Filed under: DREAM, K1, Sengoku, JapanK-1 and DREAM promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group and Sengoku promoter World Victory Road continue to build towards Dyanmite!! and Soul of Fight this week as a host of bouts have been added to the end-of-year…
K-1 and DREAM promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group and Sengoku promoter World Victory Road continue to build towards Dyanmite!! and Soul of Fight this week as a host of bouts have been added to the end-of-year events
UFC veteran and DREAM welterweight GP finalist Jason High this week announced via Twitter that he will be facing former pound-for-pound great Hayato “Mach” Sakurai under the Dynamite!! banner. High had his only fight in the UFC against Charlie Brenneman back at UFC Fight Night 21 but after dropping a decision was cut from the Zuffa roster. Sakurai is currently on a three-fight slide and has been lacking motivation over the past year as he talks more and more of retirement.
Another bout is on tap for the upcoming Dynamite!! 2010 event set for New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Veteran Jason High (11-3) announced via Twitter that he would meet Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (35-11-2) at the Dynamite!! event earlier this week.
High has a busy schedule already as he’s also expected to face Rudy Bears at the end […]
Another bout is on tap for the upcoming Dynamite!! 2010 event set for New Year’s Eve in Japan.
Veteran Jason High (11-3) announced via Twitter that he would meet Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (35-11-2) at the Dynamite!! event earlier this week.
High has a busy schedule already as he’s also expected to face Rudy Bears at the end Jan. Tital Fighting Championships 16 event in Kansas. The Team Bodyshop fighter has won two in a row fighting on two local Canadian promotions, bouncing back from back-to-back losses. He lost his one-and-only UFC appearance earlier this year to Charlie Brenneman at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi in March, and was KO’d by Marius Zaromskis at DREAM 10 during the final round of the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix in July of last year.
Sakurai meanwhile, has been toying with the idea of retiring from the sport and is on a three fight losing skid. His last fight was in May of this year when he was submitted by Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz in a non-title bout at DREAM.14. He also dropped fights to Akihiro Gono at last year’s Dynamite!! event, and to Marius Zaromskis in the semifinal round of the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix. The Japanese legend has fought the likes of Shinya Aoki, Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, Frank Trigg, Jake Shields, Caol Uno, and Mac Danzig over his 48 professional fight career.
Dynamite!! 2010 is mult-martial arts event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group which will encompass bouts from the DREAM, K-1, and K-1 World MAX banners. The event will take place on Dec. 31st at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Filed under: DREAM, K1, JapanIt was well short of the 10 fights we were promised, but on Monday at the ANA InterContinental Hotel in Tokyo, FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa, DREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara and the newly announced Dynamite!! Ex…
It was well short of the 10 fights we were promised, but on Monday at the ANA InterContinental Hotel in Tokyo, FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa, DREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara and the newly announced Dynamite!! Executive Producer Antonio Inoki made five bouts official for FEG’s end of year effort.
Marius Zaromskis will defend his DREAM Welterweight Title for the first time against Kazushi Sakuraba who will be making his debut as a welterweight at 41 years old; 2010 K-1 MAX 63 kg Japan Tournament Champion Tetsuya Yamato will return to the FEG ring for the first time since capturing the promotion’s first belt at that weight limit to face K-1 débutante Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura; and UFC veteran Caol Uno will debut as a featherweight against Kazuyuki Miyata.
Also made official were the “special rules” bout between DREAM Lightweight Champ Shinya Aoki and cosplayer Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima and the MMA bout between Tatsuya Kawajiri and Strikeforce’s Josh Thompson. The bout between Jerome Le Banner and Tatsuya Mizuno has not yet been made official despite the Frenchman’s management confirming it last week.
At a press conference on Monday in Tokyo, Japan five more bouts were added to the upcoming New Year’s Eve “Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2010″ event, which includes a DREAM welterweight title bout between champ Marius Žaromskis and Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba.
Making the announcements were FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa, DREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara and […]
At a press conference on Monday in Tokyo, Japan five more bouts were added to the upcoming New Year’s Eve “Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2010″ event, which includes a DREAM welterweight title bout between champ Marius Žaromskis and Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba.
Making the announcements were FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa, DREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara and the newly announced Dynamite!! Executive Producer Antonio Inoki. Inoki is a big name in professional wrestling and by bringing him on board should help to bring more attention to an event that is badly in need of fan interest.
Also made official for the event was the special rules bout (MMA/K-1 mix) between DREAM lightweight champ Shinya Aoki vs. Yuichiro “Jienotsu’ Nagashima, the lightweight match featuring Josh Thomson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri, a featherweight bout between Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Cao Uno who will drop to 145 lbs for the first time, and a kickboxing match between lightweights Tetsuya Yamato vs. Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura.
There are still a few rumored bouts out there that could really boost the events status if they happen.
It had been reported that K-1 legend Jérôme Le Banner would face Tatsuya Mizuno under an MMA rules bout but now there is some doubt if the fight will happen or if he’ll even face Mizuno. Ikusa.fr (via NightmateofBattle.com) is reporting that Le Banner has a choice between Mizuno or Judo Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii at the event.
Meanwhile Zach Arnold at the FightOpinion.com, has some interesting gossip for the event. He hints that fans might expect to see Josh Barnett on the card against Alistair Overeem, who said he wants to fight for the DREAM heavyweight title at the event. With Barnett’s licensing in the States still up in the air, it would give him a chance to get back into the cage in a meaningful fight.
For Žaromskis this will be his first DREAM title defense since winning the title in July 2009. Since then he’s gone 1-2-1 in his last four, earning a “No Contest” against Waachiim Spiritwolf after accidentally poking him in the eye last month at a Strikeforce Challengers 12 event. Žaromskis hasn’t done well under the Strikeforce banner losing to Evangelista Santos in June and to Nick Diaz in a welterweight title bout last January.
The 41 year old Sakuraba isn’t being thrown in to a title fight because he’s been winning fights, going 2-4 in his last six and is on a two fight losing skid at this time, but is most likely being given the title shot to create fan interest for the event. Sakuraba was submitted by Jason “Mayhem” Miller at DREAM.16 in September and lost a unanimous decision to Ralek Gracie at DREAM.14 in May of this year.
Little news of how exactly the “special rules” bout between Aoki and Nagashima will happen but most likely the first round should begin under the K-1 rules then move onto MMA afterwords. Nagashima has little chance of lasting a round against the submission expert in an mma match, and Aoki is more likely to survive a K-1 round.
Filed under: DREAM, UFC, News, JapanUFC president Dana White has made it no secret over the years that he has been interested in signing Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto. With sources indicating that Yamamoto had a falling out with FEG post-DREAM.14, finally on…
UFC president Dana White has made it no secret over the years that he has been interested in signing Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto. With sources indicating that Yamamoto had a falling out with FEG post-DREAM.14, finally one of Japan’s top featherweights will be making his way to the UFC, White revealed via twitter on Friday.
Yamamoto isn’t the only fighter that has been poached from DREAM this week, top 10 featherweight Michihiro Omigawahas also re-signed with the UFC this week and will be making his debut against Chad Mendes at either UFC 126 in February or UFC 128 in March.
(photo of Josh Thomson via Strikeforce.com)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Dec. 8, 2010) – Josh Thomson will be working on New Year’s Eve.
The exciting former STRIKEFORCE lightweight world champion will meet perennial 155-pound contender and Japanese superstar Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri in a fantastic matchup with world title implications on DREAM’s annual year-end “Dynamite!!” card on Dec. 31 […]
(photo of Josh Thomson via Strikeforce.com)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Dec. 8, 2010) – Josh Thomson will be working on New Year’s Eve.
The exciting former STRIKEFORCE lightweight world champion will meet perennial 155-pound contender and Japanese superstar Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri in a fantastic matchup with world title implications on DREAM’s annual year-end “Dynamite!!” card on Dec. 31 in Japan.
Thomson (18-3, 1 NC), of San Jose, Calif., has won two in a row and 10 of his last 11 starts. A victory keeps alive his chances of facing current STRIKEFORCE lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez for a third time. Kawajiri (26-6-2), of Inashiki, Ibaraki, Japan, has been victorious in four of his last five starts.
In his last fight, the 5-foot-10, 32-year-old Thomson recorded a hard-fought, three-round decision over Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante on Oct. 9, 2010. Since March 2006, the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) team member has lost only to Melendez, and that came in a Dec. 19, 2009 rematch in San Jose that was later nominated for Fight of the Year. It was Thomson’s first fight in 15 months. Thomson outpointed Melendez in their initial encounter on June 27, 2008.
“I’ve wanted this fight forever,’’ said Thomson, who submitted (kneebar) Daisuke Sugie in his debut in the “Land of the Rising Sun” in July 2005. “He’s somebody that excites me.’’
A talented fighter known for strong wrestling and vicious ground and pound, the popular Kawajiri has been a staple in the Top 10 rankings. The 5-foot-7, 32-year-old had won four consecutive fights until suffering a devastating loss via submission (Achilles lock) to DREAM champion Shinya Aoki in his last outing on July 10.
Kawajiri, who upended Cavalcante on points in May 2009, dropped a decision to Melendez in Japan on Dec. 31, 2007.
The matchup between Thomson and Kawajiri is yet another product of STRIKEFORCE’s and DREAM’s cooperation to exchange fighters in order to produce the most competitive bouts possible between the world’s top mixed martial artists.
K-1 and DREAM promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group and Sengoku promoter World Victory Road continue to build towards Dyanmite!! and Soul of Fight this week as a host of bouts have been added to the end-of-year events
It was well short of the 10 fights we were promised, but on Monday at the ANA InterContinental Hotel in Tokyo, FEG President 
UFC president Dana White has made it no secret over the years that he has been interested in signing Norifumi 