Dream 18 and Glory Grand Slam Tournament
Maybe you don’t know this about me, but I really feel that the only thing better than kicking someone in the head, is watching someone else you know do it successfully.
Everyone knows that MMA and kickboxing in Japan have taken a big hit in the last few years. Pride saw a bright light and heard heavenly trumpets in 2007, and K-1 was unable to pay fighters after what was possibly the most dynamic heavy weight tournament ever in 2010. Throw in a massive earth quake, an economy in the toilet and the general hardships associated with producing a quality event in Japan, and well, it’s been a pretty dismal few years here on the Japan scene.
And some people have cherished every minute of it.
But while UFC’s legion of the tackiest fans on earth have all been buying yet another TAP OUT t-shirt, some of us have been sitting quietly, having meetings at undisclosed locations and generally have watched the current change. The consensus amongst those who know is as follows: While Dos Santos and Velasquez are illustrating to me once again why I don’t care in a fight more predictable than an African hookers AIDS test, over here in Japan shit is going down.
New Year’s Eve
December 31st is traditionally a huge night in Japan for combat sport events. Although an attempt was made with the Fight for Japan: Genki Desu ka Omisoka 2011 event last year in which Fedor irreverently tucked Satoshi Ishii into bed after fluffing up his pillow with something the Russians call pain but the Japanese medical establishment referred to as “a career threatening brain injury”, all in the first round literally as the clock struck midnight, the event largely was just a warmup for what we are looking at this year.
New Years Resolution 2012: GUARD.
INOKI BOM-BE-YE 2012
I happened to be hanging around Shinjuku two nights ago and passed by the location of the press conference held outside the East Exit. Peter Aerts was there smiling like an idiot and it was pissing rain and there were about ten people and one sad-looking camera man hanging around by a homeless guy. That having been said they have a deal with Fuji TV and the card has some big names.
INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2012
Date: December 31st, 2012
Place: Ryogoku Kokugikan (~13,000) in Tokyo, Japan
10. IGF Singles Match: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Naoya Ogawa
9. IGF Special Tag Match: Atsushi Sawada and Hideki Suzuki vs. Ray Sefo and Hiromi Amada
8. IGF MMA Rules Match: Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Mirko Cro Cop
7. IGF MMA Rules Match: Satoshi Ishii vs. Tim Sylvia
6. IGF MMA Rules Match: Minowa Man vs. Bor Bratovz
5. IGF MMA Rules Match: Yusuke Kawaguchi vs. Rolles Gracie
4. IGF Tag Match: Kendo Kashin and Shogun Okamoto vs. Bob Sapp and Erik Hammer
3. IGF Kickboxing Rules Match: Masayoshi Kakutani vs. Prince Ali
2. IGF Singles Match: Masked Genome Jr. vs. Kouhaku Kamen
1. Akira Joh 10 Bout Toukon Series (Bout 7): Akira Joh vs. Kotaro Nasu
Yeah, I know; Fujita and Ogawa? Seanbaby said it well enough here, there really is no medical explanation for Fujita still being alive. Ogawa however is simply a buffoon with all the combative skill of a bran muffin. I had the “luxury” of training with him a couple of times years ago at Ihara Gym, and it occurred to me then that I once met a cripple that kicked harder and he was a girl.
Despite the event poster giving me diarrhea of my sensibilities, there are some silver linings and these would be the oldie-but-goodie big name match-ups like Cro Cop and Suzukawa, Sawada/Suzuki vs. Sefo/Amada (however the hell that works) and they are even throwing in some Bob Sapp for comic relief.
It’s a very old-looking card but it’s a big one. What’s more, it’s not the biggest thing going on that night…
Dream 18 and GLORY 4
TWO events, ONE night, Multiple reasons for ORGASM.
The Card is sick.
Dream.18 – Special NYE 2012
Date: December 31, 2012
Venue: Saitama Super Arena
Location: Saitama, Japan
MMA Bouts:
-Shinya Aoki vs. Antonio McKee
-Melvin Manhoef vs. Denis Kang
-Bibiano Fernandes vs. Yoshiro Maeda
-Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Michihiro Omigawa
-Hayato Sakurai vs. Phil Baroni
-Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Georgi Karakhanyan
-Satoru Kitaoka vs. Will Brooks
-Marloes Coenen vs. Fiona Muxlow
GLORY Grand Slam Tournament:
-Semmy Schilt vs. Brice Guidon
-Sergei Kharitonov vs. Rico Verhoeven
-Gokhan Saki vs. Raomoru
-Anderson “Braddock” Silva vs. Igor Jurkovic
-Remy Bonjasky vs. Filip Verlinden
-Errol Zimmerman vs. Jamal Ben Saddick
-Peter Aerts vs. Mourad Bouzidi
-Daniel Ghita vs. Jhonata Diniz
GLORY Superfights:
-Mutsuki Ebata vs. Sang-Jae Kim
-Matsumoto Toshio vs. Jason Wilnis
-Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Robin van Roosmalen
-Jerome LeBanner vs. Koichi
So, what do we have here? In one word: Everything.
The Dream 18 MMA card is stacked with fresh talent yet still has some old school flare (Baroni/Sakurai). In addition to that we have Coenen vs. Muxlow, and who doesn’t like seeing two woman try to murder each other for money?
The Glory 4 part of the card is ridiculous. It’s all genuine with no fluff. Schilt, Saki, Ghita, Zimmerman, Aerts…nothing would please me more than seeing Ghita and Saki go to war again like they did in 2010; possibly the greatest kickboxing match I have ever seen.
The super fights though are where it gets personal for me. In 2006 I took my protest in Meguro at Fujimoto gym. To everyone’s shock and horror, particularly my own, instead of some mitts and a couple of light rounds with a new pro-nobody, I did five nightmare rounds with the current Heavy weight champion, Toshio Matsumoto. I made it out alive and got my pro-license. I then needed my friends help climbing the stairs out of the basement to hobble back to the train station and cry myself to sleep that night.
Matsumoto has a well deserved super-fight on the card against Jason Wilnis. Toshio tried his hand at K-1 Max ten years ago and did not fair well, however during these years he has gradually gotten bigger, stronger and has dominated Shin Nihon Kickboxing with absolutely beastly elbows and strong ring general ship.
In addition to seeing my former torturer on the big stage, my former “cohei” Mutsuki Ebata is also fighting. Mutsuki is one of the “Champion Twins”. He and his brother Rui, whom I met years and years ago when they first started coming during summer vacations to train at Ihara gym, have both become champions and both punch harder than Dana White sucks. Mutsuki will be fighting Sang-Jae Kim and while I don’t know much about this kimchi, I know Mutsuki is a bad-ass with the work ethic of a Jew at a home foreclosure; he gets every last drop out of training, every time. I’m really looking forward to seeing him kill it with the big boys.
Straight swagger and head kicks.
Yes, looking forward to seeing it, LIVE, because Gaijinass will be at Saitama Super Arena on the 31st. Is this the reemergence of combat sports proper in Japan? I don’t know, but something’s about to pop off.
If this wasn’t good enough for you, try these:
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December 30, 2012 at 9:37 am
Sounds like you’re in for some good shows, from the way you describe it. I don’t recognize any of those names, but then again I am not a huge sports fan. I do like watching a good fight though. I also have some friends into these kind of fights. Seen a few satelite and cable events (the pay to view matches or whatever) and did enjoy them.
I actually like sumo. I don’t keep track of the names or anything and its been a few years since I last saw a sumo match on ESPN2 or whatever sattelite channel. Sumo isn’t on a downhill slide, it seems to be a downward plummet. To much concentration on fat and no muscle or skill anymore. I blame the foreign Yokozunas. It should have been apparent that their methods were shameful when one fat man broke his wrist doing a basic chop. What do you expect when you have hundreds of pounds flying behind a wrist with no muscle in it and a skeleton that knows no proper form to its movements. Someday I hope to see a sumo match (like actually be there in the seats) and I really hope there are no foreigners and none of the newer sad sumo that have turned away from a strong respectable tradition only to embrace foreign fat worship. Sumo once represented health, muscle, and discipline. If I wanted to see a bunch of hogs duke it out I would go to walmart and find a grocery isle with a sale.
December 30, 2012 at 11:35 pm
You got it backwards man. The foreign guys are the only reason sumo is still going. Japanese guys don’t want to deal with the shit lifestyle new Sumo wrestlers have to endure. Foreigners from Eastern block countries and Mongolia have come in and just crushed the weak, over fed, under trained and corrupt Japanese wrestlers with relative ease.
December 31, 2012 at 12:22 am
Yeah I am still running a few years behind when the USA and Hawaiin Sumo were all the rage and ruining the sport. I think I did see something on cable (last year) about two different Mongolians. One was really high up and seemed respectable and the other was a new guy gunning for his spot. It was just talking about the sport and such. No full matches (damn my luck).
December 31, 2012 at 7:48 am
Watched the UFC 155 event on a hacked live stream….thank you internets!! and was happy to see dos Santos get beaten to a fucking mess. The Miller fight was better but Cain is my man. I’m wearing my favorite “Dethrone Royalty” hoodie even though he’s with affliction right now.
Watching dos come in with NIKE as a sponcer and Rocky as entrance music while Cain just waited…reminded me of a young Mike Tyson. He knew dos didn’t throw while moving back and only put combos together after resetting his feet. So….pressure him and try if you see the close but back away immediatly if it aint there. He stuck to the plan and just layed on him at every chance. He coulda applied a rear naked choke twice that I saw but some have pointed out that Cain hated dos Santos and wanted to brutalize him. The 1st viewing was hard cuz I was waiting for an uppercut to put Cain to sleep so I was yelling at him to finish but in the 2nd and 3rd viewing it was a fighter who stuck to the plan like it was the word of God. Tyson did that for Cus.
This was a better plan stuck to by AKA team over dos Santos’s plan. If reem makes it to Cain I expect him to adjust accordingly.
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/jds-vs-cain-gif-2345321/index5.html
January 1, 2013 at 5:48 am
Louzon Miller was great but Jesus, what a gore fest. Personally I don’t enjoy Valasquez or Dos Santos, at all. I would love to see UBERREEM come in an take the damned belt. I’m also looking forward to Cromier and Barnett being back in the UFC. They bring different styles; something other than boxing and wrestling. Cormier has legit kickboxing and it’s just getting better, plus his natural athleticism is off the charts. Barnett is fun to watch, has REALLY developed his stand up both hands and feet, and is fun on the ground because it’s NOT BJJ. Looking forward to them both.
January 1, 2013 at 4:45 pm
I like Cain for the reason I loved a young Tyson. If Cain listens to his trainers again and they make the right plan…he will take Reem past the 2nd where he seems to gas hard and win. IMO.
I watched as Reem’s head grew with his body …literally like Barry Bonds and knew he was juiced. I think they put JDS against Reem b4 the champ to make him suffer for burning down that card he was headlining. All the shit he’s twitting about JDS is like the beginning of the promotion of that fight.
Barnett…man my heart ached to see him with that fraud Inoki crew member Suzukawa? or something like that? The Sumo dude who got canned. Le Banner fought him too. I read your post after the 2 comments I left….obviously since I was talkin bout my Dethrone hoodie
notice you forgot to mention the Organized crime angle that helped destroy the industry in this country. Boxing is dead in America because many folks felt the fix was on cuz it was sometimes…..clearly.
Japan seemed to meld the fine arts with Pro Wrestling (WWE) to it’s detriment. The cut weight and training styles in Japan really hurt them abroad where it seems only Okami is getting anywhere…and his style which is boring to Joe p ticket payer PPV buyer assures he will not be a champ for…maybe ever? Norifumi’s fights in UFC shocked me though and I think Aoki should stay in Japan as his prime is on the back end…no one will ever know how good he was like they have no idea how great Kid Yamamoto actually is/ was great.
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Norifumi-Yamamoto-1354
he shoulda stayed in JP though.
Happy New Year btw.
Time to get into shape
January 3, 2013 at 3:37 am
I left out all the Yak talk because that’s been done elsewhere and to re-hash it here would be a huge post by itself. You know.
Anyway, I just don’t get your connection between Cain and Tyson, man. Tyson was so dynamic and was so well taken care of. Cain, he’s just another grinder in my opinion. Also, sure with Reem it’s a coin toss, but if he’s smart, he’ll lay off the heavy juice and HGH or IGF1 or whatever the fuck it is he is shooting, take some mild stuff (like everyone else is doing) and go back to training how he did for PRIDE. He had much better stamina then. I’m not saying cut the power lifting, but maybe pull back a bit? Also, I don’t think Cain is ready for what Reem can bring in regards to stand up. We will have to wait and see.
Barnett confuses me. He’s obviously a smart guy but to me, it’s like he had just made a serious of bad professional decisions. A lot of guys that COULD have been this or that fall the same way. Not saying they are the same, but Maurice Smith, he got too involved in shit other than trying to fight at the highest caliber possible for him and basically flushed his career. I don’t know Barnett personally so I can’t say for sure, but it seems like he is always doing these BS events and pro wres shit, and then almost playing catch up trying to get back into real fighting mode. Thing is, he can be BRILLIANT in the ring/cage and the technical level he is able to summon is stunning, I just think his floating back and forth habit has held him way back.
And Happy New Year; here here to getting in mad shape as well.
December 31, 2012 at 3:55 pm
meanwhile…
Did I just see a show put on in English infront of a Saitama crowd that musta been..I dunno…filled with folks who had no idea what the fuck was being said? That was one of the oddest things I have ever seen.
January 1, 2013 at 5:44 am
Here’s the thing, Glory always uses english announcers irregardless of the country they are in. Holland, Spain, whatever. They go with English because, sorry Nippon, it’s the current WORLD LANGUAGE. Get over it guys.
That having been said, three things they need to work on. 1: They need back story and drama. The japanese love that shit and if they want GLORY to be a big thing here, they need the back story and fighter bio videos. 2. They need a real Japanese contender. Whatever, whoever. Sponsor Koichi. Get him on the weights and plyos and a good high pro diet and bulk him up. Whoever but they need to manufacture a Japanese contender. That bum that Saki terminated was a joke. I was in better shape last night than he was. Finally, Jesus, what does Saki have to do? I mean the guy is CLEARLY the most talented fighter out there today. He’s better than Ghita. He’s amazing. They robbed him and at the LEAST he should have gotten a 3rd round with Semmy. It was a good event but they have a lot of work to do and I hope they can get their shit together.
January 1, 2013 at 6:09 pm
Holy shit, that cracked article you linked to was hilarious.
January 3, 2013 at 3:38 am
Yeah Seanbaby is a laugh riot and bless him for trying to work some MMA and Kickboxing into that predictable and dull void that Cracked.com has become. Notice those are his LEAST popular articles.