in the opening frame to submit Hong Man Choi with a heel hook early in the 2nd round. The two will meet in the final which will probably be held at Dynamite. Kazushi Sakuraba and Tatsuya Kawajiri both scored dominating wins against overmatched opponents with Sakuraba submitting boxer Rubin Williams with a kimura and Kawajiri battering Melchor Manibusan to score a first round stoppage.

DREAM.11 Preview

DREAM.11 sees the conclusion of the Featherweight Grand Prix as well as the semi finals of the Super Hulk Tournament (minus an injured Gegard Mousasi). On top of that we see three of the biggest names in Japanese MMA competing in seperate bouts with the returns of Kazushi Sakuraba and Tatsuya Kawajiri plus Shinya Aoki does battle with Joachim Hansen for the third time for the DREAM Lightweight Championship in the headliner.

Featherweight Grand Prix
John Warren vs Bibiano Fernandes
In my opinion, whoever wins this bout will be the champion and I think Warren’s wrestling ability plus his freakish strength for this weight division will allow him to avoid Fernandes dangerous ground game. This fight looks good on paper but I think it’ll be frustrating to watch as Warren will use his stand-up advantage (which only exists because Fernandes has zero stand-up) to score a decision win.

Hideo Tokoro vs Hiroyuki Takaya
I’m surprised either man made it this far and it’s a shame that one of them gets a spot in the final in my opinion as the other two fighters left are (on paper) the superior fighters and should have had a chance to fight each other in the final. I’m leaning towards Takaya and this will probably be a fun fight to watch.

Super Hulk Semi Finals
Sokoudjou vs Bob Sapp
Unfortunately tournament favourite Gegard Mousasi is out with an injury but we get to watch Bob Sapp take another pumelling. Bar the ‘lucky’ punch, I don’t give Sapp much of a chance here, Sokoudjou is superior in every aspect except physical strength and punching power. Sapp will likely end up on his back and be finished with heavy ground and pound.

Hong Man Choi vs Minowaman
I’ve got no idea how this will go. Fedor had trouble getting Hong Man to the ground and he’s 50lb heavier then Minowa. But then again Choi is so slow that Minowa will likely be able to run around him all night. I’d say they hit the ground at some point and Minowa will get ahold of one of Hong Man’s monsterous legs and do some damage to it.

Non Tournament Fights
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Ruben Williams
MMA legend Sakuraba takes on professional boxer Ruben Williams (who I believe is making his MMA debut). One has to assume that Williams has zero ground game and Sakuraba will submit him quickly when the fight hits the floor. Even standing up Williams might have trouble on his feet if Sakuraba starts kicking his legs out but despite losing a few of his recent contests, Williams has dangerous hands and has a punchers chance in this fight (albeit an extremely small one). If one could take anything from the Tim Sylvia-Ray Mercer farce this year it’s that a pro boxer brings a dangerous skillset for any MMA fighter and shouldn’t be messed around with.

Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Melchor Manibusan
Kawajiri by death. This guy (according to Sherdog) has had five pro MMA fights and lost more then he’s one. Kawajiri is one of the more dangerous fighters out there because of his punching power and putting a novice in with him is crazy.

Joachim Hansen vs Shinya Aoki
(DREAM Lightweight Championship)
These two go at it again. Aoki submitted Hansen with a gogoplata back in PRIDE at Shockwave 2006 early in the first round before Hansen replaced Eddie Alvarez in the DREAM Lightweight tournament final at DREAM.5 against Aoki and shockingly pounded him out after four minutes. This time we get to see these two go at it without having a fight under their belts from earlier in the night and it’s a hard fight to pick. Aoki has the advantage in terms of ground skill and speed but Hansen is the better wrestler and striker as well as the stronger man physically. Hansen hasn’t fought since he defeated Aoki which was almost a year and a half ago which could also be a problem for Aoki as he was knocked out brutally by Hayato Sakurai earlier this year. I think this is a 50-50 fight but I’m backing Aoki. I think he’ll take control of this fight on the ground and outpoint Hansen in an entertaining battle.

Zaromskis claims DREAM Welterweight title

Heavy underdog Marius Zaromskis claimed the vacant DREAM Welterweight championship yesterday with knockout wins over Hayato Sakurai and Jason High in the final round of the Grand Prix at DREAM.10. Zaromiskis’ striking was superb as be picked both men apart in their contests before ending each fight with a head kick. Sakurai was badly cut over the left eye midway through the opening ten minutes and a fired up Zaromskis finished the fight with a head kick and a barrage of punches shortly after. High barely got by his first round opponent Andre Galvao by split decision and was having early success with takedowns in the final. Zaromskis however escaped and ended the fight with a head kick set up by a three punch combo. The 26 year old Lithuanian improved his record to 11-2 with 9 knockouts and his only two losses coming  to former Cage Rage champion and TUF9 competitor (sort of, he got eliminated by James Wilkes in the first episode) Che Mills.

In the evenings super fights, Shinya Aoki proved to me that he doesn’t indeed have worse stand up fighting then myself by outstriking returning contender Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro en route to a unanimous decision. In what turned out to be a 10 minute feeling out process, Aoki repeatedly scored with kicks for the duration of the opening stanza. Shaolin scored a takedown in the 2nd stanza, but was unable to do anything significant in Aoki’s guard and it proved too little too late as he lost the decision. Also on the card, Paulo Filho survived some scary moments against Melvin Manhoef before submitting the K-1 veteran with an armbar midway through the first round. TUF7 veteran Jesse ‘JT Money’ Taylor defeated Dong Sik Yoon by injury early in the 1st round.

DREAM.10 Preview

With some of the recent DREAM cards, I’m a little let down by this one. The Grand Prix is by far the weakest one in the DREAM series thus far and the super fights aren’t on the level of say Kawajiry-JZ. Still, there’s a four man tournament to crown the Welterweight champion and we get to see three decent fights so I shouldn’t complain too much.

Welterweight Grand Prix
This was really set up to crown either Sakurai or Aoki a champion and pairing them off early was a little stupid. I doubt Sakurai will have much trouble winning against any of the opponents and unless he has a really bad night (which being Sakurai is possible) I think he wins this without too much trouble, probably going the distance in both fights though. I’m picking Galvao to beat High and meet him in the Final.

Shinya Aoki vs Vitor Ribeiro
Prediction- Aoki on points
I’m glad to see Ribeiro back as he was a good opponent a few years ago and it would have been a shame for his career to end on an injury. Ribeiro was a solid fighter about 3-4 years ago defeating the likes of Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen and Ivan Menjivar. He is a world champion Jiu Jitsu player and against someone like Aoki who is a freak in terms of grappling, especially in MMA, it could be an excellent ground battle. Ribeiro has alright striking, but I think his absence will hurt him against a top tier opponent like Aoki. Aoki will probably take over towards the end of the first 10 minute period before dominating the final five minutes to win a unanimous decision.

Paulo Filho vs Melvin Manhoef
Prediction- Filho by submission (0-10 minutes)
I find it very hard to pick Manhoef against a grappler. If the fight hits the mat you can bet your left testicle on Filho finishing Manhoef. Then again, if Manhoef can keep the fight standing for an extended period of time he could knock Filho out. Then again (again), Filho hasn’t been knocked out, while Manhoef has been tapped out a number of times. Filho will be out to prove something in this fight and I expect him to win inside the first period by submission, probably a rear naked choke.

Dong Sik Yoon vs Jesse Taylor
Prediction- Taylor by unanimous decision
Strange to see the infamous JT Money on the card, but he’s not getting back in the UFC any time soon so its a good fight for him to take. I don’t think Dong has much of a chance here unless he can get Taylor on his back. Taylor will win in the fashion he won his way to the Final of TUF7 before his post house antics got him booted off; by taking Dong down and holding him there, then throwing up after he wins the decision.

DREAM.9/K-1 (Lodz) Results

 

Super Hulk Tournament Results

Minowaman submits Sapp
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (sorry). Bob Sapp decided that he knew jiu jitsu after getting on top of Minowa early and instead of sitting in half guard and pounding Minowa’s face to mince meat, he tried to mount him. Minowa showed superb technique (well, superb compared to Sapp) and reversed him, got on top and sunk in a deep ankle lock for the quick submission victory. Watching Sapp tap out in pain is always fun, especially when the guy is half his size!

Hong Man batters overmatched Canseco
This fight didn’t go as expected as Canseco actually landed some shots, although he looked like he was impersonating the Karate Kid while he was at it. Then Canseco managed to blow his knee out and end up on the ground where Hong Man proceeded to pound him into submission. Glad it ended quickly and without much pain to Jose as it could have been a bad thing for MMA if he had of got seriously hurt.

Sokoudjou and Mousasi score quick wins
Both Sokoudjou and Mousasi were too much for their opponents. Sokoudjou got a takedown after about three attempts and mounted Jan Nortje with ease before pounding him until the referee stopped the fight, and then pounding him some more which resulted in a mini brawl between Nortje’s cornermen (mainly Ray Sefo) and Sokoudjou’s camp. Does anyone else smell a Sefo-Sokoudjou matchup down the road?
Mousasi surprisingly did what Fedor and Cro Cop and even Overeem had trouble doing in disposing of Mark Hunt very quickly with little trouble. He got an easy takedown and finished the fight quickly with a figure four arm lock. This tournament is Mousasi’s in my opinion and I don’t see any of the others giving him any trouble. Rumour has it that Mousasi will face Vitor Belfort at Affliction III in August first.

Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round Results

In one of the biggest upsets in recent times, one fight veteran Joe Warren upset Kid Yamamoto by split decision. Yamamoto, who was the heavy favourite to win the entire tournament, couldn’t stop Warren’s wrestling skills as he was taken down five times in the fight. Furthermore, Yamamoto couldn’t take advantage of the referee’s overzealous stand-ups or get anything working from his back. After a rally at the end of the opening 10 minute stanza, Warren controlled the entire five minute 2nd round and took a pretty comfortable decision (a split decision in Japan against a Japanese fighter who you didn’t completely batter means you won comfortably). In what was a lacklustre affair, Bibiano Fernandes outpointed Masakaszu Imanari over 15 boring minutes. Imanari repeatedly dropped to butt-scoot while Fernandes didn’t want to risk going into the Japanese grappling stars guard as he had the superior stand-up and wrestling (and probably jiu jitsu).
The other two fights in the grand prix stand out as fight of the year candidates. Hiroyuki Takaya survived a fierce ground and standing assault from Yoshiro Maeda before scoring a stunning one punch knockout with 20 seconds remaining in the first round. In the other match, Hideo Tokoro took full advantage of his 2nd chance in the tournament scoring a 2nd round submission win over Abel Cullum. After a ground battle of epic proportions which saw constant transitions and submission attempts from both men, Tokoro sunk in a rear naked choke early in the 2nd round to earn his place in the Finals.

Kawajiri dominates Calvancante

In a highly anticipated battle between two of the Lightweight divisions non UFC stars, Tatsuya Kawajiri dominated the middle and end portions of the fight with good stand-up skills and effective ground and pound to grind out a unanimous decision over Gesias ‘JZ Calvan’ Calvancante. After a good start by JZ in which he landed with several hard strikes, Kawajiri shot in for a takedown and had to battle out of a tight guillotine choke. Once free, Tatsuya started a pattern in which he dominated the stand-up, scored a takedown, espcaped a guillotine choke and dominated with punches from on top. JZ could do little back as his long layoff showed its effects as Kawajiri grinded out the decision.

Mayhem-Jacare ends prematurely

In the main event of the evening, the DREAM Middleweight title fight between Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ De Souza ended in a no contest after an illegal kick from Mayhem left Jacare unable to continue.

K-1 Results
Last years Amsterdam qualifier runner-up Zabit Samedov earned a place in this years Final 16 (and I’d say a rematch with the man who beat him in Amsterdam last year, Errol Zimmerman) by winning the Qualifying event in Lodz, Poland on Sunday. Samedov defeated Sakalauskas and Raul Catinas on points to reach the final of the qualifier. His opponent, Sergei Lascenko, fought three times the previous day in the European Muay Thai Championships, then scored first round knockouts over Noel Cadet and Dimitri Bezus before succumbing via third round stoppage to Samedov.

DREAM.9 Preview

The stacked MMA week finishes Tuesday as the next installment of DREAM takes place and minus the last New Years Eve show this has to be the best of all DREAM shows so far. There’s a mixture of classic fights in the making, significant fights and just pure Japanese MMA freakshows on display which should make this event very entertaining. In a nutshell the card consists of the quarter finals of the Featherweight Grand Prix, a Lightweight Super Fight, a Middleweight title fight and four freakshow matches that are going to be watched for no other reason then curiosity.

Super Hulk Tournament Round one
The Super Hulk Tournament was announced a few weeks back and people are still shaking their heads at some of the matchups. Most notably is the matchup between baseball (yes, baseball) superstar Jose Canseco and the world’s largest professional fighter Hong Man Choi. Canseco has no fighting background and was knocked out in a celebrity boxing match by a man much smaller then him. This is the only fight on the card I’m not looking forward to as Canseco could be seriously hurt which would have major mainstream implications for the sport.

Bob Sapp returns to Japan to take on the Japanese journeyman Ikuhisa ‘The Punk’ Minowa who is now referred to as Minowaman. Sapp has about a 200lb weight advantage over the 190lb Minowa, but his lack of ground game could get him in a lot of trouble against the leg lock specialist. Minowa has submitted big men before, most notably Kimo Leopoldo in a PRIDE Bushido event a few years ago. I like Sapp in this fight, probably by quick and brutal knockout. In the same league as this bout is the one between gigantic journeyman Jan Nortje and Light Heavyweight fringe contender Sokoudjou. Sokoudjou needs this win or his career will basically be over. Nortje is most known for his knockout win over Bob Sapp at a Strikeforce event last year, but that win was one of only two in his MMA career. Sokoudjou will likely win this fight quickly by submission.

The interesting (in terms of skill vs skill) fight in this tournament and the one that will likely produce the eventual winner is the Gegard Mousasi vs Mar Hunt fight. Mousasi is last years DREAM Grand Prix winner in the Middleweight division after memorable upset wins over Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef and Ronaldo Jacare. Hunt is a former K-1 World Grand Prix champion who has been fighting in MMA of late although with little recent success as he suffered an 18 second knockout loss to Melvin Manhoef at New Years Eve last year. Hunt on his game though will be a very stern test for Mousasi, especially considering the 90lb odd weight advantage he has. I’m picking Mousasi, his grappling should help him win a clear unanimous decision.

Featherweight Grand Prix Quarter Finals
Some very interesting fights in the 2nd round of this tournament. The return of Kid Yamamoto against one fight veteran Joe Warren being the exception. While I didn’t give Warren a chance against Beebe, I’m going to risk making the same mistake twice as Yamamoto is simply too good for a one fight veteran, Kid should win this fight quickly. The other fight I think will be one sided is the one between Yoshiro Maeda and Hiroyuki Takaya. Takaya is the weakest of the fighters in the eight and despite any size advantage, Maeda’s skills are exceptional and I can’t see him losing this one outside of the punchers chance that Takaya has.

The Fernandes-Imanari fight should is the most interesting as Fernandes is an exceptional BJJ player while Imanari is one of the stand-out Japanese ground fighters. Hopefully the fight hits the ground and we get an old school classic MMA ground fight and I’m picking Fernandes to win this one because although Imanari has never been submitted, I doubt he’s grappled someone in the elite class of Fernandes. The other fight in the tournament sees American Abel Cullum up against Japanese fighter Hideo Tokoro who despite his loss in the first round advances due to Daiki Hata’s inability to be in shape for this fight. Tokoro is a brave fighter who has fought many men larger then himself in his career which explains his average record. Cullum is a solid grappler who will likely win this fight over the allotted time.

Super Fights
 
Gesias Calvancante vs Tastuya Kawajiri
This is the fight I’m looking forward to the most on this card. Two of the world’s most exciting and skilled Lightweights battling for what will likely be the next shot at the DREAM Lightweight title after Aoki and Hansen battle again at DREAM.10. JZ Calvan hasn’t fought since the loss to Aoki at DREAM.2 last year. Kawajiri made the semi finals of the tournament last year before losing to Eddie Alvarez in what was fight of the year in my opinion. Calvancante is a very well dangerous fighter in all aspects of the game while Kawajiri throws some of the best punches in MMA and is dangerous against any man he fights because of this. I give the edge in the stand-up to Kawajiri, while JZ has a big advantage if he can get on top although that will be hard as Tatsuya has shown good takedown defence in the past. Both guys are big for the weight, although JZ is probably the bigger guy having fought in higher weight divisions in the past. I’m going with Kawajiri, although I’m not at all confident. I think he’ll win this over 15 exciting minutes in what will likely be a fight of the year candidate if someone doesn’t totally dominate.

Ronaldo Jacare vs Mayhem Miller
(DREAM Middleweight Championship)
The main event sees a rematch of last years DREAM.4 match between Jacare and Mayhem for the vacant Middleweight title that was vacated by Gegard Mousasi earlier this year. Jacare won last years contest in an exciting grappling match by unanimous decision before losing to Mousasi by knockout in the final of the tournament. Mayhem stands a serious chance in this fight if he can keep it standing but I’m picking Jacare to win the rematch, probably over the full distance as their last fight was.

DREAM announce crazy Open Weight Grand Prix

Only in Japan. DREAM.9 has scrapped the Mousasi-Sokoudjou fight and instead added the following four matchups which will be the first round of an open-weight grand prix:

Mark Hunt vs Gegard Mousasi
Minowaman vs Bob Sapp
Jan Nortje vs Sokoudjou
Hong Man Choi vs Jose Canseco

That is :
Former K-1 WGP champion and PRIDE Heavyweight contender Mark Hunt against DREAM Middleweight Champion (former) Gegard Mousasi.
JapaneseMiddleweight journeyman Ikuhisa ‘Minowaman’ ‘The Punk’ Minowa against freakshow Bob Sapp.
Freakshow defeater Jan Nortje vs Light Heavyweight contender Rameau Sokoudjou.
The world’s largest fighter and K-1 WGP quarter finalist Hong Man Choi against baseball star Jose Canseco.

These matches will take place ahead of the 2nd round of the Featherweight Grand Prix, the Lightweight super clash between Tatsuya Kawajiri and Gesias Calvancante and the fight for the vacant Middleweight title between Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Sousa. So all in all, a typical high profile Japanese card.

UFC Fight Night/DREAM.8 Predictions

Most of both cards are of little consequence so I can’t be arsed getting right into either. The UFC card looked entertaining until the cancellation of a few bouts, plus the fact that Fuel TV were too lazy to put it lowered my interest. Still, there’s some good fights like the main event which should be interesting to see how Condit handles a UFC welterweight and handles being on the big, big stage.
The DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix was one I was really looking forward to until a few things happened. First of all, Aoki and Sakurai got matched up which added to my looking forward to it. Then the rest of the tournament was filled up with guys I’m not too thrilled to see fight which made the Sakurai-Aoki fight like the Aoki-Calvacante fight of last years Lightweight Grand Prix. Maybe we’ll get a few stars come through like last year but with the lack of talent, I don’t think so. The final is basically on in the first round and unless the winner has a tough semi final, I can’t see them losing to anyone else.

Main Card
Carlos Condit vs Martin Kampmann
Prediction- Kampmann on points

Ryan Bader vs Carlo Marrero
Prediction- Bader by 1st round KO

Rafael Dos Anjos vs Tyson Griffin
Prediction- Griffin on points

Junie Browning vs Cole Miller
Prediction- Miller by 2nd round submission

Preliminaries
Ricardo Almeida vs Matt Horwich
Prediction- Almeida by 1st round submission

Nick Catone vs Tim Creduer
Prediction- Catone on points

Ryan Jensen vs Steve Steinbeiss
Prediction- Jensen on points

Rob Kimmons vs Joe Vedepo
Prediction- Kimmons by 1st round submission

Brock Larson vs Jesse Sanders
Prediction- Larson by 1st round submission

Tim McKenzie vs Aaron Simpson
Prediction- Simpson by 2nd round KO

Nissen Osterneck vs Jorge Rivera
Prediction- Rivera by 1st round KO

Jeremy Stephens vs Gleison Tibau
Prediction- Tibau on points

 

Welterweight Grand Prix
Shinya Aoki vs Hayato Sakurai
Prediction- Aoki on points

John Alessio vs Andre Galvao
Prediction- Alessio on points

Jason High vs Yuya Shirai
Prediction- Shirai on points

Seichi Ikemoto vs Marius Zaromski
Prediction- Zaromski by KO 0-10 mins

Featherweight Grand Prix
Daiki Hata vs Hideo Tokoro
Prediction- Tokoro on points

Super Fights
Sergei Kharitonov vs Jeff Monson
Prediction- Kharitonov by KO 0-10 mins

Murilo Ninja vs Dong-Sik Yoon
Prediction- Ninja on points

Shungo Oyama vs Andrews Nakahara
Prediction- Nakahara on points

Minowaman vs Katsuyori Shibata
Prediction- Minowaman by submission 0-10 mins