The DREAM.5 fight card has received a few updates in the past few days. Scheduled for July 21 in Osaka, Japan, DREAM.5 will be headlined by the semifinal and final matches of the 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix.
MMAWeekly has learned that Denis Kang has been removed from the DREAM.5 card. Kang had been busy training for the fight and waiting for word from FEG on who is opponent would be. Last week, Kang was told by FEG that he was no longer on the fight card at all.
In another report by MMAWeekly, Mark Hunt revealed that he will make his return at DREAM.5 against Jerome LeBanner. Hunt has not fought an MMA match since the former Pride Fighting Championships was sold to Zuffa over a year-and-a-half ago.
Here is the current DREAM.5 fight card:
- LWGP Final (Aoki or Uno vs Alvarez or Kawajiri)
- Eddie Alvarez vs Kawajiri Tatsuya
- Shinya Aoki vs Caol Uno
- Norifumi Yamamoto vs Joseph Benavidez
- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Katsuyori Shibata
- Joachim Hansen vs Kultar Gil
- Motoki Miyazawa vs Kuniyoshi Kironaka
- Mark Hunt vs Jerome LeBanner
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completely off topic but worth the conversation anyways, with the Affliction card coming up i was just wonder what sort of things are you expecting to see? i did a bit of research and found out they will be using a ring, the commentary will be done by Frank Trigg, Big John McCarthy,and Jay Glazer (i dont know who Glazer is, apparently hes a big sports announcer) they are also are saying Mauro Ranallo will be there but they dont say what if anything he will doing, they will be using 6oz. not 4oz. gloves, they will be following the unified rules witch includes elbows, Tim Sylvia and Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting for the WAMMA title, Michael Buffer will be the ring announcer, and they will be using a big PRIDE style ramp for the fighters to walk in to the ring among a few other details i cant remember off the top of my head. im just wondering what peoples expectation are for this card? im curious about how the ring is going to look (knowing Afflictions style) im half expecting to see an all black ring and ropes with gold turnbuckles and a huge flaming bird in the middle of the mat lol. anyways enough rambling give me your thoughts.
Wow… I wasn’t much interested before.. you got my attention… I want to see this show now… only thing I don’t like is the 6oz vs 4oz, if thats the case and they grow in popularity, the UFC may have to adjust and I think that much padding around the fingers and knuckles would put grappler’s at a disadvantage..
yeah the gloves was one of the things i was thinking about too, i read a little debate about one over the other. one of the things mentioned about the 6oz. glove was that part of the reason PRIDE was a more aggressive version of MMA, the heavier glove allows a fighter to be hit more while being rocked less thus making fighters less defensive and more willing to engage.
Hmmm good point RJ..dunno now… this looks like an American glossed up version of Pride FC.. eh?
another thing that kind of surprised me was the ring as opposed to a cage. dont get me wrong i like the ring idea i just figured they would go with a cage as the standard in N.America seems to be the cage.
Sorry but this is the truth.. a cage is a symbol of backyard fighting…. cage fighting… lower income underground street fighting dog fighting… get the idea..
A ring has been the respected standard for BOXING which is subconsciously more “sport” rather than “dog fight” in the minds of people… it also give this org a “we aren’t UFC dux” look and feel..
oh and if there is any metal heads in the house there will also be a performance by Megadeath. i like all types of music and Affliction has few bands (sponsored) that i really like, but Megadeath?!? when was the last time Megadeath had a hit? since when has Megadeath had ties to MMA? ah well i guess they blew there wad on fighters and they didnt have a lot left over for bands lol my question is why bother? it wouldnt hurt my feeling much if they just skipped the live band all together lol.
They are just trying to be “kewl” … lol whatever… live music at an event has only been the norm for the Superbowl.. thats it.. I think this will be a one time deal, just to grab attention and headlines and to sell out the live gate, make an impact, perhaps the anticipated Zuffas move and put it out there as a little carrot.. or perhaps thats the level they feel the MMA contingency is on.. “the Megadeath crowd” .. whatever.. I am a conservative, Midwestern, Christian who has a college degree, wears bus casual or a suit to work, and loves to watch MMA, with my best friend who is a 50 year old Family Practice Physician and neither of us likes metal much..at all.. lol
About the 6oz gloves, yes it will limit the grapplers a bit in the effectiveness of some holds or submissions. The main submission moves that are used in mma (the highest percentage moves) the laid out armbar, the triangle choke, rear naked choke and the heel hook.
These main moves will still be almost 100% effective, i just think it will make DEFENDING submissions harder because thats where the hand and finger dexterity is instrumental. For example defending the rear naked choke.
This might actually give grapplers an advantage, though it DOES limit the repertoire of the higer level BJJ guys.
Yeah its a bigger object to hold when sinking in the armbar or joke… its gonna be harder for an opponent to get out of..
Most of those moves i mentioned can be done wearing boxing gloves! but try defending wearing boxing gloves lol.
it almost seems like there stacking the deck in Fedors favor for this fight, PRIDE feel (Feodrs home), ring (Fedors turf), heavier gloves (Feodrs a bleeder) someone told me that the ring will work to Tims advantage because he can cut off the ring and trap Fedor in the corner and unload but Fedor not going to want to hang around on the outside and try to box with Tim, so Tim cutting off the ring would bad idea for him because it would give Fedor more chances to get his hands on him to drag the fight to the ground. im thinking Tim best chance in this fight is to pull a Chuck Liddell and make Fedor chase him and bomb on him when ever he gets close enough.
Ya good points RJ, Tim plans to cut off the ring, but from the interviews ive seen, Tim doesnt even train in a ring, or a cage for that matter.
If your gameplan is to cut off the ring, you better get your *** into a ring and practice! The idea is for you to be comfortable in the ring, to know the size of the ring compared to the size of your strides and shuffles and the range of your punches/kicks. You gotta be able to navigate the ring blindfolded, not keeping an eye on where the ropes and corners are, etc.. you just KNOW the distances from tons of practice.
For example, if Fedor takes a step back, you know its only 3 more steps until you got him close to the ropes, or 2 steps and 2 shuffles, etc.. kinda of hard to explain hehe
Yeah in my MMA class, one of my drills that I use to help my students simulate fighting a street fighter is I wear 14oz boxing gloves and foot pads while they use an MMA grappling glove made by Combat Sports so they can Jits and I have to really just jockey for position and try to stand up and strike, its a good drill but not so good for professional mma.. lol
Wand trained in a cage for 4 months before the Liddell fight… Rampage did some cage fighting before coming into the UFC.. so he was already settled into that format by the time he got there… Wand seems to be comfortable in there now.. and with a win over Jardine I can see him becoming Mr. UFC in the future.. lol kidding
yeah i know what you mean about the whole getting accustomed to the ring, different size, shape, angles, its just a different place. a lot of times a ring is even more bouncy then a cage (if that makes sense) i never had a fight in a cage but i did a lot of sparring in a sh*tty little cage and i think thats part of the reason i like the ring better lol.
Yeah my brother has both… I prefer the ring..
I would be more inclined to buy the PPV or see it live for a free t-shirt over a Megadeath appearance/concert..
about the megadeath thing, never been a metal fan, but even if they had an artist that i DO like, i dont see the need to have a band… whats next? Sigfried and Roy? why not have a whole 3 ring circus?
Dam all that junk, the fights are the entertainment, you dont need additional unrelated entertainment. You dont see concerts with a cage on the side so they could show a fight between sets..
Exactly.. people go for the MMA not the little side shows.. this ain’t WRASTLIN and you don’t need to hire performers..
Just goes to show you where Trumps experience is… in wrestling and reality tv.. basically acting and performing on that scale, although I like the ring, Pride essence of it all, I could really settle into the fan base of this org if they get some more good fighters, like Chuteboxe fighters eh?! :)
Who is Wandy’s next opponent and where does he fit into the 205 title picture now? I mean Chuck of course is fighting Rashad, then you have Lyoto Machida who beat Tito, and now Wand beat Jardine who was up for a title shot as soon as maybe 1 fight from UFC 86….. so whats next for Wand, is he fighting Thiago, that would suck, old lion from Chuteboxe fights young lion from Chuteboxe, it would be a war and I can’t say who’d win… who else is there? I know that Jackson would be a great fight for Wandy but they aren’t gonna throw that one to him because if he did to Jackson what he’s done before a 3rd time it could really kill his standing with the fanbase.. Keith Jardine was easy to throw out there, he has a very SMALL fan base, almost local, so no big deal and now they don’t have to give him a shot or re-up his contract at a much higher rate… what you do you think DOC? BV, RJ, AMIR, Richard, Patrick? DENNIS!?! lol
you know what DENNIS would say at a moment like this “the Iceman already killed the Axe Murderer, and after he destroys Rashad he WILL get his title back for good this time” lol but for real i think we need to see Wand fight everybody in the LHWs start him at the bottom and let him run through them all, not because hes not at the top but because he doesnt need a title to prove sh*t and i just wanna see him rip these boys apart. what fighter whos not in the top 5 can hang with Wand? i dont think there is many of them. i say it should go in this order: Houston Alexander, Tim Boetsch, Stephan Bonnar, Wilson Gouveia, Matt Hamill, Jason Lambert, Sokoudjou, then they will have his bloodlust back at the right level so give him Forrest, Rashad, Lyoto, Chuck, Rampage, and end it with a ChuteBoxe showdown and make it Thiago or Shogun (if Shogun ever fights again) thats about 4 years worth of fights there so at the end of all that Wand will be able to start wandering the globe looking for a challenge like the true warrior he is.
Nah RJ, i disagree with you there, i think Wandys talent and name would be wasted on those guys.. Id rather see him fighting the cream of the crop for the next 4 years. Id like to see him grab the title and hold it for a few years.. I dunno if thats gonna happen, but if he decided to drop down to 185 im sure he could be a dominant champ for a long time, but i dont think he wants that. He likes to fight the big boys hehe..
yeah true, you dont really wanna make low profile fights for Wand. but if people in N.America finally get to see the the real Wanderlei, the destroyer, they will pay to see him fight anyone. he showed it in the Jardine fight but people also remember Houston doing the same thing to Jardine so it takes away a little gloss from that win. its like Anderson, people will pay to see him fight a blind, one armed, midget, monkey why? because they just wanna see how bad the Spider f*cks him up, thats why Dana and Joe Silva put together Anderson vs. Irvin because they know its not really a matter of who Anderson is fighting, but that people just want to see him fight. Wanderlei could be that guy, people will love him and they will want to watch his fights you just have to show them why first and casual fans dont give a sh*t about some old PRIDE clips because Dana already told them the UFC is better in every way.
I think Wandy deserves a couple of Tito’s or Babalu Sobrals.. they threw that tainted meat to Chuck enough times, give Wandy some confidence boosters in between the Chucks and the Hendos .. it keeps life interesting and keeps our man from getting his body destroyed too soon… fighting number 1 fighters is good but it wears on the body too soon, I would like to see Wand leapfrog top 5 to bottom 10 fighters every other fight just to keep him fighting for another 5 years..
yeah thats what im say too they need to build his confidence and his American fan base, then let him loose.
Yeah will if I were to reply to Dennis I would say.. HE DIDN”T GET RIPPED APART BY CHUCK.. he lost 2 of 3 rounds by points on his debut and they will go again one last time I guarantee, only this time Wand will be used to the cage, he will have confidence on his side and it could be either for the title or for a title shot… lol
i miss ol’Dennis lol.
I don’t.. well Okay … for arguments sake and the fact that he would help light up the site like no other.. yeah miss that about him.. guess he just got sick of this website or mma or both..
Whats next for Wandy? i dont like the Thiago Silva idea, kid has a bright future ahead of him, a loss now would really hurt his rep in the UFC. Rampage would be great, but it definately wont be the next fight, maybe sometime next year if Wandy gets another W.
Chuck vs Wandy 2 would be crazy, if theyre smart they will match tose guys up as much as possible before they get too old. Their first fight was off the chain, if Wandy wins the 2nd, im sure that would sell out, then the rubber match would prob be like the highest grossing fight in mma history. Ofcourse they want Chuck to get the title back so he could fight Wandy for the belt, so i guess we have to wait for that war to happen again..
Machida, i dont think this is a good stylistic matchup at all! Wandy likes to brawl and Machida likes to dance around. I think Lyoto would be very timid and Wandys too short to catch him or get in close enough times to make it a fight. Very little action, it will hurt Wandys marketability and i dont think the UFC wants that..
I heard somewhere Hendo plans to move back up to 205 and he will be fighting Franklin at LHW.. a rematch with Wandy could be very lucrative in a business sense, plus be nice for Silva to get a chance to redeem that loss.
a fight between Franklin and Henderson would be cool, sounds like a good match up but why not do it at middle weight (bring some excitement to a weak division) im not really in to all the better fighter leaving middle weight. right now the word is UFC88 will have Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill at 205lbs. and Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares at 185lbs. but we know Hendo can move up or down when ever so its still a very real possibility to see Hendo vs. Ace at 205lbs. soon. i would like it a LOT better if Hendo fought Franklin at 185lbs. and Wand moved down to fight Henderson AND Franklin both of those could be very good fights.
I agree about the 185 thing, id be on board for any one of those fights, its true, theres enough guys at 205. I still wanna keep Wandy at 205 though, i dunno, it just seems like the guys at 205 are his peers and he belongs there.
I wouldnt mind seeing Franklin vs Wandy at 205 at some point, probably be the first time i would be against Rich Franklin in a fight hehe. By the way, if he fought Anderson again, i would be with Rich again hehe.
Wand would do to Franklin what Anderson Silva did period.. only difference is I think it would be a looping right that knocks out Franklin in that fight.. Hendo needs to move up again.. and Wand Hendo 3 would be great…
I don’t like Chuteboxer’s fighting each other.. period.. i thinks its bad policy and I think the UFC needs to incorporate a little bit of respect with regard to that in their business..
I want to see Chuck and Wand go at it in 2009 ….. February .. I think Wand would retire Chuck at that point and if Chuck’s holding the title which I said he never would but with Forrest stealing the title from Rampage I might have to recant those words.. it would be a change of guard in the UFC … for a few years at least since Wand is getting a bit older now as well in fighter years that is..
I agree on all points… Machida needs a title shot NOW and either needs to win it or get knocked out.. I think him fighting Anderson Silva would be good because Anderson would beat his tail decisively..
lol this thread is about DREAM and i dont think anyone has spoke one word on the subject in here yet lol.
You started the discussion off topic RJ lol. The dream event looks pretty good though. Aoki vs Uno, the battle of the little rubber people lol, Aoki should take it easily, but who knows, Uno has definately fought the tougher guys over the years.
Hunt vs Lebanner should be interesting, i watched K1 not long ago with LeBanner vs Schilt and man was it ever boring. I think Hunt belongs in MMA, we need more heavy handed HW fighters in the div. LeBanners a very good fighter and hes a pretty tough dude too, maybe not to the extent of Hunt, but this could be a good scrap.
Theres a couple other semi interesting matchups, but these 2 are what im actually looking forward to.
The thing is, this event is AFTER Affliction, dam its really gonna look like crap in comparison to possibly the strongest fightcard in mma history.. how do you follow that??
yeah i started the topic here because it didnt seem like anyone was going to comment here anyways lol. the Aoki vs. Uno fight aka battle of the little rubber people lol should be crazy but yeah other then that its a bit lackluster compared to the Affliction card, maybe Hunt and Lebanner can create a highlight reel for us at least lol.
You were right..nothing to talk about here really.. buncha asian fighters, none of them speak engrish and there are no western or brazilian fighters, nor are there any big named euro fighters..
DREAM sucks.. they should have named it FIGHT FC or something… sounds like something totally unrelated to fighting or MMA.. dumb name…
Bah a ring? The cage would just be off the hook!! Machina NEEDS the title fight for sure, no questions asked!
Ahhh Cage … Ring … whatever just throw something out on PPV worth buying.. on Machida I agree ..
Wow THE Kimbo Slice has graced us with his presence… I am sure..
doc can u send me kansas email again I lost it….kan need to chat about some stuff that’s bein goin on since I u know…kinda weird… email me bro!
sure, just sent it
Cool.. doc can drop it off..