DREAM.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round April 5, 2009 Nippon Gaishi Hall, Nagoya, Japan HDNet (4:00AM-ish?) Non-Tournament Bouts: 185 Lbs: Andrews Nakahara vs. Shungo Oyama 185 Lbs: Ikuhiso Minowa vs. Katsuyori Shibata 185 Lbs: Riki Fukuda vs Murilo 'Ninja' Rua 265 Lbs: Jeff Monson vs Sergey Kharitonov 155 Lbs: Vitor Ribeiro vs. Katsuhiko Nagata Welterweight Grand Prix: Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato Sakurai John Alessio vs. Andre Galvao Seichi Ikemoto vs. Marius Zaromskis Yuya Shirai vs. Jason High Delayed FW GP Bout: Hideo Tokoro vs. Daiki Hata
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Notes on the event: -- Dream's Welterweight Grand Prix features a field of only eight fighters, including Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki, who has previously competed at lightweight, and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, who has also been fighting mostly at lightweight. Aoki was defeated in the finals of Dream's inaugural Lightweight Grand Prix by Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen and is looking for redemption in this tournament. -- Murilo "Ninja" Rua makes his Dream debut at Dream.8 when he faces Korean judoka Dong Sik Yoon. Rua was under contract with EliteXC before they folded and wasn't picked up by Strikeforce in the sale of the organizations assets afterwards. Rua is coming off a crushing KO loss to Benji Radach in October. Yoon placed third in the 2001 Judo World Championships. He has faced a number of great fighters in his short career including Rampage Jackson, Maurilo Bustamante, Melvin Manhoef, Gegard Mousasi, and Sakuraba. His record of 4-6 looks worse than it really is as a result. -- Vitor "Shaolin" Ribero returns to mixed martial arts after nearly two years off due to an eye injury suffered in a TKO loss to JZ Cavalcante last September. Once considered the next top lightweight in the world, Ribero is now tasked with making fans and promoters remember his past successes with a victory over Greco-Roman silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata. -- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Renaldo "Jacare" de Souza was expected to compete at this event.
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) only 8 fighters for this tourney? thats kinda weak.
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Dong Sik Yoon is injured and Dream is looking for a last minute replacement to fight Ninja. Any takers?
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Free trip to Japan? sure, I weigh around 185.
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Sorry, Riki Fukuda already jumped in.
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Weigh-in results: Main card: Heavyweight: Sergei Kharitonov (256 lbs) vs. Jeff Monson (242 lbs) Catchweight 196lbs: Riki Fukuda (195.7 lbs) vs. Murilo Rua (194 lbs) Catchweight 194lbs: Ikuhisa Minowa (190 lbs) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (191.8 lbs) Catchweight 189lbs: Andrews Nakahara (187 lbs) vs. Shungo Oyama (188.9 lbs) Lightweight: Vitor Ribeiro (153 lbs) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (154.3 lbs) Welterweight Grand Prix (168lbs limit): Shinya Aoki (162 lbs) vs. Hayato Sakurai (167.3) Andre Galvao (167.5 lbs) vs. John Alessio (167.5 lbs) Yuya Shirai (166 lbs) vs. Jason High (167.3 lbs) Marius Zaromskis (166.4 lbs) vs. Seichi Ikemoto (166.4 lbs) Featherweight Grand Prix (139lbs limit): Hideo Tokoro (137.5 lbs) vs. Daiki Hata (138.8 lbs)
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) I want MACH to win vs Aoki, but I think Aoki should win it. Anyone think Alessio can keep it standing? If he can't he DUN. Nice to see Ribeiro back, they gave him a super can to beat upon to get back into the groove... how nice of DREAM WAR Kharitonov!!!!
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Sergei is looking fat these days... dunno if his heart is still in it.
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) Results: Shibata d. Minowaman, Unanimous Decision Nakahara d. Oyama, TKO (Punches), Round 1 (2:00) Ribeiro d. Nagata, TKO (Doctor's Stoppage), Round 1 (7:58) Fukuda d. Ninja Rua, Unanimous Decision Snowman d. Kharitonov, Submission (North-South Choke), Round 1 (1:42) Hata d. Tokoro, Unanimous Decision Galvao d. Alessio, Submission (Armbar), Round 1 (7:34) Zarmoskis d. Ikemoto, Unanimous Decision High d. Shirai, Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 1 (0:59) Sakurai d. Aoki, TKO (Punches and Knees), Round 1 (0:27)
Re: Dream.8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round (Apr. 5th) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InJj9H_rQic
So... I'm torn on Aoki. On one hand he is a submission wizard. On the other he can't take a punch. If he was in the UFC, without the pants, I think most lightweights would crush him. The UFC has a lot of hard hitting wrestlers at lightweight and Aoki would struggle against them. But I also think Eddie Alvarez would be a top-10 lightweight in the UFC, and Aoki made short work of him. JZ is also good enough to be a UFC top-ten LW and Aoki beat him, too (except the first time they fought he wussed-out and got a suspect no-contest). Aoki might be good in the WEC bantamweight division. Aoki vs. Torres would be awesome. But I don't know if Aoki can get down that low. He's 5'11" so featherweight might be as light as he can get himself, but the WEC featherweight division is a shark tank and I don't think he would fare well. Also, maybe it's time to see Maha back in the UFC. If Chonan can get a run, and Uno can get a second, why not bring Sakurai back?
I think Aoki has never had any..umm, I dont want to say tough challenges cause hes had them, but hes never had any reason to work on his stand up. Hes been able to dispatch guys like Alvarez with just his subs. Maybe this after this lost he'll train his standup more, who knows.
I'd like to point out one thing, how Shinya Aoki lost this particular match would of never happened in the UFC. Those knees to the face while on the ground are brutal.
but instead there'd be elbows raining down on him. This was at a higher weight class too I do believe. I always wondered what would happen if Aoki had to eat some punches.. looks like my guesses were right. He's just been so damn good at closing the distance and avoiding taking much damage. Mach was one of the guys I listed as wanting to see back in the UFC. chances are it'll never happen though or at least not in time before he's a shell of his former self.
It doesn't matter. Rules were much different in between PRIDE FC and UFC and I enjoyed PRIDE alot more. Take advantage of whats given to you. AOKI needs to work on his stand up and cant rely so much on that ground game of his however good it may be.
