Filed under: DREAM, News, JapanDREAM’s first large-scale event for for the year got it’s tenth bout on Thursday afternoon as MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba has signed to fight DREAM newcomer and Nova Uniao submission ace Yan Cabral at DREAM.17 on Sept. 24…
DREAM’s first large-scale event for for the year got it’s tenth bout on Thursday afternoon as MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba has signed to fight DREAM newcomer and Nova Uniao submission ace Yan Cabral at DREAM.17 on Sept. 24 at Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo, Japan.
Sakuraba has not competed since his heavily cauliflowered ear was partially torn off in his Dec. 31, 2010 bout with DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis. The gruesome ear injury continued a run of losses for Sakuraba; the “Gracie Hunter” also falling to the much less experienced Ralek Gracie and suffering a submission loss to Jason “Mayhem” Miller.
Yan Cabral, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who first trained with Carlson Gracie before joining the highly respected Nova Uniao camp, comes into the bout with a perfect 9-0 record with every victory coming by way of submission. Cabral is particularly adept at the arm-triangle choke — a submission that has brought him victory on four occasions and also gave Kazushi Sakuraba the only submission losses of his career.
DREAM.17 – September 24, 2011 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
Bantamweight World GP Opening Round
Hideo Tokoro vs. Antonio Banuelos
Bibiano Fernandes vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Masakazu Imanari vs. Abel Cullum
Yusup Saadulaev vs. Rodolfo Marques Diniz
(And the first nomination for 2011’s Corey Hill Award is… / Photo courtesy of the DREAM Dynamite!! Photo Gallery on FightMagazine.com)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for det…
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…
("Look, Brandon, I’m sorry. If you take your hand away, I promise I won’t slap you in the face again." / Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)
UPDATE: A clip of Silva playing Vera like a bongo has been added to the end of this post…check it out …
("Look, Brandon, I’m sorry. If you take your hand away, I promise I won’t slap you in the face again." / Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)
UPDATE: A clip of Silva playing Vera like a bongo has been added to the end of this post…check it out while it lasts.
The third round of Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera at UFC 125 represented one of the most humiliating beat-downs in recent MMA history, as Silva seemingly got tired of punching Vera about midway through the round and just started slapping him in the face until the fight was over. With Vera’s job likely on the line that night, it was the worst possible final impression to leave with his bosses — as if that mangled schnozz wasn’t enough.
After the fight, top light-heavyweight contender Jon Jones fired up Twitter and posted the following: "Wow that slapping was so disrespectful.. id love to give him a slap in the face…Dominating someone in a fight is 1 thing, looking to simply humiliate them is another..Traditional martial artist always seemed to show honor and respect.. Anyways what’s done is done, I’m headed to the gym to make sure nothing like that ever happens to me."
We say: Eff the haters, Thiago. You’ve just joined a very select group of MMA fighters who have demonstrated their dominance through slapping and spanking. The other members of the MMA Bitch-Slap Hall of Fame are after the jump…
Filed under: DREAMJapanese mixed martial arts legend Kazushi Sakuraba suffered one of the ugliest losses in MMA history at Dynamite 2010, as a bloody tear of his cauliflower ear caused his welterweight title fight with Marius Zaromskis to be called to …
Japanese mixed martial arts legend Kazushi Sakuraba suffered one of the ugliest losses in MMA history at Dynamite 2010, as a bloody tear of his cauliflower ear caused his welterweight title fight with Marius Zaromskis to be called to a halt.
Like many MMA veterans, Sakuraba’s ears tell the story of his long career, but he had never had anything happen to those ears like what happened against Zaromskis: Early in the fight a Zaromskis punch caused Sakuraba’s ear to burst open, with blood spewing forth. The referee called the fight to a stop and asked the ringside doctor to examine the ear, but it was determined that Sakuraba was good to continue.
(Alistair Overeem vs. Todd Duffee. Fight starts at the 3:41 mark and ends 19 seconds later. Good night Ireeeene.)
Full results from today’s New Year’s Eve event in Saitama, Japan, are after the jump, along with a few must-see videos courtesy of ZP…
(Alistair Overeem vs. Todd Duffee. Fight starts at the 3:41 mark and ends 19 seconds later. Good night Ireeeene.)
Full results from today’s New Year’s Eve event in Saitama, Japan, are after the jump, along with a few must-see videos courtesy of ZP420MMA. Note: Bob Sapp apparently backed out of his IGF slap-fight-rules bout with Shinichi Suzukawa at the last minute.
DREAM’s first large-scale event for for the year got it’s tenth bout on Thursday afternoon as 
Japanese mixed martial arts legend 