Photo via DREAMOfficial.com
Also taking place late Friday night, early Saturday morning (Dec. 31, 2011) was DREAM’s Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 event from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The event aired live on HDNet and featured a mix of mixed martial arts, K1, pro-wrestling, special rules, and a women’s mma match.
Headlining the event was a heavyweight match between Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko and former Japanese Judo Olympian Satoshi Ishii. Fedor would finish the younger fighter in the first round, exposing the poor standup of his opponent by scoring with a three punch combo that would send Ishii to the mat. The fight would end at just 2:29 of the first.
Title holders Shinya Aoki and Hiroyuki Takaya would both cruise to easy wins, despite going the distance against their respective opponents Satoru Kitaoka and Takeshi Inoue.
Bibiano Fernandes would win the Bantamweight Grand Prix to take the title, by defeating Rodolfo Marques in the semifinal bout, and then stopping Antnio Banuelos in the first by TKO.
The full ‘Quick Results’ for the DREAM event are as follows:
Official Fight Card
Heavyweight Bout: Fedor Emelianenko def. Satoshi Ishii via KO – R1 @ 2:29
DREAM Lightweight Championship Bout: Shinya Aoki def. Satoru Kitaoka via Unanimous Decision
DREAM Featherweight Championship Bout: Hiroyuki Takaya def. Takeshi Inoue via Unanimous Decision
IGF Rules Bout: Kazushi Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata def. Atsushi Sawada and Shinichi Suzukawa
IGF Rules Bout: Kazuyuki Fujita def. Peter Aerts via leg lock
IGF Rules Bout: Jerome Le Banner def. Tim Sylvia via middle kicks
Bantamweight Tournament Final: Bibiano Fernandes def. Antonio Banuelos via TKO – R1 @ 1:21
DREAM/K-1 Special Rules Bout: Katsunori Kikuno def. Yuichiro Nagashima via TKO – R2 @ 2:34
Preliminary Card
IGF Rules Bout: Josh Barnett def. Hideki Suzuki via Pinfall
Women’s (115 lbs) bout: Megumi Fujii def. Karla Benitez via Submission – R1 @ 1:15
Featherweight Bout: Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kazuyuki Miyata via Submission – R2 @ 4:54
Welterweight Bout: Hayato Sakurai def. Ryo Chonan via Unanimous Decision
K-1 Max Bout: Yuta Kubo def. Nils Widlund via TKO – R3 @ 1:10
K-1 Max Bout: Masaaki Noiri def. Kengo Sonoda via Unanimous Decision
Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal Bout: Bibiano Fernandes def. Rodolfo Marques via Unanimous Decision
Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal Bout: Antonio Banuelos def. Masakazu Imanari via Split Decision
Bantamweight Tournament Reserve Bout: Yusup Saadulaev def. Hideo Tokoro via KO – R1 @ 0:42
IGF Rules Bout: Josh Barnett vs. Hideki Suzuki