Tag: Dream

“I Was Hoping For An Open Fracture,” Shinya Aoki On Submitting Tatsuya Kawajiri

DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki faced Tatsuya Kawajiri this past weekend in the main event of DREAM.15 in Japan. Aoki submitted Kawajiri with an achilles lock in the first round, and felt that he’d have to break his opponents leg to get the win.
In a post-fight interview with SportsNavi, Aoki talked about his win […]

Shinya-AokiDREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki faced Tatsuya Kawajiri this past weekend in the main event of DREAM.15 in Japan. Aoki submitted Kawajiri with an achilles lock in the first round, and felt that he’d have to break his opponents leg to get the win.

In a post-fight interview with SportsNavi, Aoki talked about his win showing a lot more respect and poise than he did against Mizuto Hirota at the NYE Dynamite!!! 2009 event. He broke Hirota’s arm in the fight and then promptly gave the middle finger to his injured opponent as well as the crowd before leaving the ring.

At some moments in the fight, it seemed like you tried to re-grip Kawajiri
When I caught him and tried to submit him, I heard a loud crackle sound. He did not tap so I thought ‘Ok, this match just became a death-fight’ and I was going to destroy his leg.

Did you believe you would win when you first grabbed his leg?
I knew Kawajiri never taps so I could not win without breaking his bone. I was hoping for an open-fracture.

Could you feel Kawajiri’s ‘lionheart’ in this fight?
Yes, yes. No one could have endured [that submission] like Kawajiri. His heart is iron.

You did not wear your famous long spats. What was the reasoning behind your decision?
There was no reason and there’s no reason to wear long spats in every fight.

You said something to Kawajiri after the fight, what was it?
“I could show you 100% [meaning either he could have fully destroyed his leg or he didn’t give the fight his full potential] but I chose not to because I respect you. Thank you for this fight.”

The original interview was conducted in Japanese, translated by GryphonJapan, and cleaned up by MiddleEasy.com.

Gegard Mousasi Wanted To Come Out Like “Mike Tyson”

Former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi wanted to come out hard like former heavyweight boxing champ “Mike Tyson” in his DREAM.15 light-heavyweight Grand Prix tournament bout with Jake O’Brien. Mousasi took the bout easily submitting O’Brien in just 31 seconds of the first round via guillotine choke.
You can find more post-fight interviews with other […]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi wanted to come out hard like former heavyweight boxing champ “Mike Tyson” in his DREAM.15 light-heavyweight Grand Prix tournament bout with Jake O’Brien. Mousasi took the bout easily submitting O’Brien in just 31 seconds of the first round via guillotine choke.

You can find more post-fight interviews with other DREAM.15 fighters on DREAM’s YouTube page. Most of the interviews are in Japanese, but interviews with Karl Amoussou and J.Z. Calvan are in English with Japanese subtitles.

DREAM 15 Aftermath: Aoki, Mousasi Go Back To Japan, Where the Competition is a Little Easier

(VidProps: YouTube/evilbyte)
Give the DREAM bosses some credit, these guys sure know how to build suspense into what otherwise might be a fairly straightforward and pleasing night of MMA fights. As it turned out, there was no surprise run-in from …

(VidProps: YouTube/evilbyte)

Give the DREAM bosses some credit, these guys sure know how to build suspense into what otherwise might be a fairly straightforward and pleasing night of MMA fights. As it turned out, there was no surprise run-in from Alistair Overeem and the Japanese promotion with the fly-by-the-seat-of-its pants matchmaking style never found a fight for Ricco Rodriguez. We hope it paid for the flight and the sushi, at least.  On the bright side, DREAM finally did manage to convince Gegard Mousasi to put in the 31 seconds of work it took to defeat an overweight Jake O’Brien and Shinya Aoki likewise bounced back from an embarrassing loss in Strikeforce a few months ago to put a quick and typically stoic beating on Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Like “Sweet and Sassy,” Aoki called it an early night, withstanding some heel kicks to the face as he locked up an Achilles lock that secured the tap and appeared to damage his Kawajiri’s leg in just one minute, 53 seconds. A couple of days after possibly declaring his bi-sexuality at the event’s weigh-in (we assume he was being ironical), Aoki ditched his trademark colorful tights for relatively conservative board shorts and rushed from the ring following his win to get some lovin’ from his (possibly female) fiancé.

After the jump, O’Brien vs. Mousasi, where it will take you all of the first 15 seconds to see why the American had a little trouble making weight …

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DREAM.15 – Aoki, Mousasi, And Tatsuya All Victorious

DREAM lightweight champ Shinya Aoki defeats Tatsuya Kawajiri via submission (Achilles lock) – R1, 1:53
Gegard Mousasi def. Jake O’Brien via submission (guillotine choke) – R1, 0:31
Tatsuya Mizuno def. Melvin Manhoef via submission (kimura) R1, 7:38

Click here to view the embedded video.

DREAM lightweight champ Shinya Aoki defeats Tatsuya Kawajiri via submission (Achilles lock) – R1, 1:53

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gegard Mousasi def. Jake O’Brien via submission (guillotine choke) – R1, 0:31

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tatsuya Mizuno def. Melvin Manhoef via submission (kimura) R1, 7:38

DREAM.15 Quick Results

Fighting and Entertainment Group’s latest mixed martial arts event, DREAM.15, took place Saturday evening (early morning for North Americans) at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event aired live on HDNet.
Looking to bounce back from a loss, DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki earned a quick submission victory over opponent Tatsuya Kawajiri by […]

Dream15-posterFighting and Entertainment Group’s latest mixed martial arts event, DREAM.15, took place Saturday evening (early morning for North Americans) at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event aired live on HDNet.

Looking to bounce back from a loss, DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki earned a quick submission victory over opponent Tatsuya Kawajiri by sinking in an achilles lock in the early minutes of their bout. After the victory Aoki talked about getting married soon and avenging his loss to Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez in September (Melendez has said he doesn’t expect to fight till later in 2010).

“With our fight, Pride is officially over as of today. Because of Kawajiri, many people have come to see us fight, and I was able to put on this performance. I will get married soon. I’ll make her happy, and [with this fight] I have made everyone happy. Thank you very much… I failed Dream in April (in the Melendez fight), but I will bring our dream back again. See me again in Nagoya, in September!”

(quoted via Tony Loiseleur via BloodyElbow.com)

The event also featured the opening round of DREAM’s Light-Heavyweight four-man Grand Prix Tournament.

Making their way into the finals were former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who easily defeated Jake O’Brien via guillotine choke within the first minute, and Tatsuya Mizuno, who submitted K-1 striker Melvin Manhoef with a kimura at 7:38 of Round one.

Lightweight Championship Bout: Shinya Aoki def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via submission (Achilles lock) – R1, 1:53
Lightweight bout: Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante def. Katsunori Kikuno via split decision
Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round bout: Gegard Mousasi def. Jake O’Brien via submission (guillotine choke) – R1, 0:31
Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round bout: Tatsuya Mizuno def. Melvin Manhoef via submission (kimura) – R1, 7:38
Featherweight bout: Michihiro Omigawa def. Young Sam Jung via submission (guillotine choke) – R1, 7:31
Featherweight bout: Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata via unanimous decision
Middleweight bout: Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Karl Amoussou via unanimous decision

DREAM.15 Weigh In Video

DREAM.15 weigh ins have one interesting note as Jake O’Brien, who is supposed to take on Gegard Mousasi, has yet to make weight, missing by a pound. He’ll try again, and we’ll keep you in the loop.

Click here to view the embedded video.

DREAM.15 weigh ins have one interesting note as Jake O’Brien, who is supposed to take on Gegard Mousasi, has yet to make weight, missing by a pound. He’ll try again, and we’ll keep you in the loop.