Comments on: A Wake Up Call for DREAM

By: Josh Stein

Josh Stein — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:04:36 +0000

sved, I know who Monma is, but I still don’t think it’s fair to dispute his status as a no-name. He’s a good fighter, but he hasn’t appeared on the big stage and hasn’t really taken off in the smaller shows. I’m not going to dispute that he’s a very good fighter, but compared to Sakurai, he’s most certainly an unknown, and certainly new to the world stage (though, as you mentioned, he’s established in smaller Japanese shows and has some experience).

I agreed with the judges on the Nagata decision, but I know that not everyone agree with that. Still, it was an easy fight to call for me (though I disagree with the judges alot).

I didn’t watch the live show, but I would imagine it had the classic Japanese style of production. That quality, though, was lacking from the version I watched.

As for the comments about Alvarez, I agree that he has a long way to go before he should be fighting those top guys, but I think that people are interested to see if he can prove that he deserves to be at the top. I missed the fight with Thompson. As far as his status as a “lesser known” fighter, I’m going to stand by that because I don’t think that he was a top guy in Bodog (and I don’t really think of Bodog as a top organization, as they have posted painful numbers and have what I see as a much less impressive roster than they could).

Still, just my thoughts on the fight.

By: Brandt DeLorenzo

Brandt DeLorenzo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:46:45 +0000

I wouldn’t say Alvarez is unknown, but there’s no way I can agree that he can hang with the world’s best LW’s. The majority of his wins are over guys who have losing records in small shows. He has beat a few guys who are holding 20-10 records in the smaller shows, but he hasn’t beat any big names yet and his only loss is against Nick Thompson. His hyped fight against Matt Lee (9-7) ended in a decision and although I’m not trying to use fighter math, Alvarez has a little ways to go before hanging with some of the big names even after I’ve seen him beat some of those guys. Just my MMA Opinion.

By: sved

sved — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:19:21 +0000

well…1st of all Hidetaka Monma is not a nobody…he is one of his Wajutsu style’s most prominent MMA stars…

Just because he toils in smaller shows like D.O.G. and GCM Cageforce doesn’t make him into a nobody. Put simply he’s still a lW competing against a WW in a very experienced and very well coached Sakurai who’s been at or near the top of the LW/WW MMA game for close to 15 years.

As for your other comments on Alvarez being relatively unknown…try one of Bodog’s best competitors for the last 30 months and winning in dominant fashion in the recent Elite XC show. Just because somebody isn’t on a UFC card doesn’t mean they’re lesser known. As Alvarez improves his non-striking game he rounds a very explosive package and can compete w/ the worlds best LW’s @160lbs.

Also the NAgata-Oukhamanov match was fairly tough to call as Nagata kept taking damage standing and got taken down pretty much at will by Oukhamanov. In the end it was his finish @ the final round that sealed the judges mind combined w/ his ground sweeps from bottom.

Yes the Televised 95 min version wasn’t as great as the live show…but the event was a success outside of its Saturday night TV audience( which is a notoriously poor time slot to put a show in Japan)

By: Josh "The IronMan" Stein

Josh "The IronMan" Stein — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:45:13 +0000

Are you telling me you think that he shouldn’t have finished Boku?

Perhaps I worded it a little harshly, but Hansen has destroyed much better fighters than that guy before, so it didn’t seem like he was in top form to me.

By: Johan Wicklén

Johan Wicklén — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:24:50 +0000

Yeah, I do agree. Hansen was really good. Aggressive and slick. Always fun to watch.

By: schz

schz — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:54:30 +0000

hansens win less than impressive?

did you watch the fight?