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Dream 15

11K views 146 replies 21 participants last post by  kantowrestler 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)



Card:

* Champ Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (for lightweight title)
* Melvin Manhoef vs. Tatsuya Mizuno (light-heavyweight grand prix opening round)
* Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante vs. Katsunori Kikuno
* Karl Amoussou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
* Michihiro Omigawa vs. Young Sam Jung
* Gegard Mousasi vs. Jake O'Brien (light-heavyweight grand prix opening round)
* Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
The press conference was held today, here is the basic's/some general points.

1.) July 10th will be the date of Dream 15

2.) The planned participants will be Gegard Mousasi, Shinya Aoki, Kawajiri, Melvin Manhoef, and Alistar Overeem.

3.) Maybe, finally, Aoki vs. Kawajiri for the title.

4.) Two lightheavy fights will be on this card

5.) N.O.B states on his website that:
Fights for DREAM.15 will be announced at DREAM.14 on the 29th. It looks like DREAM.15 will be a card of rivals as footage of Sakuraba/Gracies, Antonio Inoki/Giant Baba, Kim Yuna/Mao Asada, etc. was shown after the press conference.
http://nightmareofbattle.com/

6.) FEG is in talks with the recently cut Caol Uno, so we might see him on this card.

Some last points:

Dream is trying to get Kimbo signed

An abroad event in 2010 for Dream

They have brought in two opponents for Alistar Overeem in July, maybe some top guys.

Omigawa might fight in Dream

Minowa is on Dream 14 - Maybe vs. Kimbo on Dream 15 if they can sign him.

Ishida vs. Jz was scrathed from Dream 14

From Sherdog:

TOKYO -- The light heavyweight grand prix that was cancelled for Dream 14 has been scheduled as a smaller four-man field at Dream 15 on July 10, FEG president Sadaharu Tanikawa and Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara announced Thursday at a news conference.

The winners of the two tournament bouts at Dream 15 will face each other in September to determine Dream’s light heavyweight champion. Tanikawa and Sasahara also expressed hope for the Dream champion to face the Strikeforce champion in February 2011.

One of the participants in the four-man tournament will likely be former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, whom Sasahara and Tanikawa called upon during the presser for a brief telephone interview. Apart from stating his plans to begin training in earnest starting next week, Mousasi expressed no preference for a particular opponent in the tournament. However, he made clear his desire to rematch current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal on New Year’s Eve at K-1 Dynamite.

Earlier rumored to take place in Japan’s Kansai region, Dream 15 will in fact take place at the promotion’s usual Kanto region venue, the Saitama Super Arena, and will return to using the ring after Dream 14’s use of the “White Cage.”

Sasahara and Tanikawa announced fighters such as Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, Deep lightweight champion Katsunori Kikuno and Melvin Manhoef as expected participants.

Both officials also mentioned hopes to bring more Strikeforce alumni over to Japan to participate in the event. They did not discuss specific matchups, though they teased Overeem’s potential opponent as being a choice between two heavyweight candidates: one being an experienced heavyweight well-acquainted with fighting in Japan and the other being an established heavyweight talent that has not yet fought in Japan.

Given the event’s official tagline -- “A Fated Rivalry Bout, Realized” -- a potential Aoki-Kawajiri showdown for the lightweight title is expected. Despite Dream lightweight champion Aoki’s recent loss to Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez in April, a title shot for Kawajiri has been in the cards since his victory over Gesias Cavalcante in May 2009 at Dream 9.

Dream officials also announced that the upcoming May 29 Dream 14 event will be the promotion’s only cage event in 2010. The eighth and final bout on the card will pit Ikuhisa Minowa against an opponent to be determined. Questions and suggestions gathered from Internet-based fans pointed to Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, who was recently released from his Zuffa contract. FEG president Tanikawa replied that though the fight may be impossible to make in time for Dream 14, Kimbo would be the most ideal opponent for Dream’s “Super Hulk” champion.
- 4 man tourney
 
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#46 ·
I saw a pic a while back of him at LHW and he is considerably smaller. Problem with that is he is smaller, Ubereem is massive and the biggest issue is that Ricco's usually great BJJ game may be very ineffective since he has that big man style of BJJ that won't be nearly as effective against somebody with such an obvious size and strength advantage.
 
#47 ·
Bummer!

Alistair Overeem (33-11 MMA, 3-0 DREAM) will not fight Ricco Rodriguez (42-11 MMA, 0-0 DREAM) at DREAM.15 – and he may not fight in the promotion ever again, according to his representative.

Martin De Jong, who trains and co-manages the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, said his camp will talk to DREAM representatives at the end of this week to determine Overeem's future in the Japanese promotion.

"Right now, I can just say he's not going to fight Ricco, and he's not sure if he's going to fight in DREAM," De Jong today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

MMAjunkie.com first reported Tuesday that verbal agreements were in place for the July 10 bout, which takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. In fact, DREAM officials had distributed bout agreements and planned to announce the fight this week.

Rodriguez's agent, Ken Pavia, today said that he holds a signed contract for the bout. De Jong, though, said there's no such paperwork on his side.

"I didn't get any contract, and Alistair didn't agree, so it's not going to happen," he said.

The trainer said Overeem has no problem fighting Rodriguez and that the decision to skip the July 10 date stems from other issues with the promotion. However, he declined to divulge details.

It's unclear how Overeem can sidestep his contract if he chooses not to fight for the Japanese promotion. The heavyweight signed a multi-year, multi-fight agreement with DREAM in 2009 that drew the ire of stateside fans who said he neglected his duty to defend his Strikeforce belt.

Most recently, Overeem pulverized Brett Rogers in May at "Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery" to defend his title for the first time in since winning it nearly three years ago.

Following Fabricio Werdum's upset of Fedor Emelianenko at this past Saturday's "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum" event, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said Overeem could meet either Emelianenko or Werdum in his next stateside fight.

Pavia said DREAM has assured him that Rodriguez still will fight on the July 10 card, though an opponent has not yet been solidified.
Link
 
#54 ·
Melvin is fighting in the LHW GP and Ricco would submit Manhoef with ease anyway, Ricco trains at Wolfslair so one of his primary training partners would be Chieck Kongo so its not like he doesn't regularly spare with a solid kick boxer (admittedly not one of Manhoef or Overeems level).
 
#57 ·
Alistair is mad he isn't getting a can, Ricco is extremely hard to finish (50 + fights finished twice, last person to finish him Tim Sylvia for the UFC title) and a former BJJ world champion. Overeem is scared because he knows he has everything to lose against a very dangerous fighter who is highly overrated. Its a great lead in if Overeem thinks he can win to a Werdum fight as at least Overeem could say he just beat another guy with high level grappling credentials. None the less I think Overeem is scared of Ricco.
 
#55 ·
Why Overeem's not fightin' Ricco:

As it turns out, Alistair Overeem will not fight Ricco Rodriguez at DREAM.15.

The Strikeforce heavyweight champion issued a statement today and stated he lost a desire to fight at the event when a title opportunity was taken off the table.

"I feel sorry for Rodriguez's camp if they still think the fight is on, and I apologize to my fans who have bought a ticket to see me compete," Overeem stated.

DREAM.15 takes place July 10 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and airs live in the U.S. on HDNet. A lightweight title match between current champion Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri is expected to headline.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported the bout this past Tuesday while citing sources close to the event who said official announcement of the match-up was forthcoming. One day later, Overeem trainer Martin de Jong said the fight was not likely to happen, though his camp had a meeting Saturday to determine whether the heavyweight would fight at the event.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez's manager, Ken Pavia, said he held a signed contract for the bout.

DREAM representatives said this past week that they expected the bout to go forward, though they did not make an official announcement.

Mike Kogan, DREAM's stateside representative, did not respond to requests for comment today.

Overeem, who in May defended his Strikeforce belt with a TKO of Brett Rogers at "Strikeforce St. Louis: Heavy Artillery," stated that he never agreed to the bout.

"After my Rogers fight, I decided to take time off and do media appearances – (the) MMA expo in Canada, E3 expo (and) Strikeforce events – and enjoy some time off with my family," Overeem stated. "I knew DREAM wanted me on the show, but I didn’t want to go back [into] training preparation. Then, they offered me a fight against Andrei Arlovski for the DREAM heavyweight title.

"As I have said on (numerous) occasions, fighting for a belt means something more, and I wanted that DREAM title so much that as a result, I agreed to lay off my media and holiday plans and went back into training."

That's when things went awry for the Dutch fighter.

"During my training I found out that Arlovski was not going to be my opponent, and [DREAM] changed opponents numerous times," Overeem stated. "I've heard names like Tim Sylvia and (Ikuhisa) Minowa come about. At one point, I received notice that they had found a opponent, but the DREAM heavyweight title was not on the line anymore.

"With all the changes and the title fight no longer a possibility, I immediately turned down the opportunity."

Overeem's victory over Rogers was his eighth professional fight (including MMA and kickboxing matches) in eight months. His sole loss came at the hands of Badr Hari, who knocked him out at the 2009 K-1 World Grand Prix Final this past December.

The champion did not say when he will fight again in DREAM.

According to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, Overeem could face Fabricio Werdum or Fedor Emelianenko in his next stateside title defense. He said Werdum's recent upset of Emelianenko at June's "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum" event did not necessarily guarantee the Brazilian a shot at Overeem.

Pavia was not immediately available for comment regarding Rodriguez's status on the July 10 event.
Link
 
#64 ·
Except he is under contract to both Dream and Strikeforce.

Looks like he just wants a bigger fight than Ricco.
Why? Ricco is a far bigger fight than anyone else he has fought in Dream with the exception of Cro Cop.
 
#66 · (Edited by Moderator)
Shiroobi: Kazuhiro Nakamura, Michihiro Omigawa, Mitsuhiro Ishida and Taiki "DJ Taiki" Hata will goin todays DREAM press conference.

Shiroobi: Kazuhiro Nakamura, Michihiro Omigawa, Mitsuhiro Ishida and Taiki "DJ Taiki" Hata will goin todays DREAM press conference.

 
#69 ·
I don't really keep up to much with the Japanese promotions, but I do like watching the dream and Sengoku events on HDNET. I was looking at my DVR guide today and it showed the Dream 15 event on the 10th. In the description it says:

Shinya Aoki defends his title against Tatsuya Kawajiri; Alistair Overeem fights Gegard Mousasi.
I thought what, really? I think it would be an interesting fight, but I just couldn't believe Mousasi was fighting Overeem. Apparently I was right. I figured I would have heard about this fight sooner.
 
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