DREAM.6 and Sengoku 4 Card Updates

DREAM.6 in a matter of days has gone from a so-so event to possibly becoming the most important show in the short history of DREAM. President Tanigawa commented that their last show DREAM. 5 was not necessarily the biggest success. The show did manage to break a 10.0 but some heavy steps are needed to improve viewership. Ratings cash-crop and heel, Yoshihiro Akiyama will play a big part in the upcoming shows. His fight vs. Katsuyori Shibata was the highest rated part of the GP night. “Satan” Akiyama, as he’s referred to in Japan, for the time being will serve as a Judo Analyst for MBC (Munhwa Broadcast Corporation) during the Olympics according to Kamipro. Akiyama might also find himself fight across the ring from Mirko Cro Cop at DREAM.6 if rumors are true. Yes, Mirko Cro Cop believe it or not. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto is smiling after a successful knee surgery that keeps him out for the rest of this year but certainly not as long as many predicted. Originally, Kid wanted to avoid all surgery but was diagnosed with a tear and went under the knife. Another possible DREAM participant Nick Diaz is possibly slated to fight on their show but reportedly not been paid for his debut at DREAM.3. We’ll see if Diaz is willing to take the trip to fight to Japan. Also, in random news for the day, Mr. Yellow Card, Gilbert Yvel is rumored to be joining DREAM. Even though the card is still in it’s infantile state here it is:

DREAM 6: SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
venue: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Dream Welterweight Championship:
-Nick Diaz vs. Hayato Sakurai

Middleweight Grand Prix Finals (16-man tournament):

-Gegard Mousasi

-Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

-Melvin Manhoef

-Zelg Galesic
[Semi-Finals and Finals will take place on the same night]

(Thanks to MMAWeekly.com for the Card thus far)

World Victory Road’s Sengoku has definitely had a huge face lift and is starting to fill cards with some former PRIDE veterans, international and young, new talent. This is a great move in the right direction to try to attract eyes to their product especially after the disastrous Sengoku 3 show. Pawel Nastula, 4 Georgian Olympians (Kurtanidze, Nozadze, Gogchelidze, and Zviadauri), Clay French, Ryan Schultz, Frank Trigg, Satoru Kitaoka, and Others have been brought in to try and legitimize WVR. In typical Japanese MMA fashion, of course a GP is needed, which when compared to DREAM’s looks week but to the contrary has very good and less exposed talent. I’ll be giving my thoughts and I’ll be ranking the participants later on this week so stay tuned. Anyways, this is what the almost complete Sengoku 4 and looks excellent.The card as of now:

SENGOKU IV
Date: August 24th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Lightweight Fight:
Takanori Gomi vs. Bang Seung Hwan

Middleweight Fight:
Frank Trigg vs. Makoto Takimoto

Heavyweight Fights:
Peter Graham vs. Moise Rimbon
Pawel Nastula vs. Yang Dong Yi

Lightweight GP Series 2008 1st Round:
Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Rodrigo Damm
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Clay French
Mizuto Hirota vs. Ryan Schultz
Kazunori Yokota vs. Bojan Kosednar

Possible Participants:
Daniel Acacio

(Thanks to Nightmare of Battle for the Full Fight Card)