Tag: Dream

Inside Nippon Top Team: Kitaoka, Kawajiri and Otsuka Train for DREAM.17

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In 2008, three of the most ruthless grapplers in MMA, DREAM champion Shinya Aoki, former Sengoku champion Satoru Kitaoka and two-time Deep champion Masakazu Imanari, founded Nippon Top Team.

Three years, and a host of brutal submission victories later, a significant number of top fighters and former foes have joined the quirky trio to make Nippon Top Team the most star-studded team in Japanese MMA.

MMA Fighting was allowed inside the doors of Nippon Top Team to capture Satoru Kitaoka mercilessly piledrive and submit his sparring partner, a slimmed down Tatsuya Kawajiri prepare for his featherweight debut and Takafumi Otsuka work his wrestling with former Shooto champion Hideki Kadowaki, all in preparation for their respective bouts at DREAM.17 on Sept. 24.

 

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In 2008, three of the most ruthless grapplers in MMA, DREAM champion Shinya Aoki, former Sengoku champion Satoru Kitaoka and two-time Deep champion Masakazu Imanari, founded Nippon Top Team.

Three years, and a host of brutal submission victories later, a significant number of top fighters and former foes have joined the quirky trio to make Nippon Top Team the most star-studded team in Japanese MMA.

MMA Fighting was allowed inside the doors of Nippon Top Team to capture Satoru Kitaoka mercilessly piledrive and submit his sparring partner, a slimmed down Tatsuya Kawajiri prepare for his featherweight debut and Takafumi Otsuka work his wrestling with former Shooto champion Hideki Kadowaki, all in preparation for their respective bouts at DREAM.17 on Sept. 24.

 

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Kazushi Sakuraba Flaunts Photoshop Skills in Preparation for DREAM.17

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Due to his catch wrestling and pro wrestling roots, Kazushi Sakuraba refuses to train in front of cameras and so the Japanese MMA legend has always taken a unorthodox approach towards the customary media workouts that come before any major MMA event.

Returning from a horrific ear injury suffered on New Year’s Eve 2010, and in preparation for his Sept. 24 DREAM.17 bout with promotional newcomer Yan Cabral, Sakuraba performed one of his strangest media “workouts” yet. He drew a picture of a robotic cat in Photoshop.

 

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Due to his catch wrestling and pro wrestling roots, Kazushi Sakuraba refuses to train in front of cameras and so the Japanese MMA legend has always taken a unorthodox approach towards the customary media workouts that come before any major MMA event.

Returning from a horrific ear injury suffered on New Year’s Eve 2010, and in preparation for his Sept. 24 DREAM.17 bout with promotional newcomer Yan Cabral, Sakuraba performed one of his strangest media “workouts” yet. He drew a picture of a robotic cat in Photoshop.

 

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Ikuhisa ‘Minowaman’ Minowa vs. Baru Harn Completes DREAM.17

Filed under: DREAM, JapanOnly four days out from DREAM.17, event officials have added one more fight with DREAM “Super Hulk” GP champion Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa agreeing to meet 275-pound Mongolian Baru Harn in a “Super Hulk” open weight match at th…

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Only four days out from DREAM.17, event officials have added one more fight with DREAM “Super Hulk” GP champion Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa agreeing to meet 275-pound Mongolian Baru Harn in a “Super Hulk” open weight match at the Saitama Super Arena on Sept. 24.

Due to his pro wrestling responsibilities as Tiger Mask V, Ikuhisa Minowa (49-32-8) has been relatively inactive in the MMA ring in 2011, picking up two wins in two attempts at regional level shows. Minowa, a natural middleweight, went 3-0 against super heavyweight fighters in 2010 but had two high-profile losses to Olympic judo medalists Satoshi Ishii and Hiroshi Izumi.

Baru Harn (1-1) is a former bouncer and two-time Mongolian wrestling champion who made his MMA debut in 2008 against defending DEEP “Megaton” champion Yusuke Kawaguchi, but lost a majority decision. Harn returned at Astra in 2010 to face former “Megaton” title contender Seigo Mizuguchi and managed to utilize his striking to win a hard fought decision.

DREAM.17, the first full DREAM event for 2011, is set to air live on HDNet in North America. The complete card is after the break.

DREAM.17 – Sept. 24 2011 at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan

Shinya Aoki vs. Rob McCullough
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Joachim Hansen
Caol Uno vs. Takeshi Lion
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yan Cabral
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Willamy Chiquerim
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Gerald Harris
Hideo Tokoro vs. Antonio Banuelos
Takafumi Otsuka vs. Bibiano Fernandes
Masakazu Imanari vs. Abel Cullum
Yusup Saadulaev vs. Rodolfo Marques Diniz
Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa vs. Baru Harn

 

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DREAM.17 Lineup Official For Sept. 24 Event

Tweet The official lineup for this coming weekends DREAM.17 event was announced by the Japanese promotions execs this past weekend with a ten bout card. (Check out the official “Fight Order Announcement – DREAM.17″ video after the jump) DREAM.17 is scheduled to take place on September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. […]

The official lineup for this coming weekends DREAM.17 event was announced by the Japanese promotions execs this past weekend with a ten bout card.

(Check out the official “Fight Order Announcement – DREAM.17″ video after the jump)

DREAM.17 is scheduled to take place on September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event features the opening round of DREAM’s World Bantamweight Grand Prix and will be the first DREAM event to follow the three-five minute round format, as opposed to the one 10-minute round followed by a second five-minute round.

The event will air live in North America on HDNet on Saturday morning, September 24, at 3AM EST (12AM PST).

The full fight card for DREAM.17 is as follows:

Lightweight bout: Shinya Aoki vs. Rob McCullough
Featherweight bout: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Joachim Hansen
Featherweight bout: Takeshi Inoue vs. Caol Uno
Welterweight bout: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yan Cabral
Lightweight bout: Satoru Kitaoka vs. Willamy Freire
Middleweight bout: Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Gerald Harris
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal bout: Hideo Tokoro vs. Antonio Banuelos
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal bout: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal bout: Masakazu Imanari vs. Abel Cullum
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal bout: Rodolfo Marques vs. Yusup Saadulaev

Click here to view the embedded video.

Reminder: DREAM 17 Goes Down this Saturday

With all the buzz surrounding UFC 135, you might have forgotten that DREAM 17 transpires Saturday, and features a pretty stacked card to boot. Japanese legend Kasushi Sakuraba returns to action for the first time since nearly having his ear torn off by Marius Zaromskis, taking on undefeated submission specialist Yan Cabral. Sakuraba is currently riding a three-fight losing streak including the aforementioned loss to Zaromskis as well as a submission loss to Jason “Mayhem” Miller at Dream 16 and a unanimous decision loss to Ralek Gracie back at Dream 14. “The Gracie Hunter” is in desperate need of a win here to avoid falling into Ken Shamrock territory, though some critics out there feel he already has.

Also on the card, Shinya Aoki takes on Rob McCullough in a lightweight bout. Aoki has technically gone 5-0 fight win streak since his loss to Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce: Nashville; this is of course excluding his embarrassing knockout loss to Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima in a mixed rules match at Dynamite!! 2010. But hey, if Sherdog doesn’t count it, then it never happened. McCullough on the other hand recently had a two fight win streak snapped by the heavy hands of Patricky Friere back at Bellator 36.

With all the buzz surrounding UFC 135, you might have forgotten that DREAM 17 transpires Saturday, and features a pretty stacked card to boot. Japanese legend Kasushi Sakuraba returns to action for the first time since nearly having his ear torn off by Marius Zaromskis, taking on undefeated submission specialist Yan Cabral. Sakuraba is currently riding a three-fight losing streak including the aforementioned loss to Zaromskis as well as a submission loss to Jason “Mayhem” Miller at Dream 16 and a unanimous decision loss to Ralek Gracie back at Dream 14. “The Gracie Hunter” is in desperate need of a win here to avoid falling into Ken Shamrock territory, though some critics out there feel he already has.

Also on the card, Shinya Aoki takes on Rob McCullough in a lightweight bout. Aoki has technically gone 5-0 fight win streak since his loss to Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce: Nashville; this is of course excluding his embarrassing knockout loss to Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima in a mixed rules match at Dynamite!! 2010. But hey, if Sherdog doesn’t count it, then it never happened. McCullough on the other hand recently had a two fight win streak snapped by the heavy hands of Patricky Friere back at Bellator 36.

DREAM 17 also features the promotional debuts of UFC vets Antonio Banuelos, Gerald Harris, Willamy Freire, and Kazuhiro Nakamura. UFC veteran Caol Uno and inaugural DREAM lightweight champion Bibiano Fernandes will also be on the card, taking on Takeshi Inoue and Takafumi Otsuka, respectively.

And if that lineup hasn’t yet convinced you, Pride veteran Joachim Hansen will be taking on Tatsuya Kawajiri in a rematch of their 2006 Shooto welterweight title fight that ended just 8 seconds in due to an illegal groin strike by Hansen. With all these intriguing match-ups, DREAM 17 is looking to be one of the most promising outings for Japanese MMA in quite some time. Check out the new “fight order announcement” trailer below…


(Props: DREAM)

Fight For Japan “DREAM.17? Video Promo

Fight for Japan “DREAM.17” is scheduled to take place on September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will include the opening round of the DREAM Bantamweight World Grand Prix tournament.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fight for Japan “DREAM.17″ is scheduled to take place on September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will include the opening round of the DREAM Bantamweight World Grand Prix tournament.