“Cinderella Boy” Vs. “Bone Crusher”! The Real Grappling Match Of DREAM.4?

While Mirko CroCop vs. Ralek Gracie is the only (probably) grappling match of DREAM.4, it’ll be very interesting to see what happens if the Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama fight hits the ground.

Darren Uyenoyama is the 2006 Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu champion in the super featherweight purple belt division, the 2006 Grappler’s Quest champion, and the 2007 FILA World Grappling Championships winner at 62 kg. He has a 4-1 MMA record (3 submissions) and made his MMA debut in Japan in 2002. After that he took a break from MMA competition and returned 5 years later, in 2007, and has fought four times since then.

Highlight Video
vs. Rambaa Somdet
vs. Andrew Valladerez
vs. Anthony Figueroa

For Tokoro, this is enough…

The Aces Of SENGOKU Are Preparing!

Gomi In Las Vegas

Takanori Gomi travelled to Las Vegas to watch UFC 84. When he was there he also visited Xtreme Couture where he sparred with Tyson Griffin.

Misaki Preparing For Logan’s Height

Kazuo Misaki will participate in his second fight in SENGOKU in one week where he will face 188 cm tall UFC and WEC veteran, Logan Clark. He is preparing for this fight by sparring with 195 cm Heavyweight kickboxer Jadieep Singh and practicing his new technique, stomps.

Yoshida Working Hard On His Boxing Skills

Hidehiko Yoshida is working hard on his boxing skills for his fight with Maurice Smith next week. He wants to win by KO at least once in his MMA career. Is this a smart strategy against Smith?

He also says that he is hooked on the American TV series Alias. He finished the second season yesterday and will start watching the third season tonight.

(Photos By: GBRing & T-Gomi)

Grappling Match Official! Tokoro Makes DREAM Debut

Two fights have been added to DREAM.4 on June 15th in Yokohama. The first one is a special grappling rules match between Mirko CroCop and Ralek Gracie and in the second one Hideo Tokoro finally makes his DREAM debut as he takes on Strikeforce veteran, Darren Uyenoyama, in a Featherweight match.

Update: The card is planned to have 9 fights. If KID will participate or not will be announced next week.

OLYMPIA DREAM.4 Middleweight GP 2008 2nd Round
Date: June 15th, 2008
Place: Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan

Middleweight GP 2nd Round Fights:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
Yoon Dong Sik vs. Gegard Mousasi
Ronaldo Jacare vs. Jason Miller
Kin Taiei vs. Zelg Galesic

Lightweight GP 2nd Round Fight:
Shinya Aoki vs. Katsuhiko Nagata

Grappling Match:
Mirko CroCop vs. Ralek Gracie

Featherweight Fight:
Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama

(Photo By: GBRing)

From SENGOKU To The Mundials! Roger On Gong Kakutogi Cover

Just a few weeks after his second MMA fight against Yuki Kondo at SENGOKU II, Roger Gracie will participate in the 2008 BJJ Mundials that takes place on June 5th to 7th in California. He is looking to defend his title after taking gold in his weight class and in the absolute division last year. As you can see at the top of the post, Roger is also on the cover of the latest Gong Kakutogi magazine in Japan, which you can order here.

Mirko In Grappling Match?! Trigg At SENGOKU III?

It looks like a fight at DREAM.4 will be a grappling match between Mirko CroCop and Ralek Gracie. The rules are two five minute rounds and an automatic draw if it goes the distance.

Frank Trigg says in an interview that we can expect to see him fight at SENGOKU III on June 8th in Saitama Super Arena. He doesn’t mention any possible opponent though.

DREAM.4 GP Fights Announced! Sakuraba Vs. Manhoef

The DREAM.4 Middleweight GP Quarterfinal fights have been announced. Kiyoshi Tamura is out with a broken hand suffered in his first round fight against Masakatsu Funaki. His replacement is of course Melvin Manhoef who won the GP reserve fight at DREAM.3.

Manhoef will take on Kazushi Sakuraba in the second round, Yoon Dong Sik will fight Gegard Mousasi, Jacare will face Jason Miller and Kin Taiei will get a rematch against Zelg Galesic.

OLYMPIA DREAM.4 Middleweight GP 2008 2nd Round
Date: June 15th, 2008
Place: Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan

Middleweight GP 2nd Round Fights:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
Yoon Dong Sik vs. Gegard Mousasi
Ronaldo Jacare vs. Jason Miller
Kin Taiei vs. Zelg Galesic

Lightweight GP 2nd Round Fight:
Shinya Aoki vs. Katsuhiko Nagata

Possible Participants:
Norifumi Yamamoto

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A new fight for the strange SENGOKU III card has also been announced. Kazuo Takahashi will take on Fabio Silva in a Light Heavyweight match. Takahashi changed his name from Yoshiki (who most people know him as) to his real name, Kazuo, last year.

SENGOKU III
Date: June 8th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

HW: Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Maurice Smith
MW: Kazuo Misaki vs. Logan Clark
HW: Marcio Cruz vs. Choi Mu Bae
HW: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Travis Wiuff
WW: Nick Thompson vs. Michael Costa
LHW: Kazuo Takahashi vs. Fabio Silva

Participants:
Rodrigo Damm
Duane Ludwig

SENGOKU Summer Schedule!

SENGOKU’s second event is over. There were some good fights, but they need to find some style of their own when it comes to production and such. We’ll see how it looks on June 8th in Saitama Super Arena.

SENGOKU IV will take place on August 24th in Saitama Super Arena where Takanori Gomi will return and SENGOKU V will take place on September 28th in National Yoyogi Gymnasium.

Four fights and one participant were recently announced for SENGOKU III. Yoshida’s opponent will be Maurice Smith, who is 2-0 since his comeback in 2007. Kazuo Misaki will take on UFC and WEC veteran Logan Clark who last fought on WEC 33 in March. Kazuyuki Fujita will not face Yoshihiro Nakao, instead he will fight Yamma 1 Heavyweight Tournament winner, Travis Wiuff. Marcio Cruz’s first opponent outside of the UFC will be PRIDE and HERO’S veteran, Choi Mu Bae, who recently KO’d Gary Goodridge in Korea. Duane Ludwig has also been announced as a participant.

SENGOKU III
Date: June 8th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

HW: Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Maurice Smith
MW: Kazuo Misaki vs. Logan Clark
HW: Marcio Cruz vs. Choi Mu Bae
HW: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Travis Wiuff
WW: Nick Thompson vs. Michael Costa

Participants:
Fabio Silva
Rodrigo Damm
Duane Ludwig

Preparing For SENGOKU II!

#8: Press Conference Video

Video from the press conference here.

#7: Kwang Hee Lee Vs. Ah Sol Kwon I

Watch their first fight from Spirit MC Interleague 5 in March 2007 here.

#6: “Road To Gomi” Tournament

At SENGOKU IV, a Lightweight tournament is planned to start, and the winner of that tournament will face Gomi for the SENGOKU Lightweight Title. They want Gomi to have one fight before the tournament is over, probably on SENGOKU III or IV. The dates, some participants and the venues for SENGOKU IV and V will be announced tomorrow.

#5: The Difference Between Kondo And Roger

#4: Interviews II

Jorge Santiago Pre-Fight Video Interview

#3: Making A Difference

“If you look at Costa’s MMA record on Sherdog, he is 5-2, but I think that Maicon Costa, who is 4-1, is the same person.”

It looks like the Sherdog fight finder was updated after this. Michael Costa.

#2: A Look Into The Future

SENGOKU III Preview Video

#1: Interviews

Josh Barnett Pre-Fight Video Interview
Jeff Monson Pre-Fight Video Interview
Kevin Randleman Pre-Fight Video Interview

(Photos By: Sportsnavi & GBRing)

Awakened! Affect Your Fourth And Fifth Dream

Vote for the DREAM.4 quarterfinals you want to see here and the DREAM.5 semifinals you want here.

From the graphics on the DREAM website it looks like KID will be making his DREAM debut on DREAM.4.

Not much else in DREAM news, time to look forward to SENGOKU II on Sunday. There will be a post tomorrow with pre-event pictures, information and anything else available about the event.

Update: DREAM.3 post-fight interviews at Kakutougi.

Final Preparations! Getting Ready For The Third Dream

The poll ended with 26 votes.

Aoki, Kawajiri – 6
Alvarez – 4
Hansen, Nagata, Ishida – 3
Buscape – 1
Uno – 0

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The fight order has been announced. Not surprisingly, Caol Uno vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida is the main event. The semi main event is between Joachim Hansen and Eddie Alvarez.

HEIWA DREAM.3 Lightweight GP 2008 2nd Round
Date: May 11th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Lightweight GP 2nd Round Fights:
8. Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno
7. Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis Buscape

Welterweight Championship Eliminator Fight:
5. Nick Diaz vs. Katsuya Inoue

Lightweight Fight:
4. Jung Bukyung vs. Daisuke Nakamura

Middleweight GP 1st Round Reserve Fight:
3. Melvin Manhoef vs. Kim Dae Won

Middleweight GP 1st Round Fight:
2. Jason Miller vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Featherweight Fight:
1. Takeshi Yamazaki vs. SHOJI

(Photo By: GBRing)

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This isn’t about DREAM.3 but I’ll put it here anyway. This is a highlight video of Chute Boxe member Michael Costa, who is facing Nick Thompson at SENGOKU III. If you look at Costa’s MMA record on Sherdog, he is 5-2, but I think that Maicon Costa, who is 4-1, is the same person.

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It will be a classic grappler vs. striker fight when Takeshi Yamazaki (pic) takes on SHOJI.

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It looks like Nick Diaz might still be participating on the DREAM.3 card.

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It worked for Aoki.