In this past Saturday’s ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) event held in Singapore, DREAM standouts Tatsuya Kawajiri and Masakau Imanari fought in Southeast Asia for the first time in both their careers. Both made quick work of their oppone…
In this past Saturday’s ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) event held in Singapore, DREAM standouts Tatsuya Kawajiri and Masakau Imanari fought in Southeast Asia for the first time in both their careers. Both made quick work of their opponent, with both victories coming by first round submission, Kawajiri by Triangle Choke and Imanari by his signature leglock.
Despite being veterans of major promotions like Dream and Strikeforce, both Japanese veterans received surprisingly muted responses as they entered the cage. This is a strange roundabout from the vocal crowd who nearly tore the roof down when local fighters Nicole Chua and Quek Kim Hock won their respective fights. Even lesser known names like Zorobel Moreira and Eddie Ng received louder cheers.
I don’t get it. Here we have two of the best fighters not under the Zuffa umbrella fighting courtesy of a deal with Dream, and yet the crowd doesn’t seem overly excited. It is especially disappointing for Tatusya Kawajiri, who has fought in front of crowds triple the size of the Singapore audience in Pride and Strikeforce and headlined title fights in Dream.
It is expected for local fighters to get louder cheers, and Eddie Ng, Zorobel Moreira and several others train out of Singapore so are considered local favourites as well. It could also be that Tatsuya Kawajiri’s grinding ground and pound style is not the most exciting and crowd pleasing. But their countrymen like Yuya Shirai and Yoshiyuki Nakanishi got louder cheers despite being less popular in Japan, and even Richie Whitson whose most notable for appearing on a reality television show got a louder pop.
Full credit goes to both of them, as that did not seem to deter them in their bouts.
Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Bellator, Rankings, FeatherweightsThe No. 1 featherweight in mixed martial arts returned to the cage at UFC 142 and needed less than one round to dispatch an opponent who entered the fight undefeated and widely regarded as the …
The No. 1 featherweight in mixed martial arts returned to the cage at UFC 142 and needed less than one round to dispatch an opponent who entered the fight undefeated and widely regarded as the No. 2 featherweight in MMA. So where does Jose Aldo go now after defeating Chad Mendes?
Aldo’s camp has indicated he doesn’t intend to move up to 155 pounds unless it’s to fight for the UFC lightweight title. So that’s probably not in the offing. And that raises the question: Are there any challengers left for Aldo at 145 pounds?
For the identity of some potential opponents for Aldo going forward, check out the latest list of the top 10 featherweights in mixed martial arts below.
Top 10 Featherweights in Mixed Martial Arts (Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)
1. Jose Aldo (1): What’s been so impressive about Aldo is how none of his fights are even close. Since signing with Zuffa in 2008 Aldo is 11-0, with four wins by first-round knockout or TKO, three wins by second-round knockout or TKO, one win by third-round TKO, and three wins by unanimous decision. He didn’t lose more than one round in any of the three decisions, all of which were five-round fights.
2. Hatsu Hioki (3): Hioki has a great resume, with wins over Marlon Sandro, Takeshi Inoue, Ronnie Mann and Mark Hominick twice. But he looked just so-so in winning a split decision over George Roop in his UFC debut. He’ll have to look better when he faces Bart Palaszewski back home in Japan at UFC 144 if he wants to prove he belongs in the Octagon with Aldo.
3. Chad Mendes (2): The best hope Mendes had of beating Aldo was getting him down and getting on top of him, and Aldo’s takedown defense proved to be too good. (Aldo did benefit from grabbing the fence at one point.) Mendes is a good enough wrestler to threaten almost anyone at 145 pounds, but Aldo is leaps and bounds better than him as a striker.
4. Pat Curran (4): Curran looked outstanding in defeating Marlon Sandro in the Bellator featherweight tournament final, and Bellator has a great featherweight title fight lined up for March 9, with Curran taking on Joe Warren.
5. Erik Koch (5): Koch was supposed to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC 143 in what could have given the UFC its next No. 1 contender at featherweight. Unfortunately Koch is injured and had to drop out of the fight, and a return date for Koch has not been announced.
6. Bart Palaszewski (NR): Palaszewski’s impressive win over Tyson Griffin establishes him as a potential future contender to the featherweight belt. Moving down to featherweight was a great move for him, but he’ll have a tough test on his hands against Hioki at UFC 144.
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri (9): After dropping down to featherweight last year, Kawajiri submitted both Joachim Hansen and Kazuyuki Miyata. A fight with Dream featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya would be great.
8. Dustin Poirier (10): Poirier will take on Max Holloway at UFC 143, and if he puts on a good show he might find himself getting Aldo next.
9. Chan Sung Jung (NR): After Aldo, the Korean Zombie might be the hottest featherweight in the sport right now. He was recognized as having the Fight of the Year in 2010 with Leonard Garcia and the Submission of the Year in 2011 for finishing Garcia with a twister in their rematch, and then he needed just seven seconds to knock out Mark Hominick. Jung is on such a roll right now that there’s some talk he could be next in line for Aldo, although that would be an extremely tall order: Jung is a lot of fun to watch, but Aldo is on another level as a striker.
10. Mark Hominick (6): Hominick is now on a two-fight losing streak after falling to Aldo and Jung, but he’ll hold onto his spot in the Top 10 for now. He’s a skilled striker who’s still only 29 years old and has a good future in the featherweight division, but he should get a step down in quality of competition, which is just what he will get when he takes on Eddie Yagin at UFC 145 in Atlanta.
Filed under: DREAMWill Fedor Emelianenko continue his winning ways on New Year’s Eve in Japan? Or will Satoshi Ishii take an enormous step forward in his MMA career with a huge upset? Will Japanese stars Shinya Aoki, Hiroyuki Takaya and Tatsuya Kawajir…
Will Fedor Emelianenko continue his winning ways on New Year’s Eve in Japan? Or will Satoshi Ishii take an enormous step forward in his MMA career with a huge upset? Will Japanese stars Shinya Aoki, Hiroyuki Takaya and Tatsuya Kawajiri put on impressive performances? Will American fans manage to stay awake after UFC 141 and watch several more hours of fighting into the wee hours of Saturday morning?
We’ll attempt to answer those questions and more as we predict the winners of this year’s New Year’s Eve event in Japan below.
What: Dream: Fight for Japan New Year 2011
Where: Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
When: Friday late night, the HDNet broadcast will begin at 1 AM ET, just after the conclusion of UFC 141.
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii Fedor is 5-0 fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve, and it would be an enormous upset if he doesn’t improve to 6-0 against Ishii, a former Olympic judo gold medalist who is 4-1-1 in his MMA career. Fedor has obviously declined significantly from the days when he was the top fighter in the sport, but I don’t think he’s fallen so far that he’ll lose to Ishii. This should be a relatively easy win for Fedor. Pick: Emelianenko
Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka Aoki is arguably Japan’s best pound-for-pound fighter, but he’ll have his hands full with Kitaoka, who’s a good grappler and has beaten some very solid opponents, including Carlos Condit, Paul Daley and Takanori Gomi. I see this one going the distance and being closer than most people think, with Aoki eking out a close decision. Pick: Aoki
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi Inoue Takaya is making his second defense of the Dream featherweight title, which he won by defeating Bibiano Fernandes on New Year’s Eve last year. Inoue is coming off a great head kick knockout of Caol Uno, but Takaya’s kickboxing is better than Inoue, and I like him to win by decision. Pick: Takaya
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata Kawajiri dropped to featherweight and looked great in his recent win over Joachim Hansen. His striking will be too much for Miyata. Pick: Kawajiri
Hayato Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan Both of these guys are past their primes (Sakurai is 36 and has lost four in a row; Chonan is 35 and has fought low-level competition since losing three of four in the UFC a few years ago), but I think Sakurai has a little more gas left in the tank and will avenge Chonan’s 2003 victory. Pick: Sakurai
Megumi Fujii vs. Karla Benitez Fujii is one of the best pound-for-pound female fighters in the world, and Benitez is simply not at her level. This should be an easy submission victory for Fujii. Pick: Fujii
Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo Marques Fernandes, the former Dream featherweight title, is more comfortable fighting at bantamweight, and he has to be considered the favorite to win this tournament. I look for him to beat Marques easily. Pick: Fernandes
Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal: Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos Banuelos was released by the UFC after losing a decision to Miguel Torres early this year, but he’s a dangerous opponent for anyone and a much better striker than Imanari. I like Banuelos to win by TKO. Pick: Banuelos
Bantamweight Tournament Reserve Bout: Hideo Tokoro vs. Yusup Saadulaev Tokoro, who lost a split decision to Banuelos in the tournament quarterfinals, should win the reserve bout against Saadulaev, who lost to Marques. Pick: Tokoro
Bantamweight Tournament Final: Winner of Imanari/Banuelos vs. Winner of Fernandes/Marques Fernandes has an excellent opportunity to make a statement that he’s the best bantamweight outside Zuffa, and I think he’ll put on a show by beating Banuelos in the tournament finale. Pick: Fernandes
Filed under: News, JapanA pair of featherweight bouts have been booked for the Dec. 31 “How Are You?” event (this year’s Dynamite!! equivalent) with Tatsuya Kawajiri squaring off against Kazuyuki Miyata and Hiroyuki Takaya defending his belt against Ta…
A pair of featherweight bouts have been booked for the Dec. 31 “How Are You?” event (this year’s Dynamite!! equivalent) with Tatsuya Kawajiri squaring off against Kazuyuki Miyata and Hiroyuki Takaya defending his belt against Takeshi “Lion” Inoue in Saitama, Japan.
Kawajlri (29-7-2) fought in two of the three DREAM events in 2011, beating Drew Fickett and Joachim Hansen. In April, Kawajiri challenged Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight belt and lost by first-round TKO. In his most recent fight against Hansen in September, Kawajiri made the drop to featherweight. Miyata (11-8) fought once this year in a losing effort against Takaya with the DREAM title on the line.
Takaya (16-9-1), who won the DREAM title last New Year’s Eve, returned to the U.S. in April for Strikeforce and lost on the undercard to now-UFC fighter Robert Peralta. Takaya then bounced back in July with the aforementioned win over Miyata. Inoue (21-5) won all three of his fights this year against Taiki Tsuchiya, Koichiro Matsumoto and Caol Uno.
The full card will be a mixture of MMA, kickboxing and pro wrestling matches and will air on HDNet.
Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Bellator, Rankings, FeatherweightsJose Aldo is continuing to run roughshod over the rest of the featherweight division, improving his professional MMA record to 20-1 with a unanimous decision victory over Kenny Florian at UFC 1…
Jose Aldo is continuing to run roughshod over the rest of the featherweight division, improving his professional MMA record to 20-1 with a unanimous decision victory over Kenny Florian at UFC 136. So does anyone at 145 have a chance against Aldo?
So far it hasn’t looked like it. It’s not just that Aldo has won every single one of his fights since coming to North America at WEC 34 in 2008. It’s that none of his fights have been close. He’s shifted from being a knockout artist to usually winning one-sided decisions, but he really hasn’t been tested by anyone.
Is Chad Mendes the man to change that? He’s certainly the most worthy challenger to Aldo’s title. We’ll run down the top of the featherweight division below.
Top 10 featherweights in MMA (Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)
1. Jose Aldo (1): After struggling to cut down to 145 pounds, Aldo has talked about moving up to lightweight, but I think that would be a mistake. I don’t think he has the frame for 155, and I think he’d really struggle against big lightweight wrestlers. In fact, I think he might struggle against a good featherweight wrestler like …
2. Chad Mendes (2): The undefeated Mendes was a good college wrestler and may be the opponent to put Aldo on his back and keep him there. If there’s anyone in the featherweight division who represents a threat to Aldo, it’s Mendes.
3. Hatsu Hioki (3): Hioki is the big question mark in the UFC‘s featherweight division. He’s about to make his UFC debut after going on a great run in Japan, and if he can make the adjustment to the cage and the North American unified rules, he could be a title contender: Hioki’s reach, high-volume striking and active guard make him a tough puzzle to solve. Unfortunately, the recent track record of Japanese fighters coming to the U.S. has not been good. Hioki makes his debut against George Roop at UFC 137.
4. Pat Curran (NR): Curran has looked sensational since dropping from lightweight to featherweight, and after seeing him knock out Marlon Sandro, I think he’s the best featherweight outside the UFC. Bellator has a strong featherweight division, and fights with Joe Warren or Patricio “Pitbull” Freire would be great matchups for Curran.
5. Erik Koch (8): Koch looked good in his September victory over Jonathan Brookins, which improved his record to 13-1, with the only loss coming against Mendes. At age 23, Koch has a very bright future ahead of him.
6. Mark Hominick (7): After taking several months off following his loss to Aldo, Hominick will return at UFC 140 against Chan Sung Jung in what should be an outstanding battle.
7. Kenny Florian (4): It’s tough to see where Florian goes from here. He’s good enough that he’s earned three title shots in his career, but not good enough to win any of them, or even be competitive in any of them. And at age 35, with 20 pro fights under his belt, it’s not like he’s suddenly going to get a lot better. Still, I hope we haven’t seen the last of Florian. He can have a gatekeeper role at either featherweight or lightweight, even if he’s done fighting for belts.
8. Tyson Griffin (NR): Featherweight — not lightweight — has always been the right weight class for Griffin. It was the right weight class for him when he beat Urijah Faber in 2005, and it’s the right weight class for him now, after he’s moved back down from lightweight and beaten Manny Gamburyan. Up next for Griffin is a featherweight fight with another former lightweight, Bart Palaszewski, at UFC 137.
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri (NR): Another former lightweight dropping down, Kawajiri put on a good show in submitting Joachim Hansen at Dream.17. I’d like to see the UFC add Kawajiri to its featherweight roster.
10. Dustin Poirier (9): The 22-year-old Poirier is a rising star at featherweight. He gets Pablo Garza on the undercard of the November 12 UFC on Fox event.
In the semifinals of the Dream 5 lightweight tournament, Eddie Alvarez met Japanese sensation, Tatsuya Kawajiri. Alvarez had beaten his two previous opponents, Andre Amade, and a tough Joachim Hansen to get to this fight. The bout began off with both f…
In the semifinals of the Dream 5 lightweight tournament, Eddie Alvarez met Japanese sensation, TatsuyaKawajiri.
Alvarez had beaten his two previous opponents, Andre Amade, and a tough Joachim Hansen to get to this fight.
The bout began off with both fighters trading blows, Alvarez with cool combinations and Kawajiri with a mixture of leg kicks, knees and punches.
Three minutes in, Alvarez had Kawajiri rocked and was teeing off. But somehow Kawajiri was able to recover and got back up and continued to press on.
Then the bout was quickly stopped for a tiny cut under the eye of Alvarez and then quickly started again.
Then after they began the fight again, Kawajiri knocked down Alvarez and began to turn the tables. Kawajiri then controlled Alvarez for a long amount of time on the ground and began to wear down Alvarez.
Alvarez then got up and both fighters began teeing off. Ironically, commentator BasRutten said “It’s like a Rocky movie!” Alvarez is from Philadelphia and is a great boxer. Then again, both fighters started trading blows and got up against the ropes. With both fighters getting hurt over and over, it was Alvarez who began to go off on Kawajiri, knocks him down, thinks the bout is over, and then goes on to to beat him senseless on the ground.
Alvarez was unable to compete in the finals of this tournament due to that cut under his eye, and was replaced by Joachim Hansen, who would go on and beat ShinyaAoki in the finals.
Since this card, Alvarez has gone 7-1 with his only loss coming against Aoki in his next fight at Dynamite!! 2008. Alvarez is currently the Bellator lightweight champion and is set to face Michael Chandler sometime soon.
Kawajiri is 5-2 since this fight with losses to both Aoki and Gilbert Melendez. His most recent bout was against Melendez where he was dominated in the first round and lost by TKO. Kawajiri is set to face WillamyFreire at Dream 17.
In this past Saturday’s ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) event held in Singapore, DREAM standouts Tatsuya Kawajiri and Masakau Imanari fought in Southeast Asia for the first time in both their careers. Both made quick work of their opponent, with both victories coming by first round submission, Kawajiri by Triangle Choke and Imanari by his signature leglock.
The No. 1 featherweight in mixed martial arts returned to the cage at 
Will 
A pair of featherweight bouts have been booked for the Dec. 31 “How Are You?” event (this year’s Dynamite!! equivalent) with 
Jose Aldo