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Shin’ya Aoki over Katsuhiko Nagata

Aoki defeated Nagata with a variation of thr gogo plata from the top after nearly six minutes. It was quite the sight and my BJJ vocabulary cannot do it justice. Complete domination from Aoki who was always in control. It’s going to take someone very good to beat him in this tournament.

Alistair Overeem over Lee Tae-Hyun

Tae-Hyun is 1-1 but Kenny Rice lets us know that he is PHYSICALLY IMPOSING. Overeem be warned. Alistair is rocking the Dutch techno music and all is good with the world. He’s another favourite of mine and I look forward to a dominant win, even though I’d like to see him fighting actual professional MMAers. Also, he’s really bulked up to become a genuine heavyweight.

Overeem stopped Tae-Hyun after a series of strikes in the first few minutes. He broke his foot seemingly throwing a kick and I thought we might be in for a horrific result. Thankfully he decided to just throw a combination and follow it with a knee that appeared to knock the Korean stone dead. Nice highlight reel finish. Although I think he would do a similar thing if he fought me and it would be about as relevant. He challenged Cro Cop afterwards.

Ralek Gracie over Alavutdin Gazhiyev

Mirko was far too ill to even contemplate grappling for a few minutes against a much-smaller opponent, so we have this instead.

Gracie submitted Gazhiyev in the first round with an armbar. This was a little bit of a throwback to 1996 and Ralek was fighting like every Gracie having their first MMA fight, although unfortunately he is in 2008. The classic PUSH KICK to clinch was utilised and attempted a number of times. Once he got to the ground he was pretty slick as you would expect but his striking is beyond awful. Some slight controversy as Gazhiyev tapped, the referee stopped it, then he went to get on top of Ralek and carry on. Apparently Gazhiyev defends the armbar by submitting and *then* transitioning into his opponent’s guard. Odd behaviour.

Hideo Tokoro over Darren Uyenoyama

That was a really great first round. Tokoro is all over this but the opponent is more than game.

Considering this is a fight that is pretty much absolutely irrelevant, it’s tremendous fun if you just want to see two dudes go at it. Tokoro won a decision and that’s probably fair although both should emerge with credit. I actually think that under the judging criteria the result could have gone either way as the momentum turned in the second round with Uyenoyama showing good control on the floor.

This is a good show so far. Intermission.

DREAM Lightweight GP draw taking place.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki vs. Caul Uno

That was really cool actually. I insist that every tournament be drawn live at random from now on.

Gegard Mousasi over Yoon Dong-Sik

Man, this show. The first round ended with an absolutely enthralling exchange after Mousasi had pounded DONG for the first eight minutes or so. Dong grabbed on to an arm and it looked as though he would pull out an unlikely victory. Mousasi was holding on for dear life and kneeing the head to try and loosen the grip. All this against the backdrop of a ticking countdown clock. Evertually he reversed and ended up on top to end a great round.

The second round was pretty rudimentary. Mousasi held his back for most of it and unleashed a lot of hammerfists and strikes to the back and side of the Dong’s head. A lot of these were questionable in their legality. By the end of it, Dong’s will had gone and an argument could have been made to stop it. Mousasi won a unanimous decision.

Kin Tai Ei over Zelg Galesic

It would be nice to have 50% European representation in the semis so I’ll be rooting for Galesic here.

Oh man, lightning struck twice. Kin got injured early again in a fight against Zelg and caused the fight to end prematurely. Really nasty fall onto the arm in this one and I would assume it is at least dislocated and maybe fractured too. Viva Croatia.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza over Jason “Mayhem” Miller

This is a show of the year contender for sure, I’m tempted to say that it’s better than DREAM 3 but that might be influenced by watching it live.

Another really strong fight here with impressive performances by both guys. Miller impressed me by being able to survive numerous difficult situations on the floor with such a great grappler and Jacare impressed me by taking it to a top 25 middlweight so early in his career. Jacare won the unanimous decision.

Melvin Manhoef over Kazushi Sakuraba

Manhoef blasted out Sakuraba within about ninety seconds. He knocked
him down with a high kick and then just followed up relentlessly. Sad
to see but not completely unexpected. I expect this will be followed
by numerous calls to retire.

The final four:

Jacare
Zelg Galesic
Melvin Manhoef
Gegard Mousasi

there’s not a single native, Korean or North American fighter which is unusual. Mousasi will fancy his chances I would imagine.

A very enjoyable show that was taineted by a saddening main event. Still, check this out regardless though.