DREAM Japan GP ~2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament~ (5/29, 6/3 on HDNet)

[SHOGUN]

Bantamweight Japan Tournament Semifinals
11. Imanari/Fujiwara vs. Osawa/Otsuka
10. Uenoyama/Yamamoto vs. Maeda/Tokoro

Single Fights
9. LW: Shinya Aoki vs. Rich Clementi
8. LW: Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
7. FW: Caol Uno vs. Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura
6. FW: Lion Takeshi vs. Koichiro Matsumoto
5. FW: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Joachim Hansen

Bantamweight Japan Tournament Quarterfinals
4. Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
3. Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara
2. Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro
1. Darren Uenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto​

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OVJpbdvYA8[/ame]

 

[SHOGUN]

​

Fight For Japan! Everything From Today Part 1 | Nightmare Of Battle

DREAM Japan Bantamweight Tournament will take place on May 29th in Saitama Super Arena (hall version, so capacity around 7000).

Bantamweight Tournament (61kg/134.5lbs) participants: Hideo Tokoro, Masakazu Imanari, Kenji Osawa, Darren Uyenoyama, Keisuke Fujiwara, Atsushi Yamamoto, Takafumi Otsuka, and Yoshiro Maeda.

Possible participants in single fights at the event are Mitsuhiro Ishida, Joachim Hansen, Shinya Aoki, Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura, Katsunori Kikuno, and Caol Uno.

The production of the event will be kept to a minimum but it should still be enjoyable.

The 1st round and semifinals of the tournament will take place on the May event and the final and 3rd place fight will take place in July. The winner and loser of the final and the winner of the 3rd place fight will advance to the DREAM World Bantamweight Tournament.

DREAM Event Producer Sasahara says that they’ll continue fighter exchange with Strikeforce and Scott Coker.

The new system of K-1 press conference will take place at the end of golden week (golden week is May 3rd to 5th) in Shinjuku. Around June 25th they will hold a Japan Tournament in Tokyo. It won’t be a 70kg tournament since Krush are holding their 70kg tournament around that time.

Fight For Japan! Everything From Today Part 2 | Nightmare Of Battle

So today’s press conference was mainly about several Japanese promotions starting a “Fight For Japan” project. For example, they have produced a “Fight For Japan” t-shirt that will be sold at the events of the promotions and the money from the sales will be donated toward something concerning the earthquake.

K-1, DREAM, DEEP, ZST, Pancrase, Jewels, Shooto promotor Sustain, New Japan Kickboxing Federation, RISE, J-Network, Krush, etc. are events that have approved of this project. Shoot Boxing are not part of this which might be worth noting.

Some more DREAM/K-1 information to add to the part 1 post:

The combinations for the tournament was hinted to be a drawing next week. Don’t know if it’s going to be like in K-1 where fighters choose themselves or if some official just does it all by himself.

The title of the May 29th event is “DREAM Japan GP ~2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament~”.

Besides the six tournament fights around four single fights are planned for the May event.

The K-1 event around June 25th will be a MAX event but as reported earlier it will not be a 70kg tournament (most likely a minus 63 Japan Tournament).

There will be World Tournaments for both the 63kg and 70kg weight classes this year. It will be a first for minus 63.

After the June event they are planning to hold events in Europe and China.

TV status for K-1 is not yet fixed. Tanikawa said that he wants to go for it after the new system of K-1 is set. Holding an event is more important right now. He’ll hold one regardless if they have a TV deal or not.

 

[Liquidrob]

Can't back dream to much until they start paying fighters, can't support that

 

[SHOGUN]

Tournament Bracket Set! Maeda And Tokoro Exchange Words | Nightmare Of Battle

The DREAM Japan GP 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament drawing took place today in Japan and was streamed live on YouTube.

This is how it went:

Maskazu Imanari chooses E.
Yoshiro Maeda chooses C.
Hideo Tokoro chooses D. Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro set.
Darren Uyenoyama chooses A.
Atsushi Yamamoto chooses B. Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto set.
Kenji Osawa chooses G.
Takafumi Otsuka chooses H. Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka set.
Keisuke Fujiwara automatically gets F. Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara set.

I’ll update with a video once available.

After the drawing the fighters were asked to make a comment.

Uyenoyama said that because it’s his dream to fight KID he’ll defeat Yamamoto.

Yamamoto chose Uyenoyama because he wants to have his first round match as early as possible (since there will be two fights in one night).

Maeda said that he has defeated (Otsuka, Yamamoto) and lost (Imanari, Osawa) to fighters in this field. He’s coming as a different being for this tournament though and is confident that he is the strongest of the bunch. Then he said that Tokoro was an eyesore when he (Tokoro) fought in HERO’S and thanks Tokoro for selecting him.

Tokoro: “Maeda was an eyesore when he fought in Pancrase.”

Imanari said that he’s loathed by everyone and it’s lonely (since no one picked him willingly despite him picking the first spot on the bracket).

Fujiwara said that it might have been for the best that he got the ball with the eight since even when buying shampoo he’s so indecisive that he takes 30 minutes to pick one. He wants to destroy Imanari since he’s his ZST senior.

Osawa called Otsuka a big mouth.

Otsuka said that whoever his opponent it would’ve been fine, even Imanari. However, since it’s a fight (against Imanari) possible of happening in DEEP he chose Osawa since he didn’t want to sadden DEEP boss Saeki.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place at the May 29th event. The final and 3rd place fight will take place in July and the finalists and 3rd place fight winner will be the three Japanese representatives for a Bantamweight World Tournament taking place sometime after the July event. Possible participants for the World Tournament are Bibiano Fernandes and Joe Warren.

The superfights for the May event are planned to be announced early next week.

 

[SHOGUN]

Featherweight Survival! Two Single Fights Announced | Nightmare Of Battle

Two Featherweight single fights were announced for the May 29th DREAM Japan GP -2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament- event today.

Mitsuhiro Ishida will take on Joachim Hansen and Caol Uno will take on Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura. The DREAM Featherweight division is now at 65kg and since Hiroyuki Takaya has chosen Featherweight over Bantamweight (61kg) he will automatically be champion in the 65kg division. DREAM EP Sasahara said that a title fight might happen sometime this summer and that Kazuyuki Miyata is definitely the top contender right now.

Wicky is training with Urijah Faber and his team in America between April 15th and May 9th.

I expect Hansen to be wrestlefucked and Uno () to take a beating.

 

[SHOGUN]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/4/2...isuke-nakamura-has-been-added-to-dreams-fight

Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura has been added to DREAM's "Fight for Japan" card on May 29.

I'm so torn on this fight. I LOVE Boots and Briefs, but I don't want to see either of them lose.

 

[SHOGUN]

Aoki is going to fight somebody on this card. At first it was supposed to be former Shooto LW champion, Willamy Friere but now there are talks of it being Antonio McKee or Jamie Varner.

http://mmaweekly.com/shinya-aoki-will-fight-at-dream-17-mckee-and-varner-possible-opponents

Sources close to the situation told MMAWeekly.com that the fight between Aoki and McKee had been verbally agreed to, at least from McKee’s side, and that a bout agreement had been issued. McKee, though, must first renew his passport and get a visa to gain entry into Japan, the same sort of issues that reportedly kept Freire out of the fight.

But now multiple sources say that Varner is also in the running with a bout agreement on the table.

There are hiccups for either fighter getting the shot at Aoki, and the final details have obviously not been ironed out. McKee has to make sure his travel documents can be cleared up in time, and Varner had been scheduled to fight in Chicago at next week’s XFO event. Neither is an insurmountable hurdle.

The decision will likely come down to which route Dream wants to take. “Fight for Japan” is a relief effort following the recent tsunami and earthquake disasters in Japan. Couple that with the fact that the mixed martial arts industry as a whole has been struggling in Japan, and Dream is likely going to factor not only who can reliably make it to the fight, but also the costs involved.

 

[SHOGUN]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OVJpbdvYA8[/ame]

 

[SHOGUN]

Aoki's opponent is officially Antonio McKee.

 

[SHOGUN]

Bantamweight Japan Tournament Semifinals
11. Imanari/Fujiwara vs. Osawa/Otsuka
10. Uenoyama/Yamamoto vs. Maeda/Tokoro

Single Fights
9. LW: Shinya Aoki vs. Antonio McKee
8. LW: Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
7. FW: Caol Uno vs. Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura
6. FW: Lion Takeshi vs. Koichiro Matsumoto
5. FW: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Joachim Hansen

Bantamweight Japan Tournament Quarterfinals
4. Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
3. Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara
2. Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro
1. Darren Uenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Sleepr card of the year. I can see good action throughout.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Yeah the back end of this card looks really solid. Will have to catch a repeat.

 

[SHOGUN]

McKee is out with injury.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnEIuCtTuzg[/ame]

 

[EmpireWF]

Aoki's new opponent is Shane Nelson.

 

[SHOGUN]

Aoki's new opponent is Shane Nelson.

Aoki by whatever he wants.

 

[EmpireWF]

Aoki said no to Nelson and will instead fight Rich Clementi.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

What a terrible, terrible fight.

 

[Liquidrob]

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Wheres Rich Clementi on the poster? :rofl:

 

[SHOGUN]

Poll added.

Maeda/Tokoro and Imanari/Fujiwara were the only hard picks for me.