Tag: Dream

Mega Show Planned For New Year’s Eve In Tokyo Merging DREAM.18 And Glory 4 Events

Press Release – Tokyo, Japan (Nov 9th, 2011) – Following the recent GLORY Sports International (GSI) announcement that it will be producing DREAM 18 at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve, the company has now announced it will merge GLORY 4: Tokyo Grand Slam with DREAM 18 to create one mega-night of martial arts […]

Press Release – Tokyo, Japan (Nov 9th, 2011) – Following the recent GLORY Sports International (GSI) announcement that it will be producing DREAM 18 at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve, the company has now announced it will merge GLORY 4: Tokyo Grand Slam with DREAM 18 to create one mega-night of martial arts on Dec 31st.

GLORY 4 Tokyo was originally scheduled to take place on Dec 2nd at the Makuhari Messe Complex. But after detailed study and consideration GSI felt it would be possible to combine the two shows, creating the largest possible impact for relaunching the Japanese Martial Arts scene with an event like no other that has gone before.

“As a company we want to create the most spectacular martial arts show Japan has ever seen. After taking over DREAM 18, it just made natural sense to look at the opportunity to revive the traditional New Year’s Eve date and create a mega-show,” Pierre Andurand, Chairman of GSI, commented.

“We looked at the pros and cons and it was clear that a combined show would be the way to go. We are extremely proud and excited to deliver this mega-show to the Japanese fans and to the world at large. I can’t wait to spend my New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Arena!”

Marcus Luer, Managing Director of GSI, remarked, “We are confident that the fans will see our good intentions to create the best possible show ever and once they see the details of the New Year’s Eve show, they will be blown away by the caliber of fighters and fights we have lined up that night.

“We apologize for any inconvenience caused to the fans who have bought tickets for Dec 2nd but we are certain they will be happy with what we will create on Dec 31. We will provide fans who have bought tickets for GLORY 4: Tokyo with a full refund which can be easily obtained at the outlets where they bought the tickets. At the same time, those same outlets will also sell the new tickets for the Dec 31 show.”

The event – ‘GSI presents DREAM 18 and GLORY 4: Tokyo – New Year’s Eve Special’ – will commence at 4pm Tokyo time on Dec 31 and roll through to a midnight grand finale. DREAM 18 will see an amazing line up of top Japanese and international MMA superstars. Further details of the cards will be released next week.

As previously announced, GLORY 4: Tokyo will feature the best heavyweight kickboxers in the world in a 16-man single-elimination tournament. One man will be left standing at the end of the night and he will be crowned the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Slam Champion. He will also receive the winner’s check of US$ 400,000 – the biggest prize in the sport.

Among the superstar fighters that have accepted a place in the invitation-only line-up are Semmy Schilt, Daniel Ghita, Remy Bonjasky, Gokhan Saki, Peter Aerts and Errol Zimmerman. Sixteen world class fighters will enter, but only one can emerge victorious in what is the toughest tournament the fighting world has ever seen.

So come and join us on New Year’s Eve to witness the greatest collection of martial artists ever assembled on one night. Broadcast details of this once-in-a-lifetime event at Saitama Super Arena will be announced shortly.

About GLORY:

The GLORY World Series (www.gloryworldseries.com) is the world’s premier stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe. It offers up to $1,000,000 in prize money to successful fighters via individual matches and participation in the 16- and 8-man tournaments, which are open to only the very best fighters in each weight class.

With television deals across over 145 countries plus a ground-breaking online video streaming system and the world’s largest online martial arts library, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely-broadcast sporting organizations already.

Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in Holland, the UK, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel include prominent hedge-fund investors, the pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia and several executives from the Golden Glory and It’s Showtime team.

Mark Hunt Calls for Alistair Overeem Rematch, Pride Fanboys Around the World Simultaneously Soil Their Keyboards


(The best way to stop Cheick Kongo from kneeing you in the jewels? Turns out, it’s a simple jab. Who woulda thunk it?) 

As is the case for approximately 95% of the UFC’s current roster, Mark Hunt was forced to pull out of his last scheduled fight (against Stefan Struve) due to injury. But while he’s been quietly recuperating his knee and enjoying his current, not to mention improbable 3 fight win streak in the UFC, he’s apparently also been thinking about leveling the score with some of his former foes. Mainly, that of Alistair Overeem, who defeated Hunt by first round keylock when the two clashed back in June of 2008 at DREAM 5. It was Hunt’s third straight loss to come via form of arm-lock, but it certainly wouldn’t be his most painful.

In either case, it appears that Hunt may have heard through the grapevine that Alistair stated he would prefer to fight as soon as he got his license back, title shot or not, and figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Those two birds being a bit of redemption and possibly the next heavyweight title shot. He told The MMA Hour: 

If they’d like to get me a fight I’d like to get a rematch with Alistair Overeem, you know, when he comes back from his injury or from whatever, his hiatus. You know? I’d like to have my rematch with him. I’d be willing to fight next year so it doesn’t matter. If he gets a title shot, that’s good on him.

We hate to sound like a bunch of little schoolgirls but OMG JOE SILVA BOOK THIS FIGHT WE’LL LUV U 4EVER PLZZ!!


(The best way to stop Cheick Kongo from kneeing you in the jewels? Turns out, it’s a simple jab. Who woulda thunk it?) 

As is the case for approximately 95% of the UFC’s current roster, Mark Hunt was forced to pull out of his last scheduled fight (against Stefan Struve) due to injury. But while he’s been quietly recuperating his knee and enjoying his current, not to mention improbable 3 fight win streak in the UFC, he’s apparently also been thinking about leveling the score with some of his former foes. Mainly, that of Alistair Overeem, who defeated Hunt by first round keylock when the two clashed back in June of 2008 at DREAM 5. It was Hunt’s third straight loss to come via form of arm-lock, but it certainly wouldn’t be his most painful.

In either case, it appears that Hunt may have heard through the grapevine that Alistair stated he would prefer to fight as soon as he got his license back, title shot or not, and figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Those two birds being a bit of redemption and possibly the next heavyweight title shot. He told The MMA Hour: 

If they’d like to get me a fight I’d like to get a rematch with Alistair Overeem, you know, when he comes back from his injury or from whatever, his hiatus. You know? I’d like to have my rematch with him. I’d be willing to fight next year so it doesn’t matter. If he gets a title shot, that’s good on him.

We hate to sound like a bunch of little schoolgirls but OMG JOE SILVA BOOK THIS FIGHT WE’LL LUV U 4EVER PLZZ!!

It may have only taken Overeem a little over a minute to dispatch Hunt the first time they met, and you have to wonder whether or not Overeem would follow a very similar gameplan were these two to fight again, but if there’s even a chance that we can see two PRIDE legends slug it out for the right to the next heavyweight title shot, then we’re all for it. Obviously, the UFC is eyeing Overeem as the next title contender, but on the off chance — and by “off chance,” I mean “with 100% certainty” — that either Junior dos Santos or Cain Velasquez are injured in their upcoming rematch at UFC 155, pitting Overeem against Hunt is basically a win-win. For hardcore fans at least.

On one hand, if Overeem is able to easily dispatch Hunt again, he will at the minimum be given a fight to shake off any ring rust he might have acquired in his time off and cement his status as the #1 contender, whatever that means these days. On the other, if Hunt is able to emerge victorious, it would set up one of the most inconceivable career comeback stories in MMA history. If the UFC couldn’t make some money off of that — which, let’s be honest, is the only thing they’re interested in when it comes to title shots — they should fire their marketing department immediately and hire this guy.

Since Overeem was popped for steroids and cost us one of the greatest fights of 2012, he might as well make it up to both the fans and the UFC in 2013 by accepting this rematch. I know that line of logic doesn’t make any sense, BUT I WANNA SEE THIS FIGHT GOD DAMN IT.

Anyone else drinking my kool-aid?

–J. Jones

DREAM 18 Announced for New Year’s Eve


(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 these days?


(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.

(Ed note: )

– Elias Cepeda

GLORY Sports Brings DREAM Back For Special NYE 2012 Event

Press Release – TOKYO, Japan (Oct. 25, 2012) – Glory Sports International (GSI), owner and operator of the Glory World Series, announced today that it 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. “We are very […]

Press Release – TOKYO, Japan (Oct. 25, 2012) – Glory Sports International (GSI), owner and operator of the Glory World Series, announced today that it 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.

“We are very fond of the DREAM brand and the company’s world-class production team. The GSI team is passionate about Japanese MMA and is intent on restoring it to prominence. The DREAM 18 event on New Year’s Eve is a first step towards this goal,” states Pierre Andurand, chairman of Glory Sports International.

“New Year’s Eve is traditionally the high point of the martial arts calendar in Japan,” continues Andurand, “and DREAM has staged superb events at Saitama for the past four years. This year, GLORY will be taking over presentation of the event and you will see a better production than ever before. Fans worldwide can expect a spectacular show.”

New Year’s Eve shows at Saitama Arena have traditionally involved both MMA and kickboxing bouts and that will continue with this year’s event, entitled ‘GSI presents DREAM 18 – Special NYE 2012′. Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Shinya Aoki and Joachim Hansen are a few of the MMA stars that have featured on previous New Year’s Eve shows and fans can expect a similar level from this year’s event.

A press conference was staged in Tokyo today, during which further details of the event were revealed. Mr Andurand explained that GSI is taking over and presenting the New Year’s Eve show rather than partnering with DREAM and thus the one-off event can essentially be considered part of the GSI portfolio via the company’s Japanese sub-division Glory Sports KK.

Present at today’s conference call were three Japanese fighters confirmed for New Year’s Eve. They are DREAM featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya, the ‘Crusher’ Tatsuya Kawajiri and the lightweight contender Satoru Kitaoka. Announcements regarding participating international fighters are expected in the coming weeks.

There will be ten MMA fights and three kickboxing matches. GSI vice-president of business development Bas Boon told the press conference that the tradition of having kickboxers fighting under MMA rules and MMA fighters competing under kickboxing rules would likely continue on this event, although participating fighters were not specified.

A media conference call is also to be held this week and will be announced separately. It will feature GSI Chairman Pierre Andurand and Managing Director Marcus Luer plus participants in the New Year’s Eve event.

New Year’s Eve will be GSI’s second visit to Japan in December.

The first will be December 2 when ‘GLORY 4 TOKYO: Heavyweight Grand Slam’ takes place at the Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Greater Tokyo. The revolutionary 16-man one-night tournament features the world’s top kickboxing heavyweights fighting through a four-stage elimination tournament for a purse of $600,000 and a grand prize of US$400,000.

Among the entrants to the tournament are World No.1 ranked heavyweight Semmy Schilt and the legendary icons Remy Bonjasky, Peter Aerts and Jerome LeBanner. Top contenders Daniel Ghita and Gokhan Saki have confirmed participation and so have knockout artists Sergei Kharitonov and Errol Zimmerman. Other entrants include rising stars such as Filip Verlinden, Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva, Brice Guidon, Rico Verhoeven and Jamal Ben Saddik.

For more information, visit www.gloryworldseries.com.

About DREAM:

Japan’s premier MMA organisation, DREAM has staged 23 top-class events in the course of its four-year history. Fighters that have stepped into the DREAM ring include Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Melvin Manhoef, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Eddie Alvarez, Todd Duffee, Gesias Calvancante, Marius Zaromskis.

About GLORY:

The GLORY World Series (www.gloryworldseries.com) is the world’s premier stand-up fighting league, staging events across the globe. It offers up to $1,000,000 in prize money to successful fighters via individual matches and participation in the 16- and 8-man tournaments, which are open to only the very best fighters in each weight class.

With television deals spanning every continent plus a groundbreaking online video streaming system and the world’s largest online martial arts library, GLORY is one of the world’s most widely-broadcast sporting organizations already.

Owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI), the organization has offices in Holland, the UK, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its personnel include prominent hedge-fund investors, the pioneering sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia and several executives from the Golden Glory and It’s Showtime team.

“I Think He Has Made A Mistake By Asking To Fight Me,” Shinya Aoki

The final DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki (30-6, 1NC) will step back into the limelight next month, debuting under the ONE Fighting Championship banner in the main event of the upcoming Rise of Kings event. Aoki is scheduled to face French fighter Arnold Lepont, a man the Japanese fighter knows little about, but can say […]

Shinya Aoki

The final DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki (30-6, 1NC) will step back into the limelight next month, debuting under the ONE Fighting Championship banner in the main event of the upcoming Rise of Kings event.

Aoki is scheduled to face French fighter Arnold Lepont, a man the Japanese fighter knows little about, but can say for certain that “I think he has made a mistake by asking to fight me.”

The two meet on October 6, 2012 in the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore on a stacked card featuring three ONE FC title bouts.

Aoki spoke to MMAWeekly.com recently about his upcoming fight.

“I don’t know very much about him and I don’t really care. He says he is a fan but if that is the case then fighting me is a very stupid thing to do, most of my fans want to take a photo with me but he wants to fight me? I find that very strange,” said Aoki.

“I am not a fan of Arnaud Lepont because I don’t know who he is and I think he has made a mistake by asking to fight me.”

“I have fought more than 30 times and every opponent has said the same thing. Before I was mainly a Jiu-Jitsu fighter but Evolve MMA has helped me to change and become an all round MMA fighter,” said Aoki. “I am sure he thinks his standup is better than mine and that he can knock me out but maybe I think the same thing too? My job is just to win but if I could knock out Arnaud Lepont that would also be fun for me.”

Aoki enters the bout on a loss, having been finished by first round TKO by former Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez in their rematch bout. Previous to the defeat, the last DREAM lightweight title holder had won seven straight bouts.

Aoki has been training with the Evolve MMA gym in Singapore, and has been working on improving his striking so fans of the Japanese star could see him knock out Lepont on October 6.

DREAM Is No More, Japanese Promotion Closes It’s Doors

DREAM is no more as the parent company to the mixed martial arts promotion, Real Entertainment, quietly closed it’s doors this week according to AsianMMA.com. Operations for DREAM ended earlier this year when FEG (Fighting and Entertainment Group) declared bankruptcy and was then managed by Real Entertainment Co. Ltd in June. Now it appears that […]

DREAM is no more as the parent company to the mixed martial arts promotion, Real Entertainment, quietly closed it’s doors this week according to AsianMMA.com.

Operations for DREAM ended earlier this year when FEG (Fighting and Entertainment Group) declared bankruptcy and was then managed by Real Entertainment Co. Ltd in June. Now it appears that they have no interest in keeping the promotion going, putting an end to major mixed martial arts events emanating from Japan for the time being.

While DREAM ended months ago, there was a small amount of talk that something might happen in the future with the promotion. Apparently, the management of the company has had enough. The higher ranking officials have all gone their own ways and it was more or less just remnants of an old company. A decision had to be made, and the shot callers decided that there were no alternatives, but to shut down.

DREAM was founded in February 2008 following the end of PRIDE FC under K-1 and FEG.

The promotion put on twenty-three events with it’s first taking place in March 2008 with a Lightweight Grand Prix which aired in North American on HDNet.

Their last event went down in December of last Year, the “Fight for Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoki 2011″ which featured a mix of mma, K-1, and IGF rules bouts.