Dream 10 coverage from Saitama

Dream 10 coverage from Saitama - members only special

By Crimson Mask

Heiwa (new lead sponsor) DREAM 10, Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan 07/20/2009

The Mouth From Down Under (finally realized who he looks like---Emile King Kong Czaja) and Metzger commentating. Oh well. Less said about that the better.

Tarec Saffiedine vs. Seichi Ikemoto (WW tournament reserve fight)

Ikemoto lost to Marius in that wild fight in the first round with all the flips and flying stuff. Tarec is an undefeated Belgian fighter out of Team Quest. Never seen him.

Rightys. Ikemoto opens wild. Tarec jabs, clinches, knees. Ref break. Ikemoto throwing crazy shit. Telegraphing. Trading low and body kicks. Tarec big low kick. Ikemoto telegraphing everything. Clinch. Tarec leans, knees. Throw attempt, nada. Ikemoto's foot kinda hooked the rope. Trading knees. Ref break. Upper/hook Tarec. Low kick. 1-2. Ikemoto shoots. Stuffed. Clinch. Tarec knees the legs. Trade body knees. Ikemoto throws crazy again. Missing everything. Ikemoto low kicking. Tarec misses a high kick and slips. Ikemoto drops some shots on him. Falls into FG. Ikemoto up and drops a couple rights back into FG. HG. Tarec turns in and scrambles up. Clinch. Tarec tries a foot sweep, nada. Ref break. Right lead Tarec. Ikemoto throwing wild. Right lead Tarec. Jump knee. Clinch. Ref break. Left upper Tarec. Round kick. Low kick, right lead. Tarec is ahead at this point. Might have had Ikemoto in trouble but let him off the hook.

Both short with kicks. Ikemoto still telegraphing. Tarec jabs, right short. Trade low kicks, Tarec's harder. Right lead Tarec, couple kicks Ikemoto. Tarec low kick, high kick, right lead, slips the counters. Straight left. Low kick. Picking Ikemoto apart right now. 2-2-1. Ikemoto shoots, stuffed, Tarec passes guard to HG. Side mount. Elbows the ribs. Knee on belly. Knee to head. Mount. Ikemoto leg levers, tries a heel hook, and reverses into FG and lands a few shots before the bell. I think Tarec won. Judges agree.

Mach Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis (WW tournament semifinal fight)

Mach wrecked Aoki in the opening round and Zaromskis was pulling Ed Carpentier moves in winning his fight over Ikemoto. It was so bizarre it's hard to call this one although Mach the heavy favorite up front. However, he misses making weight by a kg, and somehow GAINS 3 kg before his second try, and finally takes 5 hours to make weight, missing the press conference. Obviously, since this is the final 2 rounds of the GP and you have to fight and win twice, and he has had so little time to rehydrate, his chances now look really bad.

His body doesn't look good. Marius got the height and reach. Lefty. Flies out of the corner. Both bombing early and Mach lands more. Marius lands one and it does damage. Clinch. Break. Mach low kicking hard. Both landing bombs here. Mach shoots, scores, HG. Near the ropes, reset. Mach grinds the forearm. Marius turns in, scrambles up. Throws wild. Eats a right. Lands. Big right Mach but he's cut. Lands low kick and Thai knee. TO to check the cuts---one over the eye, one under. This is a long TO. Fight continues. 1-2 Mach. Big LHK to the neck Marius. Feinted Mach into it. Mach is down. Marius pounces. It's over and Marius goes into the finals not badly exhausted or damaged.

Andre Galvao vs. Jason High (WW tournament semifinal fight)

High and Galvao both had really good wins in the first tourney round too. Galvao probably favored to take this. Dunno if he could have handled an in shape Mach but doesn't matter now. Zaromskis vs. either guy I have no idea period.

Galvao a bit taller. High packing more muscle, lefty. Body kick High, high kick Galvao, TD High, reversal, reversal, High's on top. This is great. HG. Stalemate. Ref letting them work. High spins, pounds, up, Galvao has his back. High warned for grabbing the ropes. Break. Galvao been training with Anderson. Big left KD from High. High caught in HG again. Galvao spins to knee bar. High spins out but Galvao spins again and has it. High trying to push out with his other foot. Galvao hanging on. Ref calls action. High escapes. TD Galvao. High misses a Guillotine. HG. Elbows the body. High gives up back. Galvao body triangle. Galvao pounding body and head, trying to open the choke. Rolling. High defending. Galvao coming close. Mount. Back. Mount. Back. Pancaked. Pounding. Looks like the sleeper is in. Nope. Mount. High is out of the choke. G&P. Arm bar try at the bell. High survives. Galvao way ahead. Great action. High kneels facing the corner between rounds.

LHK High, KD, falls into Guard. Backs out. Standup. Pace slows. High/low kick, Galvao misses a hook. High lands some, misses some. Galvao shoots, nada. Counter right Galvao, does damage. Left hook, knees the body. Galvao slips on a HK. High kicks the legs a couple. Standup. Both short. Trade power shots, High's harder. Body kick High. Catches the liver. Another. High won that round but I think too little too late. Whoever wins, they had a lot harder, more tiring fight than Marius did and that will affect the finals.

Decision... Galvao. High. It's a split. Winner... HIGH. Dunno about that. Underdog vs. Underdog Final.

Andre Dida vs. Katsunori Kikuno

Kikuno coming out of DEEP and I don't know him. 10 fight win streak. Judo and karate BG. Dida gave Eddie Alvarez a pretty good fight in the LW GP, and upset Remigijus Morkevicius and nearly upset Buakaw in K-1.

Rightys. Dida wild rights, lands one. RHK, right lead flash KD. Lets him off the hook. Kikuno in karate stance. Pace slows. Kikuno liver kick. Nobody doing anything. Dida couple uppercuts. Kikuno short. Clinch, break. Kikuno keeps grinning. Pace slows again. Ref warns both fighters. Dida missing kicks. Kikuno lands a left, shoots, TD, mount, back, pancaked, G&P. Ref stops it.

Crowd likes his promo. Calls out Aoki.

Melvin Manhoef vs. Paulo Filho

Manhoef coming off a couple not so good fights in K1, and Filho coming off losing his mind. Who the hell knows who shows up. Filho, if sane, and back on those legal in Japan vitamins would be favored to weather the early storm and tap Manhoef, but again, who knows. Filho the way he looked in WEC doesn't belong in the same ring with Manhoef. Manhoef has the power to end any fight quickly. If Filho ain't right, short night.

Filho got his body back, whatta shock, huh? Say he had to try twice to make weight though. Let's see where his mind is. Manhoef gets some extra wiping down from the ref. Both guys have to be forced back to their corners.

Filho lefty. Shoots. Nada. Clinch. Manhoef lands a knee and a couple shots. Gets wild, Clinch, Manhoef knees, lands some heavy artillery. Filho in trouble. KD, HG. Manhoef pounding. Stands out. Standup. HK Manhoef. All over Filho. Uppers and hooks. Filho in desperation power TD straight to mount. Armbar. Rolling. Manhoef taps. It's over. Can't beat that for concentrated drama and action.

Intermission. This is a GREAT card so far. From the studio, Kruck recaps the Super Hulk. Actually the fights were so short they're shown in their entirety.

Back to Japan and here's Saku entering like he's gonna fight. No, cutting a promo. Face mask. T shirt and shorts. Holds the mask away from his mouth to talk. He's whispering and yelling. Crowd going nuts. Rips off the mask and throws it to them. The announcers of course babbling over him. Gee, be nice to know what he said. Okay, the promo was, Saku gave himself permission to fight Akiyama again in November? Uhhh... guys? Akiyama is under UFC contract. What the fuck are any of you talking about?

Yoon Dong Sik vs. Jesse Taylor

Taylor was the house heel from TUF couple seasons back. Has rattled off 6 wins since getting kicked off the show. Team Quest. I don't think he's ready for Yoon who has been in with much better comp.

Both righty. Dong right lead, Jesse shoots, backdrop TD, scramble up, Jesse takes him back down, side, back. Dong grabbed the ropes. Choke, pound, choke... scramble... Jesse regains control... Jesse backs off?... it's over. Dong verbal tap. Some kind of injury. Ankle. Looks like it flopped under him on the last scramble. No. Looks like it went on the backdrop. Dong is wheelchaired out. Nobody's fault but definite buzzkill.

Shinya Aoki vs. Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro

This promises to be submission fighting at about its best. Aoki has been active against great comp although coming off the hammering by Mach, and Shaolin coming off a win after a long layoff. Advantage Aoki probably. Aoki has height and reach of course. Shaolin has never lost to a Japanese.

Aoki lefty. Kicking short. Telegraphed. Vitor jabs. Right lead. Low kick mid kick Aoki. Right lead Vitor. Mid kicks Aoki. Some blocked. Vitor short with a right. Aoki landing some kicks. Two great grapplers having a lousy kickboxing match. This is WAY jive. Clinch. Aoki misses a knee. Ref warns both to engage. More kicks from Aoki. Clinch. Aoki fingers the face and lands sort of a punch. Aoki keeps kicking the arm. This seriously sucks. Vitor catches a kick and spills Aoki for a split second. Vitor short with a 1-2. Lands a jab. Sort of a right. Hard warning from the ref. Vitor shoots. Nada. Short with a right. Again. Shoots. Aoki stuffs again and lands sort of a right. Vitor misses a Hail Mary. Low kick Aoki. Vitor throws another Hail Mary and eats a knee from clinch. Aoki winning with extremely crappy standup. This REALLY sucks.

Vitor jabs. Right lead. Misses another. Aoki jump knee and takes back standing. Nada. Back to the pattern. Finally TD Vitor. FG. Vitor pounds the ribs and knees the butt. Center reset. Aoki Rubber Guard. Just using it to stall. Drops it. Vitor drops a couple shots. RG, nada. More RG. More nada. Vitor keeps dropping shots, not much on them.

Well, Vitor came on, but... dunno. Fight sucked, did I mention that? Decision... Aoki UD. MAN did that suck. If Aoki starts blubbering I'm gonna puke. Aoki showing more animation on his promo. The crowd is actually booing him which should tell you how bad this was. Says he's fighting Hansen next and wants Kawajiri on NYE. Last two fights have killed the house.

WW tournament final: Marius Zaromskis vs. Jason High

These guys gotta save the card. Despite the first fights, High looks fresher coming in. Both lefty. Marius jump knee caught but he blocks the throw. Clinch. High hiptoss but Marius regains his feet. Jason legtrip TD into FG. Marius blocks any G&P and elevates High off. Scrambles up but High jumps Guillotine. His feet catch in the ropes and he loses it and has Marius in FG. Goes for arm bar and misses but gets position to kick out and they're up. Excellent action here. Marius short with an LHK on the way up. Jason wild with a right and loses his footing momentarily. Marius short with another LHK. High shoots and eats a jab. Marius steps in and lands a highlight reel lead leg high kick that knocks High cold to win the GP and save the card (and I have to say again: after Aoki almost killed it). Coulda been a show of the year candidate.