Japanese MMA Thread

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

The Middleweight GP final four is good...but it won't draw in Japan. None of them have any real star power. If beating Sakuraba gave someone star power, Manhoef would be fine...but it doesn't anymore. Out of the final four, I'd say Jacare has the drawing potential. He's obviously becoming liked, what with the fans doing his goddamn Alligator dance with him. DREAM will probably stack the rest of the show with fights that can draw.

 

On the opposite side, the Lightweight GP is going to draw like gangbusters. Eddie Alvarez is liked, Aoki & Uno are really known and liked, and Kawajiri has interest. Those four should do pretty damn good drawing.

 

It has to be said though...HDNet's production of this is abysmal. Bas sounded like he was asleep, Kenny Rice is by FAR the worst announcer I have *EVER HEARD*, with more biases then I've ever heard. He was actually claiming that Mayhem Miller might win the fight against Jacare, which was absolutely mind blowing. I think he was so biased to Mayhem that he was somehow warping reality around himself and seeing a DIFFERENT FIGHT. And their translator sounded like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world then doing translations.

 

They filled intermission with an interview with Monty Cox about Adrenaline, which says everything. Cox apparently claimed that FREAK SHOW FIGHTS ARE THE THING OF THE PAST IN JAPAN~!. Hilarious.

[Lei Tong 0]

Apparently Aoki pulled off a never before seen sub...like a gogoplata from the top. They are calling it aokiplata at five ounces. You ever seen that sub before, Tong?

 

Yeah, though only in training, never in active competition.

[Lei Tong 0]

That elbow dislocation was fucking disgusting. I didn't think I'd ever see one worse than Eddie Guerrero or Ninja vs Mark Coleman.

 

KENGO vs. Dos Caras, Jr.

[Mik 0]

Most up-to-date DREAM5 card is in the op. I'm looking forward to the LW semi-finals but otherwise nothing else is really grabbing my attention.

[Mik 0]

Sakuraba should retire, right?

 

The ass-raping Manhoef put on him was almost comical. He dragged him half way across the ring by his foot and continued administering a beat down. That's practically the definition of manhandling.

 

Jacare/Mayhem was a good fight but Jacare pretty much controlled the whole fight. I think he's pretty close to no longer being considered a prospect.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

What would you call him if not a prospect? He's certainly not a contender, at least not while he beats wrestlers making their MMA debut and everybody's favorite retarded stepchild.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

What would you call him if not a prospect? He's certainly not a contender, at least not while he beats wrestlers making their MMA debut and everybody's favorite retarded stepchild.

 

That retarded stepchild also happens to be a really good fighter. He might act like a goofball, but dont take anything away from his skills.

[Mik 0]

That's a good question as to what I'd call him. You're right. He's not a contender. But if people are still considering Thiago Silva a prospect then of course Jacare is still a prospect. But at this point it's pretty certain that he has some skill and that his game translates very well to MMA.

 

I guess prospect is still the right word, though.

[Mik 0]

It's been easy to overlook with all of the MMA tonight but DREAM 5 is in two days. Kid Yamamoto is off the card but Overeem vs. Mark Hunt has just been added so that's a plus.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Hopefully my dream (heh) scenario of Aoki making it to the finals and neither Alvarez or 'Jiri can continue on due to injury to Hansen (who has beaten Kultar Gil earlier in the evening) steps up and avenges being the first ever gogoplata victim in MMA and makes Shinya cry......again.

[TheJuice31 0]

Hopefully my dream (heh) scenario of Aoki making it to the finals and neither Alvarez or 'Jiri can continue on due to injury to Hansen (who has beaten Kultar Gil earlier in the evening) steps up and avenges being the first ever gogoplata victim in MMA and makes Shinya cry......again.

 

Wow...good call.

 

[Mik 0]

FUUUUUCK

 

I forgot. I just randomly clicked on five ounces of pain without thinking and there it was... spoiler of all fucking spoilers and a shock and a half.

 

FUCK ME. So angry right with myself right now.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

HAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNSENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

 

SUCK A DICK RAINBOW PANTS

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Also, from what I've heard the finish came when Shinya was in Hansen's guard and got clocked. Sooooooo sweet. No word on whether Aoki tried to pull guard from somebody else's guard to try and save his ass from certain dom.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

DREAM finished a little bit ago, so here's some thoughts. So if you haven't seen, obviously, don't read.

 

Overall, the best show out of all the MMA events this weekend, top to bottom. Nothing really bad, and the hot crowd kept anything that might have been good. There were some really good fights, some mismatches, and a surprise or two but overall good.

 

HD Net appears to finally be getting things down. They flew Kenny Rice and Bas to the show, which was a drastic improvement. Bas didn't fall asleep this time. That being said, the fact that they still don't show the videos is annoying, and Kenny Rice is fucking awful. Seriously awful. The constant cheerleading for anyone American is annoying too. DREAM has fighters from all over the world, you can't be so goddamn obviously biased.

 

I'll try to go over the fights in the order they happened.

 

Daisuke Nakamura may be my favorite fighter in MMA right now. Dude rocks the UWF-I style tights and kick pads, and has not failed to deliver in his DREAM fights. Last time, he had a good fight, and this time he SCHOOLED Andy Ologun with a flying armbar. It was beautiful.

 

Shinya Aoki outclassed Caol Uno, but Uno held his own well. Aoki couldn't finish him despite multitude of submission attempts. Easy decision win for Aoki though.

 

Tatsuya Kawajiri and Eddie Alvarez was GODDAMN awesome. Two really good fighters just throwing caution to the wind and throwing down. At one point, they were both on their knees throwing punches. However, that came back to bite Eddie in the ass. He KO'd Kawajiri spectacularly, but was unable to continue in the tournament. Eddie's a star now though. The Japanese loved the fight, and responded to how upset he was at not being able to fight.

 

Joachim Hansen and Kultar Gill wasn't really anything too great...Hansen completely outclassed him in route to winning by submission. Other then being a pretty big for his weight, Black Mamba hasn't shown me anythingthat suggests he's a top guy.

 

Joseph Benavidez looked goooood in route to smashing Junya Kudo (Or KOTA or whatever he likes being called). Credit goes to Kudo for taking the fight in like one day's notice, but he got pwned including a MUSO~!. Benavidez was good enough that it made me want to see what would have happened against Kid. But that didn't happen.

 

I missed most of Motoki Miyazawa and Kuniyoshi Hironaka due to the stream I was watching on cutting out, but it didn't appear to be much...I do know that Hironaka beat him until he medically couldn't continue. That's always good.

 

Hideo Tokoro and Takeshi Yamazaki was a fun fight, but one that was pretty one sided. Tokoro could have won the fight atleast a dozen times if his punches had any power. As it was, he'd rock Yamazaki but be unable to finish him. Yamazaki was game, but he didn't have any of the tools needed to win this fight.

 

Yoshihiro Akiyama and Katsuyori Shibata was fucking awesome. Not so much for the fight, but how much Akiyama was fucking HATED, and Shibata BELOVED. Shibata didn't look bad standing, and actually nailed Akiyama a few times. However, he made a horrible mistake and got close. Akiyama slammed him and finished him from there. If this was a K-1 fight, Shibata would have been fine. But it's not, and the dumb fucker doesn't seem to be improving his ground game AT ALL. You'd think after being beaten on the ground in pretty much every fight that you'd WORK ON IT.

 

Alistair Overeem has always baffled me. He's a gigantic man with legitimately all the tools in the world, except for mental toughness and stamina. It's hard to say if he's overcome those issues, but in his last three fights he's looked utterly dominate. Granted, he hasn't faced stellar competition (Hunt & Buentello aren't BAD though), but he's mowed through them with ease. I seriously don't think Mark Hunt trains for fighting, and really after losing easily now in both K-1 and MMA back to back, I have no idea where that man goes.

 

The finals with Hansen filling in for a VERY badly injured Alvarez sucked...because I didn't get to see the finish. My stream died again before the finish. From what I could tell from the fight, is Aoki used his usual gameplan. Take the fight down, and go for anything that presents itself. Hansen was just able to do what no one else seems to, and broke free of Aoki's iron vise like grip to make him pay. The finish was replayed enough that I caught the gist. He just caught Aoki with a punch, and then rained down punches for the finish.

 

Went to sleep, and finishing this up today...

 

One thing that has to be said, is that in UFC only title matches matter. There's no clear goal to a title shot in UFC. They claim #1 contendership fights, but more often then not it doesn't happen that way. On this DREAM show, there were three fights that mattered. The two semi finals that both had a sense of urgency, and the finals. The show felt important. Which helps it's overall likability with me.

[Mik 0]

Another great show.

 

Digged the flying armbar...the triangle/armbar/escape in the first round of Aoki/Uno was dope, Alvarez vs. Kawajiri was incredible. Just another flat out fucking awesome fight for Eddie Alvarez. His concession speech was pretty classy and good as well.

 

Hunt doesn't even give a shit anymore, does he?

 

Nice to see Hansen knock Aoki out cold... I really like how they made it 100% clear that his first title defense is against Eddie Alvarez. Fight wasn't much but it was awesome nonetheless. Aoki makes it very easy to hate him, what with him weeping all the fucking time and everything. He was still crying after the 20 minute celebration.

 

Akiyama is fucking HATED. The heat wasn't as much in this fight as it was during the Misaki fight but it was still strong. I love how they cut to the crowd and just about everyone is booing the shit out of him, including old ladies. He also seems to relish the heat. Josh Koscheck needs to take notes because that's how you become a mega-star by being hated. It's awesome to watch his fights because the heat is insane.

 

Hawk brought up a good point ... having Bas and Kenny in Japan helps tremendously. Not only are they awake and actually calling the fight better but then you can also have the little segments like the great interview they had with Urijah during intermission and having Eddie in the booth before the finale.

 

Another big thumbs up from me. Better than the UFC by miles and probably just as good if not better than the Affliction show.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Show of The Year. Why?

 

Because no other show had Bas Rutten singing not only "Heat of The Moment" but also "Con Te Partio" which gets Akiyama a bazillion points for using.

 

Great show. Hansen vs Eddie II is going to be fucking epic.

[The Niggardly King 0]

[Mik 0]

1) It's gorgeous how much heat he has

 

2) I love how Bas cackles every time the boos get really intense

 

3) It's completely gay yet totally awesome that Akiyama timed his top rope jump to match with the end of the song

[Lord of The Curry 0]

K1 veteran Mighty Mo Siliga vs Sergei Kharitonov and Mirko Cro-Cop vs Alistair Overeem have been made official for DREAM 6. Can't wait to see Mirko vs Euro Dance Party Remix.

[Mik 0]

All that's icing on the cake...especially if it ends up Manhoef/Jacare.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I think Manhoef/Zelg would be more fun but Jacare/Manhoef is a nice styles clash. Mousasi/Manhoef is fucking awesome, though. Manhoef likely has the power/KO advantage but Gegard is smooth on his feet and a good grappler. Fun final four.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Enjoy the show, because unless some kind of miracle happens it'll probably be the last DREAM show at this level. They've basically confirmed that unless it gets a massive rating (I believe they stated 16.0 or something) it'll be the final DREAM show.

 

Nothing on this card, outside of maybe Mirko/Overeem will draw Japanese attention. Even though it would have been a ridiculous match, Mirko/Akiyama would have drawn. Sadly, that rumor never came together.

 

T'was fun though.

[Mik 0]

Keita “K-taro” Nakamura (14-3-2) vs. Adriano Martins (9-3)

Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa (40-28-8) vs. Masakatsu Funaki (38-13-1)

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (32-8-2) vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka (12-5)

Yoshihiro Akiyama (11-1) vs. Masanori Tonooka (1-1)

Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic (23-6-2) vs. Alistair “Demolition Man” Overeem (28-11)

Sergei Kharitonov (15-3) vs. Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga (3-0)

Hideo Tokoro (21-13-1) vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (11-5-1)

 

Middleweight Grand Prix Reserve Bout:

Yoon Dong Sik (4-5) vs. Andrews Nakahara (0-1)

 

Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals:

“Marvelous” Melvin Manhoef (22-4-1) vs. Gegard “Armenian Assassin” Mousasi (22-2-1)

Zelg “Benkei” Galesic (9-3) vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (9-1)

 

Middleweight Grand Prix Final:

Winner of Manhoef/Mousasi vs. winner of Galesic/Souza

 

 

Well, they are trying to make one last grand effort to draw in Japan.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Minowa/Funaki is interesting interest wise...until yo uread that Akiyama's on the card too against a 1-1 guy.

 

That boggles my mind. Akiyama would likely thrash Minowa or Funaki, but that's a drawing fight either way. Funaki/Akiyama even has the storyline that Akiyama cheated Sakuraba, and whooped Shibata, so Funaki is aiming for REVENGE~!

 

It should be a good show, but it just does not look good.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Thank God my HDNet feed was restored and the PVR is fired up so I can come home from work on Tuesday and peep this.

 

Predictions for the fights I care about

 

Sakurai TKO's Hironaka

Cro-Cop KO's Overeem

Mighty Mo KO's Sergei

Tokoro wins somehow in a super-fun fight (as his last few have been)

 

Jacare sub's Zelg

Mousasi decisions Manhoef

 

Mousasi decisions Jacare

[The Niggardly King 0]

I thought Mo/Sergei is off?

 

Overeem by Sub in the second

 

 

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I haven't read anything recently. Where'd you see that?

 

I don't think Overeem has the wrestling to get Mirko to the ground nor the skills to sub him.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

So with Mighty Mo out and a no-namer being brought in for his death against Kharitonov Cro-Cop has said in all seriousness that if he comes through the fourth bout on the card against Overeem injury-free that he'll gladly fight again in the eleventh slot against Sergei.

[Mik 0]

Yeah, he might beat Alistair but I really can't see him coming through clean enough to fight Sergei later in the night.

 

In my head I have Cro-Cop/Overeem as a pick'em right now. To me, it will be a good indication if Cro-Cop is Cro-Cop again.

 

Keep forgetting this is tomorrow... I hope I don't fuck up and log on to Five Ounces or another site again when I wake up and have the ending spoiled.