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[1]. DREAM 4′s rumored card on June 15th:
Lightweight Grand Prix Second Round bout: Shinya Aoki vs. Katsuhiko Nagata
Middleweight Grand Prix Second Round:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Dong Sik Yoon
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Zelg Gelasic vs. Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Taiei Kin
Cro Cop has been added to DREAM.5 card and will be fighting Jerome LeBanner.
Also on the card:
Caol Uno vs. winner of Aoki/Nagata
Eddie Alvarez vs. Kawajiri
[2]. Sakurai has also been added to DREAM 5 card to the chagrin of some, because he LOST his match to David Baron in the Grand Prix. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a 16 man tournament w/ single elimination.
HOWEVER, having said that, Sakurai is always exciting to watch and his rumored, and most likely opponent is Nick Diaz and will be for the DREAM Welterweight Title. Talk about a GREAT matchup. I am not complaining.
Diaz has been quoted as saying on Sherdog:
“You know, there’s a lot of other people I’d like to fight, just considering Mach Sakurai is a lot older than I am,” Diaz said. “He’s probably in his late 30s I’d imagine, so I’m going to have a lot of respect for him and everything he’s done. I tend to do better with people I have less respect for. To be honest, I’d rather be fighting Shinya Aoki (Pictures) or Kawajiri — somebody other than the guy that got knocked out by someone I already beat [Gomi].
But I think I match up very well against Mach Sakurai. I think he’s a little too short to reach me, and I think his ground game needs a lot of work and you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Like I said though, I’m not afraid to fight anybody — that’s not the issue. I’ll fight anyone you got. I’m here to prove I’m pound-for-pound the greatest fighter on Earth.”
After discussing Sakurai, Diaz reasserted his challenge to rising Japanese star Shinya Aoki.
“I know the only way to win is not care to win or lose,” he said. “That’s why I’m not afraid of anybody and why I want to fight the best. I think Shinya Aoki is the best fighter here. I want to fight this guy — I think I can beat him.
I think that I would use the same technique and skills of judo and jiu-jitsu that he does, just that I get excited and will punch when it’s time to punch. And I know he’s not much of a striker or standup fighter, but I train a lot of standup striking. [Aoki is] good on the ground, but I’m good on the ground too. I know [he's] not good at standup, and I do a lot of standup. I would like to fight and win to bring that one home for the team to prove that I’m the better jiu-jitsu student, and so I can represent Cesar Gracie (Pictures) jiu-jitsu.”
[3]. Melvin Manhoef to paraphrase Joe Rogan is an “Animal” and a “Monster”! The guy lost to Remy Bonjasky in a kickboxing bout only a few weeks ago and needed to be hospitalized. As he says:
“I didn’t tell either Dream or K-1, but I was injured in last fight against Remy Bonjasky. Because I received a lot of kicks and punches in the ribs, I had to have surgery to take out blood from behind the lung and I was hospitalized for seven days. So, I couldn’t fight as aggressively as I wanted, I needed to be patient.” “
So the Dutchman lies to Fight Entertainment Group so that he won’t be prevented from fighting, hasn’t even healed or had the stitches taken out, flies to Japan, fights and beats Dae Won Kim.
Does the guy love to fight or what?
[4]. Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller’ WANTS to not only fight Sakuraba, but wants to submit him! He told Sherdog:
“My biggest dream ever was to fight Sakuraba,” Miller said. “He was my hero growing up. I’m lucky that in my business, I’m allowed to beat my heroes up in the same way I beat my dad up now.
“Sakuraba is my hero, and the prospect of being able to fight my hero is huge. It’s my dream, and hopefully I can accomplish my dream here. I’m happy that we’re in the tournament at the same time. No matter who they put in front of me, I want to defeat them in the most exciting manner possible. I’ve never seen Sakuraba tap out.”
[5]. MMAweekly reports that Frank Mir and Nog will be coaches for TUF 8, which starts on September 17th. TUF 8 will feature the Light Heavyweight (205#s) and Lightweight (155#s) classes. At the end of the season Mir and Nog will fight.
Does Mir deserve a title shot already? Since getting TKOed by Brandon Vera at UFC 65, he has won against Antoni Hardonk and Brock Lesnar. Not sure these fights warrant a title shot, but again makes for an interesting matchup, though I think Nog beats him in every department. Mir will not submit Nog, I can’t imagine it. Nog has better standup, more experience, 10x the heart, and been in wars. Nog by death.
[6]. If you live in Illinois, support the sport and head to the Sear Centre and watch the Adrenaline event! The card:
ADRENALINE MMA
June 14, 2008
Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Main Event
Jeff Monson (23-7) vs. Mike Russow (9-1)
Main Card
Daiju Takase (7-11) vs. Terry Martin (16-4)
Zac George (11-2) vs. Clay French (14-2)
Tony Fryklund (14-9) vs. Brian Gassaway (25-17-1)
Jeff Cox (9-6) vs. Bart Palaszewski (28-11)
Tiawon Howard (6-1) vs. Rory Markham (14-4)
Anthony Lapsley (13-3) vs. Mark Miller (9-3)
Herc Hayes (7-5) vs. Kerry Schall (22-9)
Rob Kimmons (15-3) vs. Hector Urbina (11-3)
Aaron Rosa (10-2) vs. Ron Fields (23-24-1)
Louis Taylor (4-0) vs. Adam Maciejewski (6-4)
Preliminary Bouts
Dom O’Grady (5-0) vs. Mike Stumpf (9-1)
Joe Jordan (41-11) vs. Ryan Williams (6-1)
Joe Pearson (22-9) vs. John Hosman (8-3-1)
[7].Finally, EliteXC considering women’s titles, all-female show according to MMAjunkie.com.
Stumble it!