On Sunday evening in Japan, early morning in North America, DREAM is hosting it’s Japan Grand Prix – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament event from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It should be noted that this event is NOT called DREAM.17 like many other websites have labelled the show.
Video coverage of the event will air in North America by tape delay on June 3 on HDNet.
The event features the quarter, and semi-final bouts of DREAM’s bantamweight tournament, as well as a lightweight non-title bout between champ Shinya Aoki vs. UFC vet Rich Clementi.
The Japan Grand Prix finals, and the third place bout, will take place at another event in July. That event has been labelled DREAM.17 and will take place on July 16 at the Ariake Coliseum. Officials announced several bouts for the event including a light heavyweight bout featuring champion Gegard Mousasi and Hiroshi Izumi, in what will apparently be Mousasi’s first title defense.
Also announced for the DREAM.17 card are bouts between lightweights Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Willamy ‘Chiquerim’ Friere, and a featherweight match between DREAM champ Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Kazuyuki Miyata.
Results for the event, as well as the updates on DREAM.17 are courtesy of Sherdog.com. Be sure to check out the live ‘Play-by-Play’ results for ‘Fight for Japan’ at Sherdog.com also.
For those of you waiting to view the HDNet broadcast on June 3, you’ll find the ‘Quick Results’ for DREAM: Fight for Japan after the jump
Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix Semifinals
Hideo Tokoro def. Atsushi Yamamoto via split decision
Masakazu Imanari def. Kenji Osawa via submission (heel hook) – R2 @ 0:58
– Tokoro will face Imanari in the finals of the Japan GP Bantamweight tournament
– Yamamoto will face Osawa for third place in the Japan GP Bantamweight tournament
Main Card
Shinya Aoki def. Rich Clementi via submission (rear-naked choke) – R2 @ 2:32
Katsunori Kikuno def. Daisuke Nakamura via unanimous decision
Caol Uno def. Akiyo Nishiura via unanimous decision
Takeshi Inoue def. Koichiro Matsumoto via TKO – R1 @ 6:51
Joachim ‘Hellboy’ Hansen def. Mitsuhiro Ishida via split decision
Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix Tournament Quarterfinals
Kenji Osawa def. Takafumi Otsuka via split decision
Masakazu Imanari def. Keisuke Fujiwara via unanimous decision
Hideo Tokoro def. Yoshiro Maeda via TKO (corner stoppage) – R2 @ 0:43
Atsushi Yamamoto def. Yusaku Nakamura via TKO (punches) – R1 @ 8:43