Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted January 4, 2009 Comparatively, he looked worse than say, Trigg, Marquardt or Filho in victory over him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2009 Is Kitaoka retarded, a caveman, or both? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Niggardly King 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2009 Oh and Alistair looks like he gained at least thirty pounds since the LHW tournament way back when. He looks so damn stocky, not even considering that he's fucking 6'4. From Gutsy at BK. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cuban Linx 0 Report post Posted January 5, 2009 The two things i wanted out of Sengoku were Santiago and Kitaoka winning so it was a good night overall. Kitaoka is scary as a lightweight, he's not much more than some wacked out facial expressions and a million leglock variations but he still manages to smoke guys easily. Too bad he's stuck in Sengoku away from pretty much all the best lightweights, there's a ton of guys i'd like to see him against but right now basically none of them can happen. I had Misaki winning after four rounds, Santiago wasn't super impressive but he found a way to win and that's what counts. Nine straight wins over Semenov, Horn, Salmon, Prangley, Sasaki, Clark, Bahadurzada, Nakamura & Misaki, finishing all of them and winning two tournaments in the process is a pretty sick run, i already considered him a top 10 middleweight but this latest win seals the deal. And either Misaki is much smaller than i thought or Santiago is on the Thiago Alves diet, dude looked huge in there. And it looks like Overeem's skull is about to explode. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted February 6, 2009 DREAM has released some names for it's first ever FW Grand Prix.... Masakazu Iminari Micah Miller Chase Beebee Atsushi Yamamoto (this is NOT the Yamamoto you might be thinking of) Akiyo Nishiura Hiroyuki Takaya Takafumi Otsuka Bibiano Fernandes Pretty solid stuff so far. Sucks WEC wouldn't let Benavidez head back over but I'm content to see him tear shit up en route to a fight with Torres. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkius Maximus 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2009 Too. Many. Fucking. GP's. The whole idea of the Grand Prix tournament in PRIDE originally was it was a one off super event. Then it was once a year. That's *FINE*. One big tournament a year, running virtually half the year and you run events as normal. Now we've had what...two DREAM GP's (Or is it more?), Sengoku ran like two, and now DREAM is running another for a division just created. Too goddamn much. GP Overload is not the solution for the MMA crisis in Japan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2009 Especially when the Americans start running trains on their Japanese counterparts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2009 Poster for the DREAM FW tourney. Really makes anything UFC does look completely pedestrian. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2009 I actually think it looks horrible, almost as bad as the sperm poster for the 2006 GP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted February 16, 2009 Nothing will ever top a near-naked Japanese man covered in semen, hyping PRIDE: Sodomy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkius Maximus 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2009 DREAM 7 sucked. More thoughts after I've slept. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cuban Linx 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2009 I only watched bits and pieces of it, from what i saw it was completely unremarkable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2009 DREAM hangover thoughts: - Fernandes looked good, though Otsuka showed some balls (figuratively). - Warren looked damn good for a neophyte, especially considering that Beebe didn't look overly phased by recent drama. - Cullum's a dog, and Wicky needs to learn that pot-shotting and doing nothing else won't win you important fights. - Ishida/Nakamura was a somewhat fun style match-up, though the outcome was never in doubt after about 5 minutes. - Gardner is still a giant doofus. - Kawajiri's guard passing is still tits, but no one really cares about stuff like that. - Miller deserved the decision, being much more aggressive off his back while Maeda was content to defend and do not much else. - Japan still has no idea how to properly handle prospects, as they gave a rookie judoka (Kim) a 17 fight veteran (Takaya) for his first match. Par for the course. - Fell asleep during Yamamoto/Imanari. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkius Maximus 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2009 I'm assuming that if your coming into this thread after a live show, you aren't afraid of spoils. DREAM has poor matchmaking. Most of the fights were an exciting guy against a guy content to just try and win. Most of the fights were the definition of "fighting to not lose" which at three AM is noooo buys. I wouldn't have enjoyed this show on it's own if it wasn't so late last night though. Just probably would have hated it slightly less. A great example was Ishida versus Nakamura. Daisuke Nakamura is usually incredibly exciting. He was trying all kinds of things on the ground. As a friend put it, Ishida wasn't cooperating with Nakamura's laid out spots. Ishida responded by more or less just taking Nakamura to the ground at will, and being pretty much afraid to do much of anything. Now, Hideo Tokoro? That man got Nakamura. Granted, he ended up losing to an upside down armbar, but damnit, he entertained me. Japan is really baffling. For years, it seemed like they understood that winning fights alone generally doesn't mean shit. Doesn't mean you have to go out there and be Super Mr. Wacky. But it means you have to have SOME kind of personality to break through. It's like all these guys watched Sakuraba get famous, and said, "Hey! That's all you need! Sakuraba got over by winning!" It's like they've gone in exactly the opposite direction of where they were (Shit fighters like Matsui going "Well, I'm going to lose ANYWAY, I'll try a dropkick!" being a good example) to having good fighters who are so concerned with not losing that it just gets...meh. Imanari was a brightspot for me. He was so...WEIRD that I found him intensely entertaining. When he struck what I could only call a "sword drawing" stance I burst into laughter. Another good one was Gardner for the second time had Aoki on his back. Before he had kinda...waved to the crowd. No idea why. So, Aoki's on his back again, Gardner does the salute thing again. However, Aoki then POUNCED on his neck with a choke catching the dumb fucker in mid taunt, and tapped him. I HOOOOOOOWLED with laughter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2009 If it makes you feel any better, Sengoku's tournament is likely to feature a number of Japanese fighters getting obliterated whilst trying to fight their asses off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkius Maximus 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2009 It does. It so does. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lt. Al Giardello 0 Report post Posted March 18, 2009 I think I might pull an all nighter tomorrow and watch Sengoku since it's going to be on live on HDNet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 19, 2009 Oh, shit. It is, isn't it? I'll be staying with a bottle of Jack, then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted March 19, 2009 Have fun with that, if you can stay up for it. I just set my PVR for the show it's booked at a solid 6 hours in length. I'm really looking forward to this though. Breen's article on how this is a better tourney then DREAM's sold me on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 I know y'all love Bas, but dude needs to stay off the mic. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 This Ring of Honor commercial is fucking terrible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 "In SOME tournaments, Hioki would've been bye'd right into the next round." Realest hit Kenny Rice has ever said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cuban Linx 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 Sengoku's featherweight tournament was way better than DREAM's, so far anyway. Only real disappointment was LC Davis, who fought like he bet money on Omigawa to win. And King Mo can now add the Linear King of Pancrase Title to his Linear YAMMA championship. Added spoiler tags just in case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 Why aren't we posting about this in the Japanese MMA thread? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 Lawal should be called King Mo-lester given the way he handled that japs junk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 Ninja of Love vs Korean Zombie. I want allllllllll of that. The standing arm triangle from Sandro was fucking swank because the angle showed Jaggers slowly going out until he dropped. The first round of Yamada vs Mann was awesome and the rest was very solid. Poor Jamesy. Good for Omigawa for breaking a 2 year losing streak but I'm in shock that Davis looked that bad. Hioki ran himself a train on that young'un. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 -Denis looked good in outstriking Kawahara, though he enjoyed a massive size advantage. Once he he shrugged off Kawahara's best shots, the bout was all but over. - Mann looked good as expected, though big props to Yamada for giving a good showing. I think it was a mistake to use such an aggressive ground game against a grappler like Mann, especially when you have such advantages on your feet, but I think he was intimidated by the fact that Mann ate everything he threw at him standing. - Despite being called out as the early favorite for Fight of the Night, Jung/Ishiwatari was even crazier than expected. Ishiwatari is normally a fucking dog in there, but Jung managed to break him mentally with his insane willingness to soak up punishment and get buck in return. Also a surprising aptitude for offensive grappling shown by Jung. - Kim/Kanehara was solid, though my other Korean upset pick took far too long to realize that his only shot at winning was to wade in and throw atom smashers. By the time he tried to turn this into a strategy, he had a bum leg and Kanehara had already built up a lead on the scorecards. - Sandro & Jaggers both looked like crap, with the wrestler getting taken down repeatedly and the BJJ stylist getting swept just as often. However, the ending was nice and is an early Submission of the Year candidate. - Despite being slept on by virtually everybody, Omigawa finally, FINALLY fought to his strengths in upsetting LC Davis. While Davis did look off a step, I don't think people are giving Omigawa enough credit for the fact that even with Davis at 100%, Omigawa has some stylistic advantages over him, especially with his wrestling. Also, can anyone figure out if he was parodying or paying tribute to Enson with his post-fight interview? Either one is awesome in different ways. - Phan/Kadowaki was supposed to be a hot sex grappling match, but instead delivered a decent little boxing match. I think Phan underestimated how easy it would be to roll over a Shooto vet via aggressive striking, though his efforts eventually did pay off. - Hioki looked as good as one cold hope for, and reaffirmed that he is one of the world's best grapplers, scoring another one for Japanese BJJ. The most promising aspect of the fight was that Hatsu wasted absolutely no time taking this fight to the mat where it needed to be. - York's chin is worse, but he strikes better, and that made the difference. Still, sad fight. - An uneventful Mo was to be expected sooner or later. His jitz could really use some work before he steps up against a good grappler. - Rice and Bas were fucking unbearable last night, having next to no frame of reference for half of the fighters outside of their on screen records, and their ridiculous shit talking on fighters reached disgraceful levels. The only positive points aside from Rice's DREAM zinger was that their idiocy was cosmically rewarded by some of their biggest targets (Jung, Omigawa) showing them to be fucking retards. Second round matches that need to happen: - Jung v. Denis: Korean Zombie vs. Zombie Survivalist. Should be another FotN match-up. - Mann v. Kanehara: A similar style match-up for Mann, though Kanehara is a bit more polished. - Omigawa v. Sandro: Another chance for Omigawa to pull an upset against a pre-tournament favorite who needs to prove himself. - Hioki v. Phan: Should provide the hot-sex grappling if Hioki obliges. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lt. Al Giardello 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 Really impressed with Omigawa, I thought Davis was going to tool him. Like Tong said, even tho Davis looked lost, you still got to give it to Omigawa. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 How did Rice and Bas disrespect the fighters? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2009 They basically insinuated that any fighter with a subpar record sucked; they ripped into fighters based on conjecture; Bas dissed fighters' technical acumen while putting over his own ability and accomplishments; etc. I can only remember a few specific examples (mostly relating to guys like Omigawa, the Koreans, & Sandro), but it was a pretty unprofessional tone they took all night, exacerbated by the fact that they obviously knew very little about most of the fighters coming into the tournament. While I've rarely listened to Rice on the stick, I don't know if I can remember Bas ever being so hard to listen to in the past. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
