Yeah, I know this is a bit later than I hope but with my INSANE schoolwork schedule, it’s been very hard to get any time to try and give my thoughts on the Upcoming shows. If it’s not a Speech/Presentation I have to write, than its preparation for a Math exam, or a Book summary for History. I apologize to those people I have definitely burdened with my absence and definitely apologize to the staff of MMAOpinion.com for my lack of contribution.
Ok.. Anyways, DREAM. 3 is only hours away and the updated finalized card looks like this:
HEIWA DREAM.3 Lightweight GP 2008 2nd Round
Date: May 11th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
Lightweight GP 2nd Round Fights:
8. Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno
7. Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis Buscape
Welterweight Championship Eliminator Fight:
5. Nick Diaz vs. Katsuya Inoue
Lightweight Fight:
4. Jung Bukyung vs. Daisuke Nakamura
Middleweight GP 1st Round Reserve Fight:
3. Melvin Manhoef vs. Kim Dae Won
Middleweight GP 1st Round Fight:
2. Jason Miller vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Featherweight Fight:
1. Takeshi Yamazaki vs. SHOJI
(Thanks to Nightmare of Battle for the Updated card.)
Since I am a bit pressed on time, I’ll give my quick thoughts and predictions for this card. I’ll work my way up from the bottom starting with the Inaugural Featherweight bout of DREAM. Most of us did see this happening sooner or later. I remember about 8 months ago Tanigawa and Co. had made note that they definitely had plans to try and expand the HERO’s roster to try and incorporate the featherweight fighters. There are probably 2 reasons why they wanted to do this. 1.) They want to expand their brand and bring in different fighters or the other more obvious reason 2.) They need a Division where Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto can rule with an iron fist as he did in the early days of HERO’s. Actually, it should be noted that they even thought of creating a 140 pound division for Kid instead of the standard 143 or 145 we see in SHOOTO or the WEC.
Back to this specific fight, Pancrase’s 1st Lightweight champ SHOJI (SHOJI SHOJI or Shoji Maruyama) is taking on DEEP Veteran and Grabaka Dojo member Takeshi Yamazaki. While I haven’t seen too much of Yamazaki, Shoji definitely caught alot of people off guard when he knocked out the than recent Cage Force Tournament Champion Artur Oumakhanov, who now also fights in DREAM on and off. While Shoji doesn’t nearly have as many fight as Yamazaki, I think Shoji has fought better opposition in shorter periods. The 2 opponents who stand out are the aforementioned Oumakhanov and Brazilian powerhouse Jose Aldo, who Shoji fought to a decision. I think Shoji’s stand up should help him get the win to help him climb to the top of the Lightweights. Shoji by Knockout in the 1st That climb to the top may prove a bit harder with both Hideo Tokoro and Masakazu Imanari both wanting a piece of Kid also.
Similar to the Last DREAM, this one will also feature a late GP bout but for the 185 GP. To help clarify things up, Melvin Manhoef was originally scheduled to fight for a spot to be seeded into the GP but due to him being knocked about by Remy Bonjasky at the K-1 Amsterdam GP show last month, FEG staff have decided that it was best for him to only fight for a reserve spot. The actual final spot will be taken by the winner of Katsuyori Shibata and Jason “Mayhem” Miller. The other thing that should be noted is that both Akitoshi Tamura and Sakuraba may not participate in the next round of the GP for various reasons so the Manhoef fight will most likely be a qualifier also. I’m still praying that they decide to bring Akiyama back.
This fight, in my opinion, will definitely be the most entertaining bout of the evening for personality reasons. I think a great way to describe Katsuyori Shibata is Psychotic but Limited. One thing the man does possess is lots of Heart and drive but he’s very limited in his skill set. On the other hand you have the colorful Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who is definitely a very entertaining personality. Mayhem definitely didn’t have it that easy in his last fight against the tough Tim Kennedy, eventually decisioning him. Shibata’s last fight on the other hand was just a war. The Funaki-trained Shibata, did get finished but definitely showed a fighting spirit the whole fight. I think Mayhem’s experience really makes him the easy favorite to win this bout. I think he’ll overpower Shibata and manage to pound on him for the full length of the fight. I think Shibata won’t be stopped but I do feel he won’t be able to handle Mayhem. Mayhem Miller by Unanimous Decision If all goes how I believe it will the Intro’s and staredown to this fight will steal the show.
The 3rd bout scheduled was originally Melvin Manhoef vs. Ralek Gracie but that fight was scrapped a bit after it was announced. For the Manhoef vs. Gracie fight, my prediction was going to be very simple. Manhoef by Knockout within 30 Seconds. That 1st bout had Manhoef-Oyama II written all over it. Anyways, the bout is now Manhoef vs. Dae Won Kim. Kim is no stranger to the larger Japanese shows. He’s participated both in PRIDE and in HERO’s going 1 and 1, with that win coming to the highly touted and debuting Marcel Garcia, while that lost came to none other than DJ Gozma himself, Akihiro Gono. I think it should be noted that Kim has faced really good competition for only having 7 fights. Garcie, Gono and Doerksen are all former opponents of his. The problem is that he’s facing Melvin Manhoef. Every opponent knows what he brings but he always manages to get them. Manhoef’s explosiveness is ridiculous and enviable at the very least and I see him having no problem with Kim. Manhoef by Knockout in the 1st.
“Finally…” I think that’s what Jung Bu Kyung is thinking after he got matched up with Daisuke Namakura. While not necessarily the Worst that 155 has to offer, Nakamura definitely provides a great fight for people to gauge where Jung’s potential is really at. No disrespect to Nakamura but the one who has more to gain or lose is Jung. If he wins decisively than he’s on his way maybe to a Dong Sik Yoon type renaissance, while if he looks sluggish and unable to finish Nakamura than maybe he was just more hype than anything else. Anyways, I am confident in the skills that Jung displayed in his 1st 2 bouts against Aoki and Ishida respectively, and I do see him taking the Dong Sik Yoon route. The 1 thing I’m troubled about is Nakamura’s plethora of experience compared to Jung and I could see Jung getting upset. I don’t really know if beating a 0-2 fighter is an upset but anyways, I’m gonna have to go with Jung on this one. Jung by Dongbar—I mean Armbar in the 2nd. I think it must be said but Dong Sik Yoon is awesome and also provided one of the most awkward and confusing moments in the history of Fighter Intro’s when he came out to Purple Rain by Prince at the last DREAM show.
One thing I believe DREAM is aiming for is having established Champions in most their divisions by or during 2009. This is very evident in the fact that the winner of both GP’s will win both GP and DREAM titles for their respective weights. JZ also recently stated that he plans on challenging for the DREAM title as soon as he is able to compete after his recent injury. All this added to the fact that they’re now having elimination bouts to set up title fights kind of really helps DREAM and gives it credibility where HERO’s lacked it. The winner of this elimination bout between Nick Diaz and Katsuya Inoue has the displeasure of fighting Hayato “Mach” Sakurai for the title. Sakurai was recently upset by David Baron at the SHOOTO Tradition show. That show did have another upset with “Lion” Takeshi Inoue also dropping a bout to Savant Young, Thankfully both Yusuke Endo and Takeshi Nakakura were victorious so the night wasn’t completely lost.
After being on, than off again, than on again, Nick Diaz finally gets the thumbs up from Pro Elite and gets to make his Japanese debut in a big show. (Side Note: Pro Elite and DREAM have announced a partnership that includes fighters exchanges amongst other things.) Diaz, did make his SHOOTO debut at the 2002 Year End show, which in retrospect is an Ultra Stacked card. Anyways, Diaz is facing Inoue, who’s riding a huge upset win against Satoru Kitaoka last year. While I do think that Kitaoka win was big, 8 times out of 10 I think Kitaoka wins the fight but anyways, the past is the past and Nick Diaz is his new foe. I think Inoue is stronger than Diaz on the feet and could possibly pose a threat if the fight manages to stay on the feet for long periods of time. Inoue has been stopped before though Akira Kikuchi and Yoshiyuki Yoshida but I don’t think Diaz’s punching power will facilitate the KO. Nick Diaz would be heavily benefited by taking this to the floor. I think on the floor, he’ll aim to soften him up with blows and eventually manage to submit, even though Inoue is yet to be submitted in MMA. Both men carry a great deal of experience and this bout should definitely prove really competitive and even. Diaz by Rear Naked Choke in the 1st.
Finally, what feels like Years of waiting the 2nd round of the Lightweight GP is under way. There are only 3 scheduled bouts because of the Aoki-Nagata fight being moved to DREAM. 4. These fights are definitely the one’s most of us have been waiting for and while there are clear cut favorites to possibly win these bouts, I think its very hard to categorize any of these 3 bouts as susceptible to upsets in the sense that if either men wins their respective bout you can’t really make the case and cry upset due to the very close and talented fighters partaking in them.
The only rematch of the GP, Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri vs. Luis “Buscape” Firmino. If your memory serves you well, you’ll remember when the highly touted Kawajiri made his PRIDE debut at BUSHIDO 7 against In Seok Kim and just ran through the poor guy. Buscape was also coming off a very very hardly contested bouts against Luiz Azeredo at BUSHIDO 6 in one of the best fights in BUSHIDO history. Anyways, I think many people thought Kawajiri might repeat the dosage but everyone was just shocked at what transpired. Buscape clearly had 1 thing in mind and that was taking Kawajiri down, which he managed to do very briefly. Of the 15 minutes the bout lasted, Buscape had Kawajiri’s back on the feet as Kawajiri desperately found himself losing the fight going into the 2nd round. Kawajiri looked flat and very perplexed with Buscape’s style of attack. The fight was a bit lack luster to the common eye but the battle for positioning on the feet was incredible to say the least. While many, myself included, believe Kawajiri did not do enough to win the bout, he was still awarded the decision. The key part of the argument lies in the fact that with 5 seconds left in the bout, Kawajiri managed to connect 4 or more solid stomps to Buscape’s face, which begs the question of, what if there was 5 more seconds?
While I did pick Kawajiri to win the whole thing, I think the 1st bout was almost borderline as dominant as anyone has ever been against Kawajiri. Not even Gomi or Melendez managed to control Kawajiri’s upper body for as long or even really completely take him out of his element like Buscape did. Their 1st round bouts where very different. Kawajiri had to face the Behemoth, Kultar Gill and was unable to finish him though he dominated, while Buscape, after a 1 year lay-off, got back into his groove by finishing Kazuyuki Miyata. I think the fight will not be like the 1st. I think Kawajiri is wiser and knows what to expect from Buscape. I think Kawajiri will employ GSP’s recent tactic and just secure the quick takedown and works from a position that benefits him and where he feels more comfortable. Now actually getting the takedown should prove a bit harder and I think he’ll have to set the takedown up with some heavy strikes. Buscape on the other hand should try the same tactic as in the 1st. Try and secure the upper body and eventually the takedown also. I think Kawajiri’s strength might play into it but Buscape is definitely not a slouch in that zone. I don’t see either men finishing each other but I’m gonna have to go with my gut even though there are no stomps. Kawajiri by Split Decision.
The 2nd bout has fight of the night written all over it with Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen taking on Eddie Alvarez. I remember when they originally announced that Eddie Alvarez would be participating I was thrilled to hear his name because he had relative success at 170 pounds but his true calling was at Lightweight. He didn’t disappoint. He scored a huge stoppage win over my Original Dark Horse pick Andre “Dida” Amade. He did everything to perfection in that bout. Worked the crisp stand-up, nice knees and used his superior wrestling. Hellboy on the other hand, had a tough time with Koutetsu Boku, who definitely put up a great fight. Hellboy looked well rounded and started to regain his stride. The 1 thing I find amazing is that both men are soo talented in almost all fields of the game. This fight will definitely prove to possibly be the best fight in DREAM’s short history due to the excitement and of course, skill that both men bring to the table.
Hellboy in a mount or dominant position could very easily end the fight at any given second, so I think it would be wise for Eddie to avoid going to his back because of Hellboy’s solid ground and pound and good submission game. Eddie could also opt to try and get the takedown but I really don’t know how Hellboy would react to that because of his ability to regain his bearings and reverse to a favorable position. This fight is very hard to call but I Think this will be a stand-up battle for about 3 minutes with both shooting on each other and both being Unsuccessful. I think the fight will be decided on the feet for the most part. I’m going out on a limb and I’m gonna say Thunder will strike again and Hellboy will connect with a huge knee to Alvarez’s face and we know what happens after that. Reference the Uno, Azeredo or Imanari fight if you’re confused. Hansen by Knee in the 1st Round. This fight is too close to call so why not dream of this ending? It’s like watching a Glaube Feitosa fight and waiting for the Brazilian Kick KO. It may or not happen.
Finally, the Main event and final bout of the GP, Caol Uno vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida. While I don’t think this’ll be a repeat of Uno vs. Sato I do think this is a great fight but probably the least intriguing bout for me personally. I think the gift Uno got from FEG was just ridiculous and incorrect when compared to the treatment Yoshihiro Akiyama got. Anyways, this fight probably won’t be the most likely to deliver the big knockout but it will be one of the highest paced bouts on the card. Both men’s wrestling, especially Ishida, is some of the noteworthy in the division and I do think this fight will be long and tedious and very hard fought. Another thing that should be noted is that Uno’s last fight was against Andre Amade at last year’s HERO’s GP in which Amade ended up breaking Uno’s jaw with a massive knee. Uno looked very uncomfortable and his wrestling was unable to bail him out of anything. Ishida’s last fight was against Jung Bu Kyung and was very announced and had an almost predictable outcome. I don’t see either men finishing each other, and if I was to choose someone who was most likely to finish the bout, I’d probably pick Uno. Anyways, just like many other times Ishida is just too much for his opponent. Ishida by Unanimous Decision.
I’m not brave enough to pick any upsets but I don’t realistically see any. Anyways, enjoy DREAM. 3 and I’m a liar because my “breakdown” wasn’t as quickly as advertised. Sorry.
My Picks:
- Shoji by Knockout in the 1st
- Jason Miller by Unanimous Decision
- Melvin Manhoef by Knockout in the 1st.
- Jung Bu Kyung by Armbar in the 2nd
- Nick Diaz by Rear Naked Choke in the 1st.
- Tatsuya Kawajiri by Split Decision
- Joachim Hansen by Knee in the 1st Round
- Mitsuhiro Ishida by Unanimous Decision.
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