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**dudeabides** · 11-21-2011, 11:05 PM

DREAM: New Year! Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoko 2011
Date: Dec 31, 2011
Location: Saitama, Japan
Venue: Saitama Super Arena
Broadcast: HDNet

Fight Card:

Quote:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii
Ryo Chonan vs. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
Champ Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka (for lightweight title)
Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Katsunori Kikuno (mixed-rules bout)
Champ Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi "Lion" Inoue (for featherweight title)
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
Rodolfo Marques Diniz vs. Bibiano Fernandes (bantamweight grand-prix semifinal)
Antonio Banuelos vs. Masakazu Imanari (bantamweight grand-prix semifinal)
Hideo Tokoro vs. Yusup Saadulaev (bantamweight grand-prix reserve match)
Karla Benitez vs. Megumi Fujii
Yuta Kubo vs. Nils Widlund (kickboxing match)
Masaaki Noiri vs. Kengo Sonoda (kickboxing match)
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Aerts (pro-wrestling match)
Atsushi Sawada and Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Kazushi Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata (pro-wrestling match)
Josh Barnett vs. Hideki Suzuki (pro-wrestling match)
Jerome Le Banner vs. Tim Sylvia (pro-wrestling match)

Quote:

A trio of bouts has been added to next month's year-end "DREAM: New Year! 2011" event.

In a featured bout, Hayato Sakurai (35-12-2 MMA, 4-4 DREAM) takes on fellow welterweight veteran Ryo Chonan (20-12 MMA, 1-0 DREAM).

Additionally, the final two rounds of this year's world bantamweight grand prix conclude with Bibiano Fernandes (9-3 MMA, 6-1 DREAM) vs. Rodolfo Marques Diniz (14-1 MMA, 1-0 DREAM) and Antonio Banuelos (19-7 MMA, 1-0 DREAM) vs. Masakazu Imanari (24-9-2 MMA, 4-2 DREAM).

The event takes place Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the event will air on HDNet. However, it hasn't been decided if it'll air live or via delay.

Sakurai and Chonan first fought eight years ago at DEEP 12, where Chonan earned a TKO win due to a cut.

Sakurai, a former Shooto champ and PRIDE veteran, once was one of the sport's top fighters. Now, though, "Mach" is winless since April 2009 and stuck in a four-fight losing skid. The losses, which followed an 8-1 run, have come to notables Marius Zaromskis, Akihiro Gono, Nick Diaz and Jason High.

He looks to get back on track against Chonan, a former UFC and PRIDE fighter who also recently saw his career sputter. However, he's taken on some over-matched competition and is 3-1 in his past four fights, including a recent knockout of Shigetoshi Iwase and a decision win over Naoki Samukawa.

Fernandes, meanwhile, won his opening-round grand-prix bout via submission over Takafumi Otsuka. He looks for his ninth win in 10 fights when he takes on Diniz, who made a successful DREAM debut with an opening-round decision victory over Yusup Saadulaev. He's now won 11 consecutive fights.

Banuelos, a recent WEC and UFC fighter, earned a split-decision victory over Hideo Tokoro in the grand prix's opening round. He now meets Imanari, who looks for his fourth win in five fights (and ninth win in 11 fights) following an opening-round submission victory over Abel Cullum.

The winners of Fernandes vs. Diniz and Banuelos vs. Imanari will meet later in the night in the grand prix's finale.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/26159/drea...prix-semis.mma

**Rauno** · 11-22-2011, 04:57 AM

So Fedors going against a 4-1-1 guy?

**Bknmax** · 11-23-2011, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rauno

So Fedors going against a 4-1-1 guy?

I would rather he fights the break dancing Brock instead of a 5th dan black belt in Judo and a BJJ Black belt.They have to sign the fight Ishii hasn't agreed to it yet.

**Rauno** · 11-23-2011, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bknmax

I would rather he fights the break dancing Brock instead of a 5th dan black belt in Judo and a BJJ Black belt.

I agree with that but Lesnar would have a name value where's his opponent does. That guy might be a tough opponent but to the regular fans it doesn't say much.

Or is Ishii a big name in Japan?

Edit: This guy is only 24 and won a gold medal in the 2008 Olympic games. He might have a bright future ahead of him.

**Bknmax** · 11-23-2011, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rauno

Or is Ishii a big name in Japan?

Edit: This guy is only 24 and won a gold medal in the 2008 Olympic games. He might have a bright future ahead of him.

Like you said he's 24 so even if he's not famous beating Fedor would be a great win for Ishii, i doubt that it will happen though. Kitaoka vs Aoki is going to be an insane match

**UFC_OWNS** · 11-23-2011, 11:33 AM

beating fedor does nothing for you anymore, dan henderson a lhw ko'd him, bigfoot destroyed him, and werdum well im willing to believe that was a mistake but he still lost.

**Bknmax** · 11-23-2011, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UFC_OWNS

beating fedor does nothing for you anymore, dan henderson a lhw ko'd him, bigfoot destroyed him, and werdum well im willing to believe that was a mistake but he still lost.

Yah beating Fedor in Japan on New Year's will do nothing for Ishii's career.