Melvin Manhoef def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (strikes), 1:50 of round 1
Ronaldo Souza def. Jason Miller via unanimous decision
Zelg Galesic def. Taei Kin via TKO (injury), 1:05 of round 1
Gegard Mousasi def. Dong Sik Yoon via unanimous decision
Hideo Tokoro def. Darren Uyenoyama via unanimous decision
Ralek Gracie def. Alavutdin Gadzhiev via submission (armbar), 3:02 of round 1
Alistair Overeem def. Tae Hyun Lee via KO, 0:36 of round 1
Shinya Aoki def. Katsuhiko Nagata via submission (gogoplata…FROM THE TOP!![?]!), 5:12 of round 1
Hat tip to BloodyElbow for alerting us that all three major MMA events this weekend are open for wagering at BetCris.com. Let’s run through the numbers…
EliteXC: Return of the King (June 14th; Honolulu, Hawaii; live on Showtime)
Yves Edwards (-130) vs. KJ Noons (even)
Nick Diaz (-450) vs. Mushin Corbbrey (+370)
Murilo Rua (-250) vs. Tony Bonello (+200)
Dave Herman (-155) vs. Ron Waterman (+125)
Rafael Feijao (-280) vs. Wayne Cole (+220)
Notes: Nick Diaz just got surgery to file down his sharp ocular bones, which is supposed to prevent his face from shredding so easily (and losing him another fight). Sounds dodgy to me, and it hasn’t yet been proven that the procedure was a practical success. With odds that wide and Diaz’s scar tissue still a question mark, we’d definitely throw a double-sawbuck on Corbbrey, who has shown some great submissions in his relatively brief career. Undefeated Australian King of the Cage vet Tony Bonello (16-0-1, 14 wins by submission) may also be a good underdog bet, even if the competition he’s faced is nowhere near the level of the guys that Ninja Rua has gone up against.
From PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 (6/26/2005). Because not much is going on this morning and I’ve been wanting to run the fight that produced this:
From Sakuraba’s divebomb attacks in the first round, to Arona’s relentless knees, to the “holy shit” moment when the second frame is over and Saku’s roadkill-face emerges, it’s a minor classic. Enjoy.
Sherdog has a great piece up detailing some of the things that were said at the DREAM 3 post-fight press conference. Namely, Nick Diaz said he would rather be fighting Shinya Aoki next instead of Hayato Sakurai and Jason “Mayhem” Miller said that he would love a shot at his hero, Kazushi Sakuraba.
Nick Diaz on [...]
(Aoki’s fancy flying guard-pull against Calvancante.)
Are you sitting down? Sherdog is reporting that Shinya Aoki suffered a facial injury in his fight against Gesias Calvancante yesterday, and will not be able to participate in the second round of DREAM’s lightweight grand prix (May 11th; Saitama, Japan). UPDATE: Sherdog amends their story: “Calvancante was approached about replacing the Japanese fighter, but the 24-year-old American Top Team representative could not come to terms with the promotion and has since left Japan.”
Aoki always seemed to have misgivings about continuing in the tournament. Here’s what he said in an interview on DREAM’s website a couple weeks ago:
Are you thinking about fighting on May 11 in DREAM 3?
I win on Apr 29, but not fight on May 11. That’s their business and not me. I’m not well-considered person to agree with fighting on May 11. I’m not thinking about a fight after Apr 29. I may fight if I had an easy fight on Apr 29.
Don’t you want a belt?
Not interested in. My next fight has more meaning than a belt.
“I have no schedule after April 29 so far. I don’t even think about the 2R. I will have a good result on April 29 and clean up my past.”
So, it’s safe to say that Aoki’s heart wasn’t in DREAM’s lightweight GP past the marquee matchup of him vs. Calvancante, and now this so-called “facial injury” is sounding a little too convenient. But hey, he’s in good company: Kazushi Sakuraba wants nothing to do with DREAM’s middleweight tournament. Good lord, is it too much to ask for DREAM to book fighters that actually want to be involved with them?
We’ll kick things off with Kiyoshi Tamura’s quick demolition of Masakatsu Funaki, which turned out to be the night’s only stoppage-by-strikes (action starts at the 1:17 mark). More vids after the jump; for a recap of the event, click here.
UPDATE: All the broken vids have been replaced…hopefully this batch will last a bit longer.
While us Westerners were hitting the snooze button over and over again this morning, DREAM’s second event was going down in Japan’s Saitama Super Arena. In a night full of surprises, the biggest one was how easily Shinya Aoki handled Gesias Calvancante. The “Master of Jumping Locks” played it true to his nickname, spending a large chunk of the first round hanging off of Calvancante’s back and working for a choke, and nailing a flying guard-pull in the second round. JZ landed shots where he could, but Aoki’s ground control and multiple submission attempts convinced the judges to give him the match unanimously. With the win, Aoki advances to the second round of DREAM’s lightweight tournament, which goes down May 11th. Now that he’s made it through Calvancante, he’s a strong favorite to go all the way.
The rest of DREAM.2 was devoted to the first round of their middleweight grand prix. Kazushi Sakuraba’s match with Kyokushin karate practitioner Andrews Nakahara (0-0 in MMA competition before the fight) was as lopsided as expected, with Sak schooling Nakahara on the ground en route to a neck crank submission. But there were two major upsets on the card, as crowd favorites Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa and Denis Kang were eliminated from the GP. Minowa put in a lethargic performance against Taiei Kin — who owned a 2-2 record coming into the tournament — and was mostly unsuccessful in his repeated takedown attempts, absorbing a ton of leg kicks and knees to the head in the process. During the times when Minowa did have Kin on the ground, he failed to inflict any damage, and was eventually handed a loss by the judges.
Denis Kang’s submission loss to Gegard Mousasi was just as disappointing. After an energetic striking exchange to open the match, Kang took Mousasi to the ground and worked for a kimura while dodging Mousasi’s rabbit-punches and knees to the head on the ground (both of which seemed to be quite legal at this event, for some reason). But Kang was eventually kicked off, and when he went in to throw a punch at the downed Mousasi he literally fell into a triangle choke; it was the kind of a loss that only an amateur would experience, and it would be hard to argue for Kang as a top-ten middleweight at this point.
Full results are after the jump. Come back later for videos from the event, and if you get HDNet, set your DVRs now: DREAM.2 will be broadcast this Saturday, May 3rd, at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Despite his best efforts to back out of their upcoming middleweight tournament due to leg injuries, DREAM insists that Kazushi Sakuraba will be participating in the April 29th event, and recently interviewed the Japanese MMA star about it. The result, as translated by SukiMMA, is hilarious:
DREAM announced that your participation in the middleweight GP officially. How’s the right leg?
My right leg? It’s healed. I don’t think I can fight in the tournament because my left leg is now injured.
… Tell me why you don’t like the tournament?
I want to concentrate on my upcoming fight and put everything into the fight. I don’t want to worry about the next. I also have a problem with my legs.
Are you talking about your NEW injury on your left leg???
Yes. Look, swollen, right?
A bit though.
Look, one more time from the side! You know what, I have been telling not to fight in the tournament since I spoke in the ring in DREAM 1.
Yeah right, your injury was switched from the right to the left though.
My left was in a serious condition. I doubt if I’m ready for the tournament.
… If you fight in DREAM 2, it was long time since you fought in Saitama Super Arena. Do you like fighting in Saitama?
Yes, Saitama! I’m not excited yet, however, I like there. It’ right across the highway exit. That’s what I like about the most. I felt awesome driving the highway which had no traffic every time. I got off and arrived in a second. I have had a miserable fight before. I was exhausted that day because of the traffic…That traffic congestion made me super tired….I guess I should take a train if I can get seated. I cannot fight if someone kicks my leg in a train!
I hope the traffic is not bad. Any message to your fans?
Thank you to your support. I will probably fight.
Man, these DREAM people don’t take no for an answer. But Kudos to Sakuraba for preparing his excuses in advance. And they’re plausible, too — if you’ve ever had to ride on a Tokyo subway, you’d know that getting kicked in the leg is the least of your worries…
