Preview: Dream Fight For Japan

It’s hard to believe it has been five months since we have seen any DREAM events, but the time has finally come.  The Saitama Super Arena just outside of Tokyo will host Dream Fight For Japan, aka DREAM Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament, this very weekend.

The event is actually a charity event to help those affected by the recent earthquake, thus why it is not called Dream 17. Anyone who is deeply into Japanese MMA knows very well the fighters who will be this event, but stateside, there is no comparison to the UFC marketing machine to inform those who are not in the know how exciting many of these fights are. As such, this will be a little primer on what we should all be looking forward to.

The Bantamweight Grand Prix consists of 8 men who will fight twice the same night, with the final two fighting in another DREAM event in July. The bracket contains some really good and exciting fighters. My personal favorites to win are Hideo Tokoro, a grappler who is famous for working as a janitor as he worked his way up in MMA and reached relative fame for fighting Royce Gracie to a draw despite a large weight disadvantage, and Masakazu Imanari, the master of leg locks (need i say more why I like him?).

In addition to the Grand Prix fights there are five more fights, all at 155 lbs or less, making this event feel like a Japanese WEC. Most of these fights almost guarantee excitement, especially UFC vetren Caol Uno vs unorthodox striker “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura and Karate/Judo hybrid Katsunori Kikuno vs.  flying submission specialist Daisuke Nakamura.

The main event is a non-title fight between Dream Champion Shinya Aoki and a former TUF cast member Rich Clementi (40-19). This fight was the product of multiple changes in opponents for Aoki that just finalized recently. If Aoki wins, no one will think much of it, but if he loses, it will mean much more considering Clementi is not even close to being ranked top 10. Nevertheless, I feel that Clementi is a tough and dangerous opponent. I think I smell an upset. I hope I’m wrong.

Here are the the Preview Videos for the event:

The Bantamweight Grand Prix

Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura

Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Joachim Hansen