(Oh, well hello there.)
Ok, so the good news is that DREAM isn’t actually dead. The bad news is that it is a far cry from what it used to be. It was announced today that the organization will return with another New Year’s Eve show this year AND THERE ISN’T ONE FREAK SHOW FIGHT SCHEDULED ON THE CARD.
“Glory Sports International (GSI), owner and operator of the Glory World Series…will be responsible for presenting ‘DREAM 18 – Special NYE 2012’, a New Year’s Eve MMA mega-event taking place at the Saitama Super Arena on December 31,” a press release reads.
The press release also says that the card will have ten MMA bouts and three kickboxing ones. Featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya, Tatsuya Kawajiri and lightweight contender Satoru Kitaoka are the only three fighters confirmed for the event. Great fighters all, sure, but we had better see a Giant Silva or Zulu Jr. thrown into the mix before things are done or we will be incredibly disappointed. Does Minowaman have anything scheduled?
Two more quick items – If Glory Sports International, which is tied to the Golden Glory team and management, is now helping run/promote DREAM, Alistair Overeem now has even less of a chance of getting the money owed to him by K-1. Also, from what we know about the NYE event, it is far from “mega,” at least by historical Japanese New Year’s MMA standards.
Back in the day there used to be two huge promotions vying for Japanese viewership and dollars every New Year’s Eve. Alas, the past few years have been hard times for Japanese MMA.
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