Billed: Former PRIDE FC executives present DREAM.1, the newest MMA federation in Japan, featuring Mirko "Cro Cop" Flipovic and Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti. Card: 206-lbs: Mirko "Cro Cop" Flipovic vs. Tatsuya Mizuno 155-lbs: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Hidetaka Monma Lightweight Tournament (first round): Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luiz "Buscape" Firmino Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen vs. Koutetsu Boku Eddie Alvarez vs. Andre "Dida" Amade Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri vs. Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill Artur Oumakhanov vs. Katsuhiko Nagata Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Jung Bu-Kyung Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luiz "Buscape" Firmino
The opponent for Cro Cop will be Yoshihiro Nakao, best known as the guy who kissed Heath Herring and got KTFO as a result.
In other words and easy win for Cro-Cop so he can be champ... ah well it's the Grand Prix that matters most IMO.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Celtic Fan @ Mar 6 2008, 08:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>ah well it's the Grand Prix that matters most IMO.</div> Yeah, the tourney will be a nice gateway into March Madness.
Grand Prix update <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Gilbert Melendez to fight Cristiano Marcello on March 29th; will not compete in DREAM LW Grand Prix All of this according to MMA Weekly: Gilbert Melendez, currently ranked No. 6 in the world at lightweight, will defend his Strikeforce lightweight championship on March 29 against Chute Boxe jiu-jitsu coach Cristiano Marcello. And Melendez comments on rumors of him fighting for DREAM on March 15th: “This month, on March 29, I will be doing the EliteXC/Strikeforce show on Showtime,” he stated. “I’ve got a commitment with Strikeforce, and I look forward to fighting in the States and getting some respect out here. “I think it’s a great opportunity to fight in the Dream tournament. I love fighting in Japan, but right now I have a commitment with Strikeforce. I’m looking to just put my focus on Strikeforce; I’ve got a contract there and want to fulfill it.” While I would have loved to have seen Melendez competing in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix, we should have known it was too good to be true. Japanese promotions are notorious for announcing fighters on cards who have never been confirmed. At least Strikeforce was able to find an opponent for him for the March 29th event after Josh Thomson and Jorge Masvidal pulled out of the fight due to injuries.</div>
More Dreams news <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>New Japanese mixed martial arts promotion Dream on Friday announced four more bouts for its inaugural event on March 15 at the Saitama Super Arena. Three of the bouts are part of the promotion’s Lightweight Grand Prix. New bouts announced for the 16-man tournament include MMAWeekly.com No. 5 ranked lightweight Mitsuhiro Ishida versus Jung Bu-Kyung, Andre “Dida” Amade against Eddie Alvarez, and Katsuhiko Nagata facing Artur Oumakhanov. The tournament now officially includes five of the top ten lightweight fighters in the world. Gilbert Melendez, a sixth Top Ten lightweight, had also been expected to participate. He will instead be defending his championship at the Strikeforce/EliteXC co-promoted event on March 29, scheduled to air on Showtime. Also announced is a welterweight match-up between Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and Hidetaka Monma. Although it has yet to be officially announced by the promotion, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic announced via his blog on Thursday that he will fight Yoshihiro Nakao on March 15. Lightweight Grand Prix (16-man tournament): -Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill -Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias "JZ" Calvancante -Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Jung Bu-Kyung -Joachim Hansen vs. Koutetsu Boku -Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luiz "Buscape" Firmino -Andre "Dida" Amade vs. Eddie Alvarez -Artur Oumakhanov vs. Katsuhiko Nagata Non-Tournament Bouts: -Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Yoshihiro Nakao -Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Hidetaka Monma</div>
Cro Cop's new opponent is Tatsuya Mizuno (3-2). As PRIDE used to do, Cro Cop has had three plus months to prepare for a fight, and they choose his unranked opponent like a week or less before the event. Mizuno has losses to Assuerio and Thiago Silva, and wins over nobodies.
IE hand cro-cop the belt... wow big surprise coming from a Japanese Org. I think the pride champs had at least a 3 to 1 ratio (can to contender)
well it won't be HD Net (which I don't get anyways) don't think a PPV is showing it either.. I'll have to acquire it Sunday morning
Results * Gesias "JZ" Calvancante vs. Shinya Aoki ruled no contest (illegal elbow from Calvancante ) -- Round 1, 3:46 * Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kultar Gill via unanimous decision * Eddie Alvarez def. Andre Amade via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 6:47 * Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic def. Tatsuya Mizuno via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 0:56 * Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Bu Kyung Jung via unanimous decision * Katsuhiko Nagata def. Artur Oumakhanov via unanimous decision * Luiz Firmino def. Kazuyuki Miyata via submission (rear-naked choke) -- Round 1, 7:37 * Joachim Hansen def. Kotetsu Boku via unanimous decision * Hayato "Mach" Sakurai def. Hidetaka Monma via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 4:12 * Ikuhisa Minowa def. Bum Chan Kang via submission (kneebar) -- Round 1, 1:25
Some good bouts for sure. Mirko looked dominant again. How did you guys watch this card? I know a good blog site to watch fights the day after if you don't feel like downloading the torent etc.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flush @ Mar 16 2008, 09:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Some good bouts for sure. Mirko looked dominant again. How did you guys watch this card? I know a good blog site to watch fights the day after if you don't feel like downloading the torent etc.</div> Nah, I didn't get to see it. DailyMotion usually has some vids up, is that the site you're thinking of or is it something else?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (speeds @ Mar 16 2008, 07:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flush @ Mar 16 2008, 09:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Some good bouts for sure. Mirko looked dominant again. How did you guys watch this card? I know a good blog site to watch fights the day after if you don't feel like downloading the torent etc.</div> Nah, I didn't get to see it. DailyMotion usually has some vids up, is that the site you're thinking of or is it something else? </div> Ultimate MMA video blog
Thanks. Cro Cop looked fine, but how much he can actually get out of beating an unheard-of opponent, I have no idea. Even if it was strictly for the ego boost, it must be a hollow feeling having to beat up on some inexperienced guy just to get back into the win column. The Aoki/Cavalcante (probably misspelled both names) fight was a big let down. JZ's stand up was good and so was his take down defense, but we're going to have to wait for a rematch to see who is better.
I torrented the fights, Cro-Cop vs a can was exactly what it should have been. As for the fight card, it was kind of a let down IMO. Joachim Hansen looked great on the ground rather than stalling he tried to finish the fight and he should have with the dominant positions he had. Kultar Gill looked impressive and if he could have stayed on his feet a bit more could have gotten the upset over Kawarjii. the no contest was a disappointment and I read that Aoki has 2 other shady no contests where he choose not to continue. This really puts the tournament in a bind and the Dream organization. Aoki is one of Dream's poster boy so what do they do now? The minowa fight was useless but the Japanese love those types of fights apparently so it was for their home market not the mma fans abroad. Eddie Alvarez looked really impressive, could be a darkhorse contender IMO. looking forward to the WW grand prix and seeing who they can get.
