sounds like the fights were wack.
Aoki Subs Clementi, Imanari and Tokoro Advance to BW Finals
SAITAMA, Japan -- Shinya Aoki's late replacement opponent in Rich Clementi proved somewhat difficult to put away, but the Tobikan Judan no less punished him mercilessly throughout both rounds before the inevitable finish in the main event of Dream “Fight for Japan” at the Saitama Super Arena.
Taking Clementi's back and trapping his left arm in the first, Aoki spent a solid five minutes from mount, dropping salvo after salvo of punches on the American. Clementi shelled up in defense, but could do little else to improve his position or escape. Somewhat inexplicably, referee Yuji Shimada stood Aoki up from this position to issue the UFC veteran a yellow card for inactivity.
The second frame was similarly a wash for Aoki, as the Japanese grappling ace quickly took Clementi's back and dropped more punches from behind. He mercifully put the American away halfway through with a face crank from the rear-naked choke position, eliciting the tap at the 2:32 mark.
Amidst an oncoming typhoon, Masakazu Imanari and Hideo Tokoro punched their tickets to the finals of the Dream bantamweight grand prix.
In true Imanari fashion, the Japanese leg lock specialist wrenched out a painful-looking heel hook on WEC veteran Kenji Osawa 58 seconds into the second frame of their semi-final bout.
On the other side of the bracket, K-1 Hero's veteran Hideo Tokoro narrowly edged Atsushi Yamamoto on the cards to secure his berth in the finals. Both men spent most of the first round dancing around and feinting at one another, not committing to any offense or taking the fight down.
The second period looked somewhat more decisive for the "fighting freeter" however, as Tokoro landed hard low kicks and stiff right hands. Yamamoto, despite driving for takedowns and snapping Tokoro's head with sharp jabs only seemed to make an impression on judge Masanori Ohashi's scorecard. Judges Kaoru Todori and Akira Shoji sided instead with Tokoro, awarding him the split decision.
Though losing the semi-finals, Osawa and Yamamoto will vie for third place in the Japan bantamweight tournament at July 16's Dream 17 at Ariake Coliseum, alongside Imanari and Tokoro in the finals. The winner of the third place matchup will ostensibly advance to the Dream world bantamweight tourney later this year, along with both Imanari and Tokoro.
As is sometimes expected from Imanari, the Ashikan Judan punched his way into the semi-finals off of an otherwise unfulfilling and frustrating bout against ZST bantamweight champion Keisuke Fujiwara. In typical Imanari fashion, the wily grappler stuck to the outside where he lunged with side and flying kicks as Fujiwara attempted to catch him with single punches and low kicks. Imanari took the bout by unanimous decision.
Before facing Imanari in the semis, WEC veteran Osawa put former Deep featherweight champion Takafumi Otsuka through his paces on the feet to take the split decision in their quarter-final showdown.
In what was shaping up to be one of the evening's most satisfying fights, the quarter final between Tokoro and Yoshiro Maeda ostensibly ended on a tragic low blow. Both men started the bout in fiery fashion however, battering each other with big punches and kicks.
Between the exchanges, Maeda found the time to ham it up -- first by marching around the ring stating how much Tokoro's onslaught was hurting him and encouraging his opponent to do more, and secondly by impersonating a veritable who's who of Japanese MMA personalities by their signature techniques.
An unintentional Tokoro headbutt in the first frame followed by an errant body punch to the groin in the second put Maeda in the tough position of fighting through otherwise fight-ending fouls. After several minutes recovering on the canvas, a clearly injured Maeda limped his way back into the fight only to have his corner throw in the towel when Tokoro caused him to cry out in pain following a takedown attempt. Referee Shimada called the bout then at the 43 second mark of round two.
In the opening round, Yamamoto punched his ticket to the semi-finals by plowing his way through Osaka's Yusaku Nakamura. Coming in as a late replacement for an injured Darren Uyenoyama, it became apparent in the latter half of the first frame that the Seiichi Ikemoto student was not prepared for the 10-minute opening round. His first five minutes were spectacular however, as the Kempo slugger dropped the ring-rusty Krazy Bee fighter three times.
Having his bell rung and being dropped to a knee thrice seemed to shake off the rust for Yamamoto, as he soon reverted to his usual modus operandi. Yamamoto drove for and got takedown after takedown on the tiring Nakamura, whereupon he ground out the Osakan with punches from above. Tired and battered, Nakamura turned away at 8:43, prompting referee Oshiro to step in for the save.
Former Dream lightweight champion Joachim Hansen narrowly scraped by with a split decision over stalwart wrestler Mitsuhiro Ishida in what was an interesting case study in Dream-style judging.
Early in the fight, Ishida surprisingly looked to have Hansen's number on the feet, rocking the fellow southpaw with a blistering left straight. Perhaps surprising himself most of all, Ishida was thus unable to capitalize and finish off the momentarily dazed Norwegian, soon after reverting back to his usual tactics of stifling takedowns and top control.
The second frame saw Ishida evolve his gameplan into baiting "Hellboy" to chase him with big punches before ducking under them to hit the takedown. Though he consistently scored them all the way until the final bell, the question of whether Dream judges valued offense from the back over takedowns and top control still hung in the air.
Giving a not-so-definitive answer, Judge Hikaru Adachi sided with Ishida, while judges Ohashi and Shoji gave their nod to Hansen.
Katsunori Kikuno and Daisuke Nakamura put on a curious fight that saw Kikuno winning mostly on the strength of his chin and Nakamura's passivity from the bottom. Dispensing with his trademark “zombie stance” and crescent kick, Kikuno apparently traded in his karate trademarks to mechanically march straight forward while throwing punches.
Seeing as Kikuno also didn't have his hands up to defend himself, Nakamura was able to mark him up with flicking jabs and knees to the face before Kikuno careened into him. In the end, judges Adachi, Ohashi, and Shoji naturally gave the bout unanimously to Kikuno.
In a showdown of Deep versus Shooto, Shooto won out as former 143-pound champion Takeshi Inoue got a contentious stoppage over Koichiro Matsumoto.
The Deep featherweight champ looked to be the one who would finish it first as a big one-two in the opening moments put "Lion" on his posterior. However, the former Shooto champ quickly recovered and what ensued was a tense five or so minutes of single shots and low kicks from both men. Inoue then lamped Matsumoto with a right-straight counter, putting the Deep champ on his back. Lion lunged to finish as Matsumoto covered up and rolled. However, Matsumoto stayed on his side a little too long, thus looking too supine for Shimada, as the veteran referee stepped in for the stop at 6:51 of the first.
In an entertaining but also very unexpected battle of reversals, UFC veteran Caol Uno outgrappled Shooto wild-child "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura to a unanimous decision victory.
Despite reportedly tuning up his takedown defense at Urijah Faber-led Team Alpha Male, Uno's grappling chops still proved too much for Nishiura.
