The new promotion DREAM has finally announced its final card and for all intents and purposes, this seems to be a fantastic card that should not be missed - if you like Lightweight bouts. Most importantly, this gives all of us MMA fans something that we lost last year, an alternative promotion that might substitute for that other promotion - what was my favorite promotion for a long time - PRIDE.
I have a DREAM … A dream that this promotion slowly but surely builds up talent once again.
I have a DREAM … that fights are judged more competently, based on rules suited for MMA.
I have a DREAM … that this promotion moves past what was PRIDEs shortcomings (lop-sided matches, non-title bouts)
I have a DREAM … that this gives a lot of fighters an alternative place to earn their living (No, EliteXC is not that place)
I have a DREAM … that japanese MMA finally comes back on to the international stage.
Apart from all of this, I am absolutely thrilled to see the return of the Grand Prix. Bushido was one of my favorite shows and I am more than happy to see the format coming back. The class of fighters lined up for this event is basically a whos-who of fighters presently available. I see a lot more fighters who are presently in other organizations waiting to see if this is a stable organization that can survive on its own and not get into the kind of mess that PRIDE did. If yes, this organization might just become bigger than PRIDE. Should that happen, I can see a more competitive landscape for MMA in general.
Now, although I didn’t do that well in my UFC 82 predictions (even though the fights I lost on were mostly competetive fights), here are my picks for the DREAM event:
Shinya Aoki v/s Gesias Calvancanti - JZ by TKO round two.
Tatsuya Kawajiri v/s Black Mamba - kawajiri by Submission Round 1
Kazuyuki Miyata v/s Luiz Firmino (BTT) - Firmino by Submission Round 1
Joachim Hansen v/s Kotetsu Boku - Hansen by TKO round 1
Andre “Dida” Amade v/s Eddie Alvarez - Dida by Decision
Mitsuhiro Ishida v/s Jung-Bu-Kyung - Ishida by TKO Round 1
Katsuhiko Nagata v/s Artur Oumakhonov - Oumakhonov by TKO Round 1
Hayato Sakurai v/s Hidehiko Monma - Sakurai by KO round 1
CroCop v/s Tatsuya Mizuno(?) - CroCop by KO Round 1
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I do still love MMA and have...
March 28th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Can you put me intouch with the DREAM promoter so i can send my interest in competeing, along with 3 other international fighters.
the cutta, from down under