NYE Rumors! Who Will Sakuraba’s Opponent Be?

Kazushi Sakuraba

From Gryphon’s twitter:

Annonimous post “SAKU vs MISAKI in NYeve(Dynamite!)”.news source is”anonimous fighter said”..It is nothing but rumor,rumor,and rumor but …

this is from kamipro—-SAKU’s NY eve opponent is list uped two japanese.”A” is it looks not serious for usualfan,but for mania,very serious

Kazuo Misaki announced that he has left Grabaka two days ago so if WVR has some kind of contract with the whole gym and not Misaki himself, he could be out of the contract. Though that is just speculation for now. Misaki did say though that he will “start from zero”, is that in regards to his training or something else?

Gegard Mousasi

Possible participation on the Dynamite!! card.

Andrei Arlovski

Andrei Arlovski might participate at either Dynamite!! or SRC 12 on NYE.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is looking to fight by the end of the year and could be competing at Strikeforce: Evolution on Dec. 19 or in Japan with Sengoku or Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year’s Eve.

Kazunori Yokota

WVR PR Kokuho thinks that Yokota will be the challenger for Hirota at SRC 12.

Marlon Sandro

Sandro reveals to GracieMag that he will most likely fight on NYE:

So you already have a fight scheduled for the end of the year?
It’s almost 100% done. They told me that, if I win, I’ll be back on the 31st. It would be for the title or to line me up to challenge for the title. But my managers want it to be for the title.

I think that he deserves the title shot but don’t know if that’s the best move for the promotion.

DREAM-Side Dynamite!! Card Announcement This Week?! Confidence

DREAM EP Sasahara, DEEP Boss Saeki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Katsuyori Shibata were present at the 6th Kakuto Treasure House (a martial arts talk with different guests each volume) yesterday.

Kawajiri appealed for a fight with Shinya Aoki on NYE. Receiving this, Sasahara said that on one hand he wants to make Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri in a pure DREAM event, but on the other hand a lot of people will be watching on NYE, so that is the current situation. He thinks that they’ll be able to announce if this fight happens on NYE or not soon.

About Shibata, Sasahara definitely wants him on the NYE card, and the strong direction they’re going for is another fight below Middleweight, similar to last years fight against Sakurai.

Shibata says that he would like to have a go at a fighter with red tights. Is he looking for a fight with Kiyoshi Tamura?

Sasahara said that at the earliest he wants to make a card announcement next week (this week). He can’t say anything right now but he thinks that he can announce an unbelievable card. Saeki next to him is also confident, saying that people had better buy tickets and that he has one hundred million percent confidence. It’s that kind of a card.

Aoki To America Early 2010?! Ninja In Dynamite!!?

Sherdog reports that Shinya Aoki could make his debut in a cage in early 2010:

“He’s fought for Dream and we’re hoping he’s one of the guys that we can bring over to our stable in the first quarter,” said Coker.

Coker mentioned Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson and interim champion Gilbert Melendez as two potential opponents for the fighter known for his colorful leggings and pretzel-bending submissions.

Aoki will be present at today’s Strikeforce event.

In other DREAM-related news, Tatame reports that Murilo “Ninja” Rua might fight in DREAM in December, which would mean a fight on the Dynamite!! NYE card.

Gilbert Melendez! Fight In Japan On The Horizon?

Strikeforce Interim Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez was recently interviewed by Japanese magazine and website Kamipro for their Special December issue. A part of the interview has been posted on Sportsnavi.

When asked about a third fight with Mitsuhiro Ishida, Melendez said that the first fight was a questionable/delicate decision so he wanted to settle the dispute. However, he thinks that he was able to win very clearly the second time, so his answer to a third fight is no.

About the cooperation between DREAM and Strikeforce, Melendez thinks that it’s a wonderful thing. He says that he’s looking forward to fighting top ranked fighters in front of the Japanese fans again.

Also in the interview, Melendez talked about Shinya Aoki, who he is very motivated/eager to fight.

Psycho! Karl Amoussou To DREAM

According to Five Ounces of Pain, French Karl Amoussou has signed a four fight deal with DREAM. No debut date is set yet though.

He’s a very exciting fighter and there should be exciting fights for him in DREAM’s Middleweight division.

Awakened X Aftermath! Double Special

Two events in the books and both were entertaining.

DREAM EP Sasahara talked highly of the ring after the event, especially its functionality and ease of seeing for people in the arena.

He praised Sakuraba a lot who was sent to the hospital afterward without doing a post-fight interview. He wants Sakuraba to participate on NYE as well.

Sasahara also said that he wants to see Overeem vs. Fedor, which Alistair appealed for after his fight. He knows that it’s a hard fight to make but wants to advance talks for a possible implementation of it.

The average rating of DREAM.12 on TBS was a very low 1.7% with Alistair/Thompson topping at 2.7%. I know that the ratings for non-prime time events aren’t the most important but this reflects the state of DREAM (and MMA in Japan) right now.

The K-1 MAX Finals event got a 10.7% ratings, which I think is decent for an event without Masato. It seems like MAX has a base audience who tune in for K-1 MAX the brand.

New champion Petrosyan injured his hand in the finals and could be out for a while, so a fight between him and Masato on NYE is a little difficult.

My thoughts:

Kikuno shouldn’t have fought someone on Alvarez level so soon. It’s a shame. With guys like him you want them to go on a winning streak before big fights.

The dark cloud of the weekend was Parky’s injury against Hironaka. Amazing first round by a very young fighter in such a big step-up in competition. Shame to have such a loss on your record.

Cheon/Watanabe was awesome. Cheon has courage. His kicks and walk-in knees when Watanabe threw punches in close range by the ropes/turnbuckles were awesome. I thought he won unanimously.

As already known, Petrosyan is great. I hope he manages to face Masato on NYE. I think Masato vs. someone new like him is good for the future of MAX.

Referee Kakuda is horrible.

Drunk Sakurai! Causing Trouble At Boxing Fight

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and some other people with him caused trouble at a Boxing fight in Japan yesterday. It seems that they were drunk and threw cups containing some beverage into the ring. The promoter went after them to make them leave their seats and other staff got involved.

It seems that Ryo Chonan was also drinking and making noise with that group (don’t know if he threw anything into the ring though) since he apologized in his blog after someone who was at the arena wrote a comment in one of his earlier blog posts.

At DREAM.11, Hiroyuki Takaya’s “gang” also caused trouble in the audience, bothering other visitors. Sasahara talked about this after the event and said that it’s their (DREAM’s) responsibility.

Things like this are important. If something big happens sometime and gets covered by something big an MMA org could lose sponsors, and that would most likely lead them to their death. The image of MMA isn’t the best either.

Source: MMA Ironman

Vale Tudo Japan 09! Warren Out

Joe Warren has injured his left knee in training and will not be able to recover until Vale Tudo Japan 09. Replacing him will be another wrestler in Corey Grant, who was Warren’s teammate during their wrestling days.

Grant started training MMA in 2007 at Team Quest and has since improved his MMA record to 3-0. Warren speaks very highly of him.

Also announced for the card, Kosuke “Jukucho (private-school principal)” Eda will take on SENGOKU Gold Cup participant Masato Sannai in a regular Shooto rules fight.

And apparently Yoichiro Sato’s opponent has already been announced. He’ll take on Korean Jung Ming Kang.

Vale Tudo Japan 09
Date: October 30th, 2009
Place: JCB Hall in Tokyo, Japan

VTJ Rules, 71kg, 5×5 mins:
Takanori Gomi vs. Tony Hervey

VTJ Rules, 65kg, 5×5 mins:
Lion Takeshi vs. Alexandre Franca Nogueira

VTJ Rules, 63kg, 3×5 mins:
Rumina Sato vs. Corey Grant

Shooto Welterweight Title Fight, 3×5 mins:
Willamy “Chiquerinho” Chiquerim vs. Kenichiro Togashi

Shooto Bantamweight Fight, 3×5 mins:
Mamoru Yamaguchi vs. Jesse Taitano

VTJ Rules, 67kg, 3×5 mins:
Tenkei Fujimiya vs. Tito Jones

Shooto Middleweight Fight, 2×5 mins:
Yoichiro Sato vs. Jung Ming Kang

Shooto 62kg Fight, 2×5 mins:
Kosuke “Jukucho” Eda vs. Masato Sannai

Japanese MMA Magazines! Some Content

Students Of Muscle

A little of the content from the upcoming issues of the Japanese MMA magazines.

FEG President Tanigawa (Dynamite!!): “There’s a surprise only I can make this year again.”

Alistair after Glory fight: “I’ll train tomorrow and the day after that, and in three days I’m heading to Osaka.”

Hiroyuki Takaya (Bibiano fight): “In the final minute. Hiroyuki Takaya returned.”

Masanori Kanehara: “Tokoro, let’s both win on NYE and then dive into Tokyo bay together. (laugh)”

FEG President Tanigawa: “Will Ishii vs. Yoshida be aired by TBS? That definitely won’t happen!!”

Shinya Aoki: “I’m considering NYE. The fighter I’d like to fight more than anyone else is BJ Penn!”

Tatsuya Kawajiri irriated at the difficult voyage of getting a fight with Aoki: “Mine and Aoki’s ideologies are completely different.”

Katsunori Kikuno also wants a title match on NYE: “When the event in Osaka is finished, who the appropriate challenger is will be known.”

Both Masanori Kanehara Hiromitsu Kanehara and Sanae Kikuta want Kiyoshi Tamura. Kanehara says that a fight between himself and Kikuta is completely fine as well.

Final Preparations! Getting Ready For The White Cage

#17: Fighters Gathered

Fighters gathered - Kamipro.com

#16: The White Cage Net Not Metal

Sasahara also talked about the net of the cage. It will not be metal, it’ll be some advanced material for durability that is also used for tuna and yellow tail cultivation among other things called matrix. He says that it’s impact absorbability is excellent.

Apparently the guy in charge of some net manufacturer was a PRIDE fan by chance so they stopped all other work to work on the net of the white cage. The color of the net is beige.