It seems like Blue gloves are all the fashion these days in Japan. This set were on display again at DREAM’s Inaugural show, DREAM.1, which featured a Lightweight GP with 3 Superfights. I think it’s a trick that Japanese promotions seem to be playing on those hopeful of a reemergence of a PRIDE-like presence in MMA. Not too long ago World Victory Road’s Sengoku also tried to revive this look. Like past shows, this aimed to try to refocus the MMA world back to Japan. Overall, it was a solid night of fights, that of course ended with much controversy and lots of confusion.
The controversy from this card stems from the main event, which also happened to be one of the most anticipated fights of the last few months. “JZ” Calvancanti took on Shinya Aoki in what was expected to be the eventual coronation of a new King of Lightweights. Most people, myself included, gave the winner of this bout, along with Tatsuya Kawajiri, the most likely chance of taking the whole event. I was incredibly excited when they rolled the pre-fight promos for both men, which definitely helps set the mood for the coming bout. What I least expected in my wild dream actually came true in what has to be one of the most disappointing moments I have experienced in recent MMA memory.
The bout started and both men seemed like neither wanted to take the 1st move. They seemed to try and want to wait till the other faulted to finally move in. Aoki would fall to his back kind of baiting Calvancanti to try and enter his guard, while JZ went ahead and tried to form an offensive but did so in very lackluster fashion. During the bout, I kept my eye on the clock to see if Aoki would outlast Vitor “Shaolin” Ribiero, which he did but what happened was so unpredictable it took all feeling out of me. 3 downward elbows to the back of Aoki’s head would see the dreams of many MMA come to a realistic and sad halt. The blows looked like they hit Aoki in the Trapezius muscles rather than the back of the head but either way a bizarre and confused audience could just sit and wait. In true soap opera fashion, the television broadcast actually cut away to commercial as the climax of this whole ordeal was happening. The ringside doctor proceeded to announce the situation followed by Yuji Shimada and the fight was ruled a No Contest. Seriously, A NO CONTEST! The only thing more annoying than this, was those 20+ Lupin the 3rd commercials they played every single commercial break. I could only sit there staring at the screen dumbfounded, confused and appalled at what just happened. Life goes on though. At least FEG now has a good case to secure this bout as a Quarterfinal bout rather than pick someone like Caol Uno or Vitor Ribeiro.
Moving onto less depressing matters, the other Grand Prix bouts were good, at least the one’s they aired. Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen strings his 2nd win together after a Unanimous Decision win over Krazy Bee’s Koutetsu Boku. Hellboy seemed willing to engage like usual from the feet and had little to no real trouble with Boku during the duration of the bout. He managed to secure many takedowns from the Greco Clinch and also being able to take his back. One scary moment for Boku came at the end of the 1 round, where Hellboy managed to almost secure an armbar but luckily for Boku was unable to capitlize in that position. He would later cruise on to steal the 2nd in a not so close fight.
EliteXC Lightweight Eddie Alvarez managed to secure an incredibly impressive TKO victory over UDL’s Andre “Dida” Amade. Alvarez, as most of us know, has incredible striking and has in past times seemed to fully and solely rely on that aspect of this game. In this bout he uncharacteristically shot for a takedown before actually trying to stand in the pocket and exchange with the Brazilian. His wrestling seem to work incredibly effectively against Dida, who seemed ineffective from his back. Alvarez seemed to try and get takedowns at will, which is a theme we witnessed all night long, just not in this fight. Alvarez’s ground and pound seemed to leave Dida a bit dazed. Dida’s striking definitely looked less than crisp after the pounding. Alvarez did manage to pass to side mount very easily and did manage to mount and just decimate Dida from the dominant positions. In typical Yuji Shimada fashion, Dida would have to wait longer than expected for the referee to come and pull Alvarez off him. Alvarez in my opinion, looked the best out of all the GP participants.
Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri also continues his winning ways over Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill in what turned out to be one long, drawn out wrestling clinic. Kawajiri just ran over him. Passed from full guard to half to mount with absolute ease. He got singles and doubles whenever he wanted to. Kawajiri was close to finishing the bout in the 1st round when he secured a side choke that Mamba would eventually find a way to spin out of. Overall, nothing really stand out. Gill’s size definitely posed a bigger challenge for Kawajiri but he handled it with relative ease. Kawajiri, along with Alvarez, definitely stood out to me by far. Both their wrestling techniques were effective and their ability to pass guard and secure dominant positions were incredible. Kawajiri would cruise to a Unanimous Decision.
The other 3 Grand Prix bouts where shown in 1 Minute highlight form each, sadly. Luis “Buscape” Firmino makes his successful comeback after being out of action for over a year and a half. He choked out Olympian Kazuyuki Miyata in the 1st round. Wrestling Silver Medalist, Katsuhiko Nagata, also won a unanimous decision over Artur Oumakhanov. Oumakhanov is now 0 and 2 in his last 2 bouts, losing previously to Shoji, the 1st Lightweight King of Pancrase. Mitsuhiro Ishida followed up the biggest win of his career with a Unanimous Decision victory of Judoka Jung Bu-Kyung. Let’s hope that Jung Bu-Kyung stays around. His record is 0-2 but against top level opponents. Similar what happened to Dong Sik-Yoon and hopefully like Yoon, he can stick this out and come back stronger and determined.
In the 3 remaining superfights, Ikuhisa Minowa saw quick action tonight against his 1 day notice opponent, Bum Chan Kang. In typical, Minowaman style he used his patented forward rolls and eventually managed to get the Korean giant on his back. He looked like he wanted to secure a Kimura, but settled for the open leg and got the Kneebar victory. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai got his 5th straight victory after stopping Hidetaka Monma. Sakurai looked good but this could be due to the fact that Monma isn’t necessarily at his level. He did manage to get a good Thai Clinch. He caught Monma, with what looked like a forearm and dropped him and proceeded to pound his head like 30 times consecutively until the fight was called. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic also got a much needed boost in self esteem after he finished Tatsuya Mizuno in less than 1 minute. Nothing really much to get out this fight.
Overall, a decent night of fights. The 2nd round of the GP is scheduled for May 11th and should prove for better matches and match making (hopefully). The 1st round of the Welterweight Grand Prix is scheduled for April 29th. April will be INSANELY busy for FEG. The have 3 major events that month that include, K-1 World MAX GP Round of 16, K-1 World GP in Yokohama and DREAM.2. All incredibly loaded cards by the way.
Quick Results from DREAM.1:
- Minowaman def. Bum Chan Kang by Kneebar in 1:25 of the 1st round
- Hayato Sakurai def. Hidetaka Monma by Ref. Stoppage in 4:12 of the 1st round
- Joachim Hansen def. Koutetsu Boku by Unanimous Decision
- Luis Firmino def. Kazuyuki Miyata by Rear Nake Choke in 7:37 of the 1st round
- Katsuhiko Nagata def. Artur Oumakhanov by Unanimous Decision
- Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Jung Bu-Kyung by Unanimous Decision
- Mirko Filipovic def. Tatsuya Mizuno by Ref. Stoppage in 0:56 of the 1st round
- Eddie Alvarez def. Andre Amade by Ref. Stoppage in 6:27 of the 1st round
- Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kultar Gill by Unanimous Decision
- Shinya Aoki and Gesias Calvancanti was ruled a No Contest
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