Dream. Fight for Japan!

[jmt225]

Official Fight Card

• Featherweight bout: Caol Uno vs. Akiyo Nishiura
• Featherweight bout: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Joachim Hansen[
• Lightweight bout: Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
• Lightweight bout: Shinya Aoki vs. TBA
• Featherweight bout: Takeshi Inoue vs. Koichiro Matsumoto

Bantamweight Tournament

• Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro
• Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
• Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
• Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Masakazu Imanari

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I'm positive the Bantamweight Tournament is going to be fantastic, but I have to be honest.... outside of Maeda, Tokoro, Osawa, and Imanari... I don't know any of the rest of them, so I don't have much to say about the tourney other than I think Masakazu Imanari is going to win. I'm still very much looking forward to it, though.

Caol Uno vs. Akiyo Nishiura should be one hell of a fun fight, especially since it's supposed to be Uno's last fight. Caol Uno is a legend in the sport, no matter what anyone says, so this is definitely a big deal to me and anyone else who knows anything about his career. His opponent Nishiura is no slouch, though. I thought Nishiura looked damn good in his last fight against Ishida, even if he ended up losing a split decision, so I have no doubts that he'll give Uno as tough of fight as possible. Should be awesome...

Mitsuhiro Ishida has the best double-leg takedown in all of MMA, and Hellboy Hansen has terrible takedown defense. Pretty obvious where this fight will end up, eh? Hellboy isn't terrible off his back, though. I've seen him submit people from the bottom before; however, I don't think Ishida is the type to get caught by someone of Hellboy's stature. If Hellboy can somehow keep the fight on the feet, he should most definitely be able to win the fight that way, but I highly doubt we see that happen. Ishida will take this one via decision.

Katsunori Kikuno is one of my favorite Japanese fighters. He has the most exciting and unique stand-up in all of MMA... he's just a blast to watch. Nakamura is no joke though and he will not be afraid to strike with Kikuno, which should make this a very fun fight. I see Kikuno eventually knocking Nakamura's ass out, but I'm positive there will be some fireworks before then. I cannot wait to see it.

And poor Shinya Aoki. Everybody's fucking ducking the guy. He wants to fight on this card, he wants to fight for Japan, and he wants a quality opponent, but they all keep backing out from fighting him. First it was Willamy Freire, then it was Aaron McKee, then it was Jamie Varner, and then it was Aaron McKee again. TUF Alum Shane Nelson is the newest name being tossed around, so hopefully that becomes official soon and Nelson doesn't end up like the rest of the *****es and back out. I doubt that from Nelson though... he seemed like a real fighter on TUF. I think he'll take this opportunity and make the most of it. Of course, regardless he'll get tapped out, but still... he'd be a moron/punk to pass up on the chance to fight a top 5 Lightweight in the entire sport.

 

[Fizzy]

Should be a great card. Very excited to see Uno vs Nishiura. Uno is a very good and exciting fighter and it would be fantastic to see him go out with a nice win over a pretty good challenge. Nishiura looked great against Ishida even if he lost a split. Ishida is no joke, so i'm sure Nishiura will give Uno a very good last fight. I'm rooting for Uno though.

I hope they find a suitable opponent for Aoki. Aoki is one of the most exciting fighters in MMA when fighting in a ring, and may have the best MMA-BJJ in the sport. I wish somebody would commit to fighting him because it's always a treat to see him fight. The guy is an animal. I want to see him grab somebody's limb and rip it off come the 29th.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Word is that Rich Clementi has verbally agreed to face Aoki, it's pretty obvious who wins here. I'm a big Clementi fan but I know that his odds are far from good, i'm just glad to see him facing legit competition again. But Clementi has never defeated anyone of Aoki's caliber and I definetly see a sub coming as rich has a pretty good chin, either way I see him getting finished

With the Ishida-Hansen fight i'm going to pick Hansen(I am very biased) by sub. Ishida will take it to the ground and I expect him to have good control but I smell Hellboy grabbing an arm and goin to town with it.

For the remaining bouts on I have Nishiura(he and Uno will have a great war), Kikuno and Inoue. Finally for the Bantamweight tourney I see Maeda coming out on top, but it's going to be a rough tournament.

 

[INDYjon22]

I wish I knew more about Dream but right now I only know a little bit about it. But, what I do know is Shinya Aoki and Joachim Hansen and I love both of those guys. Aoki is a guy who I could watch fight all day every day, he is just an exciting mother fucker and I really hope to god they find him an opponent. I want to see something in stone, not all of this rumor bullshit though. It would be great to see him fight Nelson or Clementi but until I see it finalized I am just going to remain hoping to god they get Shinya a fight.

Joachim Hansen is another guy I really dig. The dude throws some serious leather and has some tremendous submission skills. That said I think Hansen's best bet of winning is by keeping this fight on the feet. If Ishida's wrestling is truly as good as jmt makes it sound like then Hansen shouldn't want any part of the ground game or the wrestling since he has pretty piss poor take down defense. Can't wait to see how this one plays out.

And the only other guy on the card I truly know anything about is Caol Uno. If this truly is his final fight then I hope he goes out on top. The last few years of his career haven't been the best, but he is an early legend in the Lightweight division. He kept BJ Penn away from the Lightweight title back in the days of Penn being the next big thing, granted he did reach that level but it took some time with Uno and Pulver in the way. Here's hoping an early legend of the game has one last win left in him.

 

[jmt225]

Word is that Rich Clementi has verbally agreed to face Aoki, it's pretty obvious who wins here. I'm a big Clementi fan but I know that his odds are far from good, i'm just glad to see him facing legit competition again. But Clementi has never defeated anyone of Aoki's caliber and I definetly see a sub coming as rich has a pretty good chin, either way I see him getting finished

Yeah, apparently Aoki had a choice between Shane Nelson and Rich Clementi, and he decided to go with Clementi. Kind of strange considering Clementi is coming off a loss, while Nelson won his last fight. Dream though, being the honorable company they are, promised Nelson a spot on Dream.18, so at least he wasn't completely left hung out to dry. Props to Nelson for stepping up.

Anyways, Rich Clementi is from my homestate, so I've always sort of liked him just because of that. He's very good on the ground, so I'm sure he'll want to test himself against the best ground game in the World in Shinya Aoki. However, that'll be Clementi's downfall. I mean, I'm not positive Aoki can tap Clementi out in 15 minutes (though I'd say I'm 75% sure he will), but I'm positive he'll at least dominate him the entire duration of the fight (ala Aoki's fight against Marcus Aurelio).

 

[JWGunslinger]

Yeah, apparently Aoki had a choice between Shane Nelson and Rich Clementi, and he decided to go with Clementi. Kind of strange considering Clementi is coming off a loss, while Nelson won his last fight. Dream though, being the honorable company they are, promised Nelson a spot on Dream.18, so at least he wasn't completely left hung out to dry. Props to Nelson for stepping up.

Anyways, Rich Clementi is from my homestate, so I've always sort of liked him just because of that. He's very good on the ground, so I'm sure he'll want to test himself against the best ground game in the World in Shinya Aoki. However, that'll be Clementi's downfall. I mean, I'm not positive Aoki can tap Clementi out in 15 minutes (though I'd say I'm 75% sure he will), but I'm positive he'll at least dominate him the entire duration of the fight (ala Aoki's fight against Marcus Aurelio).

My best guess would be maybe Shinya wants to challenge himself a little more, or because Clementi is a pretty well known veteran. All the respect in the world to Shane, he's a tough kid and he was willing to step up against on of the best in the world. To be honest though, it's a step up that Nelson isnt ready for and Clementi doesnt deserve at this time considering that he is coming off a loss. I would like to say Clementi fights a war and loses a dec but I have a feeling he will instinctivly go to the ground and end up in some bad positions he wont get out of. Back to Nelson, i'm glad that Dream is honoring him with a fight on the card, gotta love japan's respect for honor

 

[INDYjon22]

A real quick rundown from the results that I saw. Glad to see that Shinya Aoki won even if it took him some time to do so. Clementi is a tough guy and I respect the hell out of him for taking the fight on such short notice, but he was out of his league in this one. Still, props to the man for taking a fight against a top 5 Lightweight. Very, very fucking happy to see Joachim Hansen pick up the win against a very tough Mitsuhiro Ishida. I love me some Hellboy and I am glad he is on a bit of a winning streak now. And finally, I may not be a fan of Caol Uno but it certainly is nice to see him retire on a high note. Not many guys get to walk away from this sport on top, but Uno does and that is nice to see.

 

[jmt225]

I was very pissed off Sunday morning. I went to a friends house to specifically watch a stream of this event on her computer, and come show time... not a single stream to be found. Fuck, I couldn't have been more bummed out.

I still haven't been able to find any of the fights on online, but it airs Friday on HDNet, so I guess we'll just have to wait until then.

For now I'll just say that I'm stoked Aoki won via Submission. If you don't have Aoki on your list for the top 5 Lightweights in the World, then you're an asshole. It's unbelievable how good that man's Judo and Jiu-Jitsu is. I can't wait to see him back fighting in the states.

Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Joachim Hansen had a bit of a shocking result, but it's a fight I need to watch before I commenting on since it ended in a split decision.

Caol Uno winning was also a surprise. Definitely looking forward to watching that fight.

Katsunori Kikuno won, so yay there.

Takeshi Inoue won by knockout, which was cool. He needs to beat someone known though for him to become relevant again.

And I've stayed clear of the Bantamweight Tournament results so when I watch the show I can at least not know what happens in those fights.

It looked like a good, successful show overall. I'll go further into it once I watch the event.

 

[X]

Finally got around to watching this earlier tonight, pretty entertaining show. Was happy to see Shinya Aoki totally dominate Rich Clementi in decisive fashion, and there were several entertaining fights on the show. It was nice to see Caol Uno retire on a nice win and his post-fight speech was very emotional. I've still got a long ways to go to become familiar with a lot of the Japanese names that fight for DREAM, but I did recognize a fair amount of names and I enjoyed the show overall, so I think I'll be trying to keep up with this promotion as time goes on. I look forward to Dream 17 next month.