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Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club

(That shouldn’t be a problem, Todd. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…
– Helwani VS Dundas:…

Alistair Overeem Todd Duffee Dynamite!! 2010 Japan MMA
(That shouldn’t be a problem, Todd. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Helwani VS Dundas: UFC 125 Edition (Versus MMA Beat)

– Our Top UFC Photos of 2010 (MMA Fighting)

– Tim Sylvia replacing Todd Duffee at Titan Fighting Championships 16 (Five Ounces of Pain)

– The Best of Japanese MMA in 2010 (MMA Scraps)

– Brock Lesnar Looking For A Way Out Of MMA And Back To Pro-Wrestling? (SBNation.com/MMA)

– Sean McCorkle Returns Against Christian Morecraft at Fight Night 24 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Pat Miletich Has Sold His Miletich Fighting Systems Gym (MiddleEasy)

– Exclusive Interview: Daniel Gracie talks Bellator, Georges St. Pierre and Frankie Edgar (LowKick)

– Dana White’s UFC 125 Video Blog, Part 1 (MMA Convert)

– Behind the Lens: Rich Franklin (FightMagazine)

Sakuraba vs. Zaromskis Welterweight Title Fight Slated for Dynamite!! 2010

("That’s what I thought, bitch!" Photo courtesy of the Kazushi Sakuraba – Laughter 7 Facebook page)
As first reported by MMA Junkie, Japanese MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba will return to action on New Year’s Eve at Dynamite!! 2010, where he’l…

("That’s what I thought, bitch!" Photo courtesy of the Kazushi Sakuraba – Laughter 7 Facebook page)

As first reported by MMA Junkie, Japanese MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba will return to action on New Year’s Eve at Dynamite!! 2010, where he’ll challenge Marius Zaromskis for DREAM’s welterweight title. Though the 41-year-old vet has generally competed as a middleweight, he’ll be dropping to the lighter division following back-to-back losses against Ralek Gracie and Jason Miller.

The match will also serve as a comeback attempt for Zaromskis, who’s coming off of a disastrous Strikeforce run this year which saw him suffer first-round knockouts against Nick Diaz and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, then eye-poke his way into a six-second no-contest against Waachim Spiritwolf last month. Zaromskis went 4-0 under the DREAM banner in 2009, with three of those wins coming via head-kick knockout.

As of now, the only other fights booked for this year’s Dynamite!! card are a featherweight title fight between Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya, and a lightweight feature between Josh Thomson and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Shinya Aoki, Melvin Manhoef, and Gegard Mousasi are also reported for the event, but their fights haven’t been finalized. But hey, the show’s not for another three weeks. Plenty of time.

FEG in Trouble As Financial Backing Falls Through and NYE TV Deal Has Yet to Be Struck; DREAM and K-1 On Life Support

(All for one and one for all….right guys?)
The plausibility that DREAM and K-1 will continue past the first quarter of 2011 is looking bleak as the promotions’ parent consortium, Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) has failed to secure much needed…

(All for one and one for all….right guys?)

The plausibility that DREAM and K-1 will continue past the first quarter of 2011 is looking bleak as the promotions’ parent consortium, Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) has failed to secure much needed financial backing.

A $200 million deal that was in the works with Japanese capital investment firm PUJI has collapsed according to Fighters Only and it seems that the reason the agreement fell through was because the popularity of kickboxing and MMA in The Land of the Rising Sun" is waning.

Some red flags that signalled to PUJI that Japan’s interest in combat sports is on the decline were a dramatic drop in advertising dollars, live gate revenue and FEG’s inability to secure a television deal for its K-1 Dynamite! New Year’s Eve show this year. Investors weighed the risks of the deal and decided that FEG had grossly exaggerated the value of the company and the potential revenue that could be made in Japan, given the current state of the sport in the country.

Video Evidence: Japanese Fighter KOs Ref, Appears to Suffer Very Minor Consequences

(Vidprops: YouTube/TheGRACHAN)
The Japanese MMA scene might be slumping into the second decade of the 21st Century, but the Land of the Rising Sun is still the industry leader in unrestrained mayhem and total batshit craziness. Props to MMA Fighting….

(Vidprops: YouTube/TheGRACHAN)

The Japanese MMA scene might be slumping into the second decade of the 21st Century, but the Land of the Rising Sun is still the industry leader in unrestrained mayhem and total batshit craziness. Props to MMA Fighting.com’s resident gaijin Daniel Herbertson for passing along the above video of a lightweight fight last week in the Grachan organization … and the unexpected rampage that occurs immediately following it. If we only knew word one of Japanese – instead of spending all four years in high school and two years in college studying German, which turned out to be a waste of everyone’s time – we could give you a bit more context here. Just being big, dumb white guys, we’re going to have to take Herbertson’s word for a lot of it.

Here’s the Reader’s Digest condensed version: According to DH, Grachan is a Japanese promotion that (as you can see) uses a cage and prides itself on its "hardcore" image. In the vid, the dude in tights (Takeo Shiina) gets clowned by the dude in board shorts (Jung Hyun Lee) during their prefight stare down at Grachan 5. Lee does some head-waggling and kiss-blowing and then comes out of his corner at the opening bell with a Mitrione-esque grin on his face. Shiina doesn’t take too kindly to it. At all. Just a minute or so into the fight he KOs Lee with a left and then goes absolutely ape shit. When veteran referee Samio Kimura dives into the line of fire to call for the stoppage he gets a hammerfist to the back of the head and a knee to the ribs for his trouble. Shiina is eventually restrained and in the aftermath we can’t help but notice some important cultural differences …

Fight of the Day: Minowaman vs. His Latest Obese Conquest

(Fight begins at the 1:12 mark. Props: ZProphet420 via Fightlinker)
During his long and storied career, Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa has made his reputation off fighting much larger opponents. The reigning Super Hulk champ’s list…

(Fight begins at the 1:12 mark. Props: ZProphet420 via Fightlinker)

During his long and storied career, Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa has made his reputation off fighting much larger opponents. The reigning Super Hulk champ‘s list of victims includes Eric "Butterbean" Esch (400+ pounds), Giant Silva (385 pounds), Bob Sapp (340 pounds), Imani Lee (330 pounds), Hong Man Choi (320 pounds) and Jimmy Ambriz (285 pounds). On October 24th at Deep 50 Impact, Minowa was able to add another pudgy pelt to his collection — Chang Hee Kim, a South Korean 300-pounder who came into the fight with an 0-1 record. Would Minowa be able to overcome his opponent’s tremendous size and utter lack of skill, as he has so many times in the past?

Short answer: Yep. Kim shows a hint of capability in the beginning, defending a takedown attempt and sneaking in a knee from clinch. But once Minowa flips that big body over — very impressively, we might add — it’s pretty much a wrap. Minowa goes from mount, to side-control, to a slick little armbar-variation that he sets up with a kind of leg-crucifix. Proving once again, Minowaman ain’t gonna lose to no guy with titties.

DREAM Featherweight Champ Bibiano Fernandes Still Hasn’t Been Paid for DREAM 13; Turns Down September Title Defense

("Does anybody know the name of the pawnshop Jake Shields uses?")
Apparently DREAM has become the Michael Lohan of the MMA world.
According to TATAME, five months after he won the DREAM featherweight tournament, Bibiano Fernandes hasn’t been…

("Does anybody know the name of the pawnshop Jake Shields uses?")

Apparently DREAM has become the Michael Lohan of the MMA world.

According to TATAME, five months after he won the DREAM featherweight tournament, Bibiano Fernandes hasn’t been paid his contracted fight purse. Unlike the Impact FC fighters who haven’t been paid for their July fights by the Australian promotion, Fernandes has something over the Japanese promotion he is contracted to for one more bout: his belt.

The report says that Fernandes has turned down a title defense on the September 25 DREAM 16 card and maintains that he won’t fight for the organization until he receives his check for his win over Joachim Hansen at DREAM 13 back in March.