We’ll start with the Dynamite!! show and then move onto UFC 125.

Dynamite!! 2010

Alan
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Bibiano Fernandes (although Tetsuya Yamato vs. Akiyo Nishiura was very good)
Worst Fight: Jason High vs. Hasato Sakurai

If a show lasts 7 hours, and the time flies and I never lose interest then it’s an automatic thumbs up!!! Just an awesome awesome presentation. No blowaway fight which is disappointing when there are 15 fights on the show, but still, a good 12 of them were very enjoyable. Highlights for me included Takaya winning a good main event, Overeem looking like the biggest beast ever, the Aoki fight with the Cosplay dude(tte), Miyata’s German Suplexes, the damn heelish boxer and of course Trigg In A Wig.

GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Kyotaro vs. Gegard Mousasi
Worst Fight: Hiroshi Izumi vs. Minowaman

I didn’t watch it live. I waited until about 12 hours later to start watching it, but did watch it start to finish. I was entertained at some of the hijinks including Kazuhisa Watanabe getting caught in 20 arm bars and getting out of 19, Andy Ologun not being able to finish the baseball player, Shinya Aoki throwing pro wrestling style drop kicks so as to not have to kickbox, and Akiyo Nishiura’s hands-down stand-up stance. It was a fun show. The only negative I can say is that the fights that were supposed to be great, were merely good.

UFC 125

Alan
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar
Worst Fight: None

A very good undercard topped by an absolute classic main event. I thought Kim/Diaz was a great technical grappling battle with some fun desperation striking at the end. Guida/Gomi was fun, although I can see why people might hate the 1st round. Tiago/Vera was great just for the sheer spectacle of Vera getting humbled like that. Stann/Leben as many have said was a true star-making performance and sold me on Stann (I absolutely wasn’t sold before).

I agreed with the draw for the main event, and was so happy that was the outcome. It was the only fair thing. That said I’m totally bummed for Anthony Pettis.

Cactus Jim
Thumbs Slightly Up
Best Fight: Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar
Worst Fight: Takanori Gomi vs. Clay Guida

The main event and the Diaz/Kim fight made this card for me. For the record, I had the main event as a draw. Round 1 and 3 to Maynard and 2/4/5 to Edgar. I’ll take Edgar in the rematch. The Diaz/Kim fight was a pretty good grappling match in large part to Diaz’s active style. Stun Gun called out GSP in what would likely amount to a battle of two guys trying to hold each other down. He’s not ready for that fight and I’m not ready to have to bear it. Hopefully this is the last we’ll ever see of Baroni and the last of Vera until he at least gets a few wins in another organization. Aside from the main event draw the big news here for me was a boring Clay Guida fight. Who would have thought? Here’s to some great MMA in 2011.

GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar
Worst Fight: Brandon Vera vs. Thiago Silva

If there are five better fights than Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar in 2011, it’s going to be a great year. The card started off slowly for me as I didn’t really get hyped up until Brian Stann vs. Chris Leben. But that fight, and the awesome main event, more than made up for it. Tremendous, tremendous stuff at the end.

The opening of the show featured singers congregating in gospel-like fashion singing, “Oh Happy Day”. On the big screen was clips from other Dream shows and also clips of Dream fighters fighting at Strikeforce. And then the fighters were allowed a couple seconds of screen time to show off their dance moves. Satoshi Ishii did a move where he grabbed his crotch and swiveled his hips like he was a modern day Ravishing Rick Rude.

The announcers are Frank Trigg and Michael Schiavello, aka The Voice.

Looks like the Bob Sapp fight is off. The excuse is that he lost his will to fight. Ha! Sounds like it’s a last minute contract renegotiation.

1. Andy Ologun vs. Katsuaki Furuki

Furuki is a former baseball player. This fight is three, five minute rounds.

The fight started in the clinch with Furuki throwing short, inside punches, but taking nasty knees to his midsection from Ologun. Olugun knocked him woozy with a stiff straight right and Furuki didn’t know where he was. He was throwing back, but they were loopy punches that had no chance. Ologun fell backwards with a guillotine while Furuki’s nose was bleeding all over the mat. Furuki got out of the submission and then quickly got into the mount. Furuki is tough, though out of his league here so far.

Furuki got a takedown from the clinch, but Ologun reversed position. Furuki worked on a kimura for a couple of minutes and Ologun fought it the entire way. With just over 30 seconds left, Ologun reversed him, but Furuki locked in a triangle just as the bell rang. Furuki might be winning this fight now.

Furuki was impressive in staying on top of Ologun, but caught a nasty right hand near the end of the round.

Winner: Andy Ologun by decision

Furuki is going to need some stitches over his left eye. You can see the insides of his eye brow.

2. Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Caol Uno

Miyata came out to a blending of Tupac Shakur with the instrumental to Eye Of The Tiger. That’s a win.

Uno won the first five minutes with some great in and out striking. He was landing punches and inside leg kicks. He’s wearing some sort of knee sleeve/pad and some wicked gold shoes.

Miyata got a sweet German suplex, which according to the announcers, he called at the press conference. He landed another one and got underneath Uno even more. Uno has a long cut down the bridge of his nose. Miyata is landing inside leg kicks and is now out-boxing him too.

Miyata got another suplex and Schiavello yelled, “Suuuupleeeex!” Then Trigg shit on the move and said it doesn’t do that much damage. Miyata spent much of the round just trying to shoot in and land inside leg kicks. Uno was working hard, but the one time he tried to get his back, Miyata was in the ropes and they had to be separated.

Winner: Kazuyuki Miyata by decision

3. Kazuhisa Watanabe vs. Hideo Tokoro

Watanabe came out to Lady Gaga.

The first round was insane. Tokoro was trying to set up an armbar. Tokoro couldn’t straighten out his arm, but did choke him between his legs. They scrambled a few times and Watanabe tried to pick him up and slam him, but Tokoro ended up on his feet. He got his back and had version of a rear naked choke, but Watanabe let the audience know that he didn’t have him. Near the end of the round, Watanabe landed a punch and Tokoro went to his back.

Watanabe powered out of another armbar attempt by fighting it and trying to use his legs to interrupt Tokoro trying to straighten his arm. Every time Watanabe gets to his feet, it looks like he’s going to Flair flop because either he’s tired, or he’s using some showmanship. He tried a jumping axe kick on Tokoro, but got kicked himself and ended up on his back again.

Tokoro got him down again and quickly got the mount. Predictably, he went for the armbar again, and Watanabe picked him up and threw him into the ropes. Tokoro finally got the armbar, straightened it, and pulled back and got the submission. And this was after Frank Trigg was saying how stupid it was to continually work the armbar.

Winner: Hideo Tokoro

4. Hiroshi Izumi vs. Minowaman

Izumi worked from the top position most of the round and ended it with punches in the corner. Minowaman didn’t really do much.

Frank Trigg thinks Minowaman needs to either change his technique or retire. For the second round in a row, Izumi just manhandles him.

Izumi took control again immediately. Minowaman was on all fours getting pounded. He was getting beat up from half-guard and the referee stopped it.

Winner: Hiroshi Izumi by way of 3rd round TKO

5. Sergey Kharitonov vs. Tatsuya Mizuno

Khairtonov threw a nasty knee and knocked Mizuno out. That knee followed a big, straight right hand and an uppercut. Mizuno’s head hit the mat and he was out.

Winner: Sergey Kharitonov by way of 1st round TKO

6. Kyotaro vs. Gegard Mousasi

This is a kickboxing match and there are three, three minute rounds. Three knockdowns in one round equals a TKO.

Mousasi used his reach advantage. It was hard for Kyotaro to reach him with kicks and was having issues keeping his balance after missing them. Mousasi looks to have the power advantage and is able to get a lot of power behind his shots.

That round was all for Mousasi. He landed a huge left hook that landed flush and then a right cross that put him down. Kyotaro was on wobbly legs for the rest of the round, and I don’t think got his legs back, but he did finish the round on his feet.

Both guys were tired. Mousasi let Kyotaro unload, but he didn’t land as Mousasi just put his hands up and protected himself. Every time they got close, Mousasi would just throw him down. It was a close round, but it’s Mousasi’s fight.

Winner: Gegard Mousasi

7. Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Shinya Aoki

Nagashima came out in a blond wig and skirt.

First round is a kickboxing match and the second round is MMA rules. For the kickboxing round, they are wearing MMA gloves, rather than boxing gloves.

Nagashima throws a heavy right hand. Aoki grabs and clinches, which is supposed to be illegal. He’s also throwing crazy kicks which put him on his back as if it’s a slip which wastes time. He was given one warning. I’m not sure what that means. Aoki is now throwing two-legged drop kicks. He’s now running around the ring and grabbing the ropes. Aoki was like a wrestling manager running away from his beating, but instead, he never got caught.

Wow. With Aoki’s rules, Nagashima knocked him out. Aoki shot in and Nagashima hit him with a knee right underneath his ear. He followed up with some hammer fists, but Aoki was already out.

Winner: Yuichiro Nagashima by way of 2nd round TKO

8. Todd Duffee vs. Alistair Overeem

Overeem is the scariest guy going today. I want to see him against Shane Carwin, Brock Lesnar, or Cain Velasquez immediately. Forget about Fedor.

He nailed Duffee with a knee that slowed Duffee for a second, landed a short hand which stopped Duffee cold, and then a short left put him out. It was that quick.

Winner: Alistair Overeem by way of 1st round TKO

9. Jerome Le Banner vs. Satoshi Ishii

Ishii looked to be well on his way to a nice victory early on as he got a takedown and was working Le Banner from the top position. But Le Banner worked from his back, got a mount of his his own, but was bucked off. Ishii and Le Banner traded shots to end the round.

It was another round that started off for Ishii and turned tides near the end. Ishii got a couple of takedowns and landed some nice punches from the top position. He was going for a heel hook, but got turned around and Le Banner ended up on top hurting him with punches. Ishii is tired, but he’s not nearly as tired as Le Banner.

That round was all Ishii. He worked the kimura and nearly got it. He used nice ground and pound to tire out Le Banner and then tried for the rear naked choke before the round was over.

Winner: Satoshi Ishii by way of decision

10. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Marius Zaromskis

Thankfully for Sakuraba, this was short. He was a statue out there and Zaromskis could’ve rushed him and put him away, but kept his distance and fired shots at him. He bloodied his ear early on and then it was stopped as it seemed like his ear was sliced and pulled, though not completely torn like Cactus Jack’s. It was then stopped.

Winner: Marius Zaromskis by way of 1st round TKO

11. Tetsuya Yamato vs. Akiyo Nishiura

Nishiura has pink hair. He also fights with his hands completely down and on the balls of his feet and throws his power shots off his front foot. Yamato is exactly the opposite. He has a very solid stance and is using his kicks to set things up. The round was fairly close. Nishiura is trying to set up his right hand.

Pretty good round for Nishiura. He was landing a check right hook at will. He landed a shot that knocked Yamato down at the end of the round, but he basically fell on top of him so I don’t think it was declared a knockdown.

This was a great round. Nishiura wanted to get into a brawl and started to land some heavy punches. But Yamato ended the round unloading on him. He landed several hard shots to end the round.

Winner: Majority draw

Two judges had it a draw while one judge had it for Yamato.

12. Jason High vs. Hasato Sakurai

Bad first round. Sakurai was on top for most of the round and High was given a yellow card for doing nothing on his back with Sakurai inside his half guard.

Sakurai was on top again, but High reversed positions and spent most of the round pounding out Sakurai from the top inside his half guard. That was very easily High’s round.

The round was a dud and Sakurai was given a yellow card. Near the end of the round, Sakurai clipped High with a left and then a knee and High had to grab his legs and take him down.

Winner: Jason High by way of split decision

13. Josh Thomson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

This is Strikeforce vs. Dream.

Kawajiri had Thomson against the ropes, locked his arms around him and just took him down. He quickly got the mount and then criss crossed his legs, locking them around Thomson’s. Thomson couldn’t buck him off and took some punches. He also landed some shots of his own from the bottom, drawing blood from Kawajiri.

Kawajiri immediately got him down and mounted him again. He sunk in an arm triangle that looked to be tight, but knew he didn’t have it and didn’t waste time trying to keep it locked. Thomson showed life at the end of the round.

The third round went very similarly. Thomson couldn’t stop Kawajiri’s trip takedowns. He finally escaped with about 90 seconds to go and landed some great shots that had Kawajiri reeling. But Kawajiri went back to old faithful, got the trip takedown, and secured the fight.

Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by way of unanimous decision

14. Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Bibiano Fernandes

This is a three round fight, but the first round is ten minutes long since it’s for Fernandes’ featherweight title.

Pretty slow first round. Takaya was the most consistent, landing a few decent shots. Fernandes looked a little apprehensive, worried about the power. The referee cautioned both guys to pick up the pace.

The second round was pretty close as Fernandes had a much better round, but I’m not sure that he won it.

This was a really good round for Takaya. Fernandes got the takedown early, but they were up against the ropes and Fernandes pulled guard. It was a bad decision. Takaya was unloading with big shots on top. Fernandes was doing a good job on the bottom with defending himself and creating his own offense, but his real goal was to grab a triangle and he could never get it. He had his best chance near the end of the round, but it was too little, too late.

Winner: Hiroyuki Takaya by way of unanimous decision

Ryan (ryanjfrederick on Twitter) and I talked about the injury to Cain Velasquez and how it relates to Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell’s retirement, Urijah Faber’s UFC debut, recent UFC cuts, and Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler re-signing with Strikeforce.

Then we previewed both the Dynamite show and UFC 125 before giving our picks for year end awards.

Check it out!

Right click to download or stream below.

Sakuraba has of course had a storied rivalry with the Gracies. He became the first man to beat a member of the family in MMA when he defeated Royler back in 1999. He went on to beat several of the other top Gracie fighters – including Royce in a legendary 90 minute battle – and earned the moniker the Gracie hunter. He remained undefeated against Gracie opposition until 2007 when he lost a rematch to Royce at Dynamite USA (the same show Brock Lesnar made his MMA debut).

We haven’t seen enough of Ralek at this stage to really know what he brings to the table. He has only had two fights; winning both by quick submission against Katsuyori Shibata and Alavutdin Gadzhiyev.

Sakuraba is coming off a surprising victory over Zelg Galesic at DREAM 12. I have said it before, but if Sakuraba is going to continue fighting, I would much rather he’s put in matches where he wont take a huge amount of punishment. I assume this will be predominantly a grappling contest, so I’m completely fine with it. Usually when Saku is matched against inexperienced opponents, he can just rely on his savvy and ring craft to catch them out (Andrews Nakahara, Katsuyori Shibata). It’s an intriguing match up, and it will add another chapter to one of MMA’s most famous rivalries.

Also scheduled for the show is Nick Diaz vs. “Mach” Sakurai and Joachim Hansen vs. Hiroyuki Takaya. Although this is DREAM and the card is subject to (and more than likely will) change.

This year the card will also include fighters from Japan’s other leading MMA promotion Sengoku, as they compete in a number of DREAM VS. Sengoku themed matches.

As in previous years, the event will feature a mix of both Kick Boxing and MMA bouts.

It’s scheduled to be broadcast on HDNet.

Here’s the card:

Full Card
K1 MAX
Masato VS. Andy Souwer

SENGOKU
Hidehiko Yoshida VS. Satoshi Ishii

DREAM VS. SENGOKU Fights
Kid Yamamoto VS. Masanori Kanehara

Hayato Sakurai VS. Akihiro Gono

Katsuyori Shibata VS. Hiroshi Izumi

Hideo Tokoro VS. Marlon Sandro

Hiroyuki Takaya VS. Michihiro Omigawa

Alistair Overeem VS. Kazuyuki Fujita

K1
Yosuke Nishijima VS. Ray Sefo

DREAM SUPER HULK FINAL
Ikuhisa Minowa VS. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
K1 KOSHIEN TOURNAMENT
Hiroya VS. Masaaki Noiri

Shota Shimada VS. Katsuki Ishida
Reserve Bout
Tsukasa Fuji VS. Tatuya Kusakabe

There are still a few more fights to be added closer to the date. They have been building towards a Lightweight title fight between Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri, so I still expect that to get made. I would also be surprised if Welterweight champion Marius Žaromskis doesn’t have a fight on the bill.

This is the MMA show I most look forward to each year, and it looks like another fantastic line up.

Fight of the night
Eddie Alvarez vs. Katsunori Kikuno gets fight of the night honors. This was a champion vs. champion bout as Alverez is the Bellator Lightweight Champion, while Kikuno holds the DEEP Lightweight belt. Alverez survived some heavy pressure early on, and then secured an Arm Triangle in round 2 for the tap. For anyone who may not have seen Kikuno before, this guy is definitely one to watch. I rate Alvarez amongst the top 5 in the world at Lightweight, and Kikuno was able to ask serious questions of him. He has this unorthodox but effective Karate style of striking. He’s excellent at cutting off the cage, and has really good explosive power. This fight blew away anything on UFC 104.

Zaromskis back in action
DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis overwhelmed the outmatched Myeon Ho Bae in a matter of seconds. In my opinion, Zaromskis may well be the most exciting fighter to watch in MMA today.This was his third consecutive high kick KO. Is that a record? The video above is this fight in its entirety.

More Sakuraba
Earlier this month, I mentioned that DREAM really need to stop matching Sakuraba up against dangerous young fighters. Less than 3 weeks later, he submits Zelg Galešić. He got the takedown right at the opening bell, and instantly grabbed for a leglock. Galešić was pounding away with one shot after another while Saku just clung to the submission. Several times I expected the referee to step in and award the TKO, but Sakuraba persevered and eventually locked in the submission. This is Sakuraba’s most significant win in some time.

The White Cage
I’m still undecided on the idea of DREAM using a cage. A lot of the time when promotions try hold MMA matches in a ring it turns into a complete debacle. But it worked flawlessly for both Pride and Dream. The smaller surface area facilitates a more fast paced striking style, and there are less lulls in action caused by clinches against the cage. This show was billed as an experiment to test the cage out. Historically, the Japanese audiences have been luke warm to MMA fights in a cage. Ultimately, I’m sure feedback on this show will determine whether or not they decide to continue using it. I would prefer that they stuck to using the ring at least some of the time.

There doesn’t seem to be anything on the schedule for DREAM until the big Dynamite show on New years eve.
Full Results
Keisuke Fujiwara lost to Tomoya Miyashita by unanimous decision
Kuniyoshi Hironaka defeated Won Sik Park by TKO due to injury
Yoshiro Maeda submitted Chase Beebe in the first round.
Tarec Saffiedine lost to Dong Sik Yoon by controversial split decision
Katsuyori Shibata beat Tokimitsu Ishizawa by TKO round 1.
Kazushi Sakuraba submitted Zelg Galesic in Round 1
Marius Zaromskis knocked out Myeon Ho Bae in Round 1
Eddie Alvarez submitted Katsunori Kikuno in Round 2
Alistair Overeem tapped out James Thompson in Round 1

DREAM Lightweight Title
In the lightweight title fight, Shinya Aoki submitted Joachim Hansen with only seconds remaining in the bout. It would be interesting to see how the judges had this one scored because while Aoki was controlling position, he wasn’t doing a whole lot else. Hansen had been outworking him off his back for the duration of the bout, and probably should have been ahead on the cards. Aoki is now the first Japanese champion in DREAM. The crowd absolutely loved him, and it came off looking like a really big deal. He will likely fight Tatsuya Kawajiri next on the big Dynamite New Years Eve show.

Kazushi Sakuraba
Kazushi Sakuraba returned with an easy submission win over Rubin Williams. For those who don’t know, Williams is a boxer who is long past his best. He looked completely out of his element, and Sakuraba subbed him quickly with a Kimura. Sakuraba has clearly indicated that he has no intention of retiring anytime soon. I would much rather see him in matches like this where he can use guile and avoid taking any major damage . The guy really doesn’t need to be matched up with dangerous young fighters anymore.

Super Hulk Tournament
The final of the Super Hulk Tournament has now been confirmed. Ikuhisa Minowa will take on former UFC and Pride star Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Dynamite 2009. Sokoudjou made short work of replacement semi finalist Bob Sapp finishing him by TKO in the first. Sapp was brought back in place of the injured Gegard Mousasi, and really put up very little resistance. It’s been a long time since The Beast really came to fight.

In the other semi final, the smallest man in the tournament Minowaman upset the giant Hong Man Choi using his trademark Heel hook. This is a fight that really needs to be seen to be believed. It came off looking like a classically booked big man/little man pro wrestling match, and was a lot of fun.

DREAM 12 will take place on October 25th. It will be the first time in the company’s history that bouts are competed in a cage instead of a ring.

Full Results
Kazuyuki Miyata beat Dj Taiki by decision
Tatsuya Kawajiri TKO’d Melchor Manibusan in round 1
Kazushi Sakuraba Submitted Rubin Williams in round 1
DREAM Lightweight Championship bout
Shinya Aoki submitted Joachim Hansen in round 2
Super Hulk Grand Prix Semi-Finals
Ikuhisa Minowa Submitted Hong Man Choi in round 2
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou TKO’d Bob Sapp in round 1
Feather Weight Grand Prix Semi-Finals
Hiroyuki Takaya over Hideo Tokoro by TKO round 2
Bibiano Fernandes submitted Joe Warren in round 1
Feather Weight Grand Prix Final
Hiroyuki Takaya lost by split decision to Bibiano Fernandes

The 26 year old Lithuanian scored two stunning high kick knockouts en route to the title. In the semifinal bout he stopped tournament favourite Hayato “Mach” Sakurai midway through the first round, before going on to knockout Jason High in absolutely terrifying fashion. Both will probably go down as knockout of the year contenders.

I saw a lot of Zaromskis back when he was fighting in Cage Rage in the UK. The guy was always a good value for money type of fighter, but I always felt he lacked the rounded skills needed to compete at the top level. He’s got a really devastating striking style which borders on recklessness. In that sense he is a good fit with the DREAM brand; where putting on an entertaining show is as important as wins and losses. This was by far the biggest night of his career thus far, and I think he may have made himself into something of a star in Japan. He looked like Mirko Cro Cop by the end of this show.

Marius is a terrific striker, but it’s the rest of his game which can let him down at times. That makes him an exciting champion, but also somewhat vulnerable. Sakurai would have had a decisive advantage over him grappling, but made the mistake of getting drawn into a shootout. High had success early by taking the fight to the mat, but again got taken out on the feet. To Zaromskis’ credit, he did a good job of never getting trapped on the ground for any significant length of time.

He’s not a complete fighter just yet, but it creates a rather interesting dynamic though. One similar to that of Mirko back in Pride: get him to the ground or get knocked out.

Undercard
Shinya Aoki outpointed Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro in a striking bout between two world class submission experts.

Paulo Filho survived an early beat down before catching Melvin Manhoef in an armbar in the first round. This was a very different Paulo Filho than we saw in that disgraceful showing at WEC 36. An excellent performance.

Jesse Taylor of The Ultimate fighter 7 picked up a win over Dong Sik Yoon in his DREAM debut. Yoon unfortunately suffered a leg injury on an early take down causing the fight to be stopped.

Full results