Cage Talk – MMA – All The Latest Mixed Martial Arts News

(VidProps: YouTube/evilbyte)

Give the DREAM bosses some credit, these guys sure know how to build suspense into what otherwise might be a fairly straightforward and pleasing night of MMA fights. As it turned out, there was no surprise run-in from Alistair Overeem and the Japanese promotion with the fly-by-the-seat-of-its pants matchmaking style never found a fight for Ricco Rodriguez. We hope it paid for the flight and the sushi, at least.  On the bright side, DREAM finally did manage to convince Gegard Mousasi to put in the 31 seconds of work it took to defeat an overweight Jake O’Brien and Shinya Aoki likewise bounced back from an embarrassing loss in Strikeforce a few months ago to put a quick and typically stoic beating on Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Like “Sweet and Sassy,” Aoki called it an early night, withstanding some heel kicks to the face as he locked up an Achilles lock that secured the tap and appeared to damage his Kawajiri’s leg in just one minute, 53 seconds. A couple of days after possibly declaring his bi-sexuality at the event’s weigh-in (we assume he was being ironical), Aoki ditched his trademark colorful tights for relatively conservative board shorts and rushed from the ring following his win to get some lovin’ from his (possibly female) fiancé.

After the jump, O’Brien vs. Mousasi, where it will take you all of the first 15 seconds to see why the American had a little trouble making weight …

read more

News DREAM, dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Melvin Manhoef, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri

(Video courtesy YouTube/Wandfightteam)

- UFC signs a fighter with the least original nickname in MMA (MMAJunkie)

- Ref Josh Rosenthal explains why he didn't stop Lesnar-Carwin in the first (MMAFighting)

- Big Nog says fight with Mir will be different this time around (TATAME)

- The best damn Jose Aldo highlight video on YouTube (YouTube)

- Vancouver fires AC head for badmouthing city over sanctioning issues (VancouverSun)

- DREAM 15 weigh-ins (YouTube)

- The Twitter feed every man must follow (Twitter)

- Guy pranks girlfriend with pube moustache (BREAK)

- Create manly invite for your boys to watch UFC 117 at your pad (Manvite)

- Missed connections: It works (HolyTaco)

- Renzo Gracie black belt gives tips on how to bar fight (MadeMan)

- 9 greatest stripper pole fails (Maxim)

- 8-bit Contra-style The Expendables game (ScreenJunkies)

- Hottest girls of Formula 1 (Chickipedia)

- NASCAR summer blockbusters (AllLeftTurns)

- Mel Gibson's racist hate speech to girlfriend (Ebaumsworld)

- Reaction to "The Decision" (ScoresReport)

News Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, dream.15, friday link dump, link dump

(GerardM? DREAM may be onto something awesome)

It's seeming more and more like Ricco Rodriguez's inclusion on the DREAM 15 card just wasn't meant to be.

After Twittering early this morning that he may be stepping in for fellow MMA Agents repped fighter Jake O'Brien to face Gegard Mousasi in the opening round of the DREAM four-man light heavyweight grand prix tournament, it appears that the fight has reverted back to its original match-up as Mousasi's camp has agreed to fight O'Brien in spite of the American reportedly being 21 pounds over the required 205-pound weight limit.

read more

News Alistair Overeem, dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Jake OBrien, Ricco Rodriguez

(No, Overeem will not be fighting...but enough about that. Have have you all seen our new hex-shaped cage. I call it the Sexagon.)

In a bizarre move, DREAM Executive Producer Keiichi Sasahara addressed the media today in an attempt to quell the rumors regarding Alistair Overeem dropping out of the event, but refused to discuss the reason for the Dutch fighter's withdrawal, effectively doing little more than fuelling further speculation.

MMAFighting has the transcription of Sasahara's prepared statement.

"Towards the end of the negotiations, because of reasons that I am not able to tell you, although the two fighters agreed to fight, it happened that these fighters could not fight. It's not because of money, but if the reasons are something that I cannot tell you then you might be able to guess what they would be. Because of that, we are not able to have these two fighters fight.
We really wanted Alistair [Overeem] to fight. Today, unfortunately it is not happening so we will only have seven fights. I have to apologize to the fans who have been looking forward to seeing Alistair fight in Japan. I'm sorry."

read more

News Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, dream.15, Keiichi Sasahara, Ricco Rodriguez

(That little son-of-a-bitch is at it again... / 'Shop courtesy of urdirt)

Alistair Overeem won't be beating anybody up, but this Saturday's DREAM event — which will be broadcast live on HDNet at 3 a.m. ET / midnight PT — will still be good for some late-night thrills, so set those DVRs, kiddies. In the main event, Shinya Aoki defends his DREAM lightweight belt (and attempts to bounce back from his humiliation in Strikeforce) against fellow Japanese mainstay Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri, who's on a four-fight win streak and hasn't been submitted in five years. Also on the card, Gegard Mousasi and Melvin Manhoef headline that kinda-pointless mini-LHWGP, Mitushiro Ishida makes his featherweight debut against Daiki Hata, Michihiro Omigawa gets fed a can, and Gesias Cavalcante looks for his first win in three years against Katsunori Kikuno. If you'd like to make it interesting, head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) to make your predictions. This week's pool-questions are...

read more

News Announcement, dream.15, MMA FightPicker, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri

(Alistair engages in a moment of reflection with his life-partner, Hilda. That's the name of his sledgehammer. What, you didn't think I was talking about the dumpy broad on the right, did you?)

Contradicting earlier reports, Alistair Overeem will probably not face Ricco Rodriguez at DREAM.15 next Saturday. Said Overeem's trainer Martin De Jong: "If he's going to fight, he's probably not going to fight Ricco Rodriguez...We didn't receive any contract. [DREAM] proposed Ricco Rodroguez, but they didn't send a contract, and definitely we did not sign it." De Jong added that Overeem has no problem fighting Rodriguez, but they may skip DREAM.15 due to other issues with the promotion that he wouldn't discuss.

Nevertheless, three additional fights were announced for the card today, bringing the current total to seven. They are...

read more

News Alistair Overeem, dream.15, Michihiro Omigawa, Mitsuhiro Ishida

(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)

Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he'll take on former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez in a non-title bout. While that may sound like Alistair is getting back to his Japanese squash-match roots, keep in mind that Rodriguez is on a seven-fight win streak since last July (six of which came by stoppage), including victories over veterans Travis Fulton and Moise Rimbon. He also looks a lot better physically these days (see above), and competed in the 218-pound division at last year's ADCCs.

Can Rodriguez use Overeem as a springboard to a career rebirth? No, probably not — but he could impress a lot of people just by giving Overeem a tough fight and not spitting on anybody. In a related story, Ricco is no longer listed for that 7/18 Impact FC fight against Jeff Monson, which is unfortunate because you can bet that Paulo Filho and Ken Shamrock will be dropping out at the last minute...

read more

News Alistair Overeem, dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Jake OBrien, Ricco Rodriguez, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri

Up and at 'em Potato Nation. Check out these articles from our friends around the MMA blogosphere, and keep Young Randy smilin'.
 
- Leonard Garcia Fights Hard, Embraces the Consequences (MMAFighting)

- Options: Next Moves for UFC 114 Winners (Heavy.com/MMA)

- The DREAM 15 Poster Finally Translated (MiddleEasy)

- One Flew Over the M-1 Nest: Affliction Countersues M-1 Global (WatchKalibRun)

- Michael Bisping Enjoys Being the Bad Guy (FightMagazine)

- Ten UFC 114 Fighters Receive Medical Suspensions (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Wanderlei Silva Stands Up for Fans at UFC Expo (MMA Scraps)

News dream.15, Leonard Garcia, M-1 Global, Michael Bisping, UFC 114, Wanderlei Silva

Filed under: DREAM, FanHouse Exclusive, News, Japan

Despite the fact that DREAM canceled its upcoming eight-man light heavyweight tournament Thursday, the organization is still planning on crowning a light heavyweight champion later this year.

Sources within the organization tell MMA Fighting that DREAM will hold a four-man elimination tournament in July, with the winners facing off for the title later in the year. Right now, DREAM's July event, DREAM.15, is scheduled for the 19th of the month.

News dream.15, DREAM15

Filed under: DREAM, FanHouse Exclusive, News, Japan

A light heavyweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and UFC veteran Jake O'Brien is close to being finalized for DREAM.15, MMA Fighting has learned has learned from sources close to the event.

Both sides have verbally agreed to the fight, and barring any setbacks, contracts are expected to be signed shortly.

The fight is expected to be a part of the upcoming DREAM light heavyweight tournament, which will also feature an opening round bout between Melvin Manhoef and Tatsuya Mizuno.

News dream.15, gegard+mousasi, Jake OBrien

Filed under: DREAM, News, Japan

Only one week prior to DREAM.15 we are finally starting to get some more matches, but it looks like FEG are having troubles. Yoshida Dojo fighters Kazuhiro Nakamura and Michihiro Omigawa have officially made the move to DREAM where they will face Karl "Psycho" Amousso and Young Sam Jung respectively. You can be forgiven for not recognizing the name Young Sam Jung. One of Japan's best at featherweight will be facing an 0-2 fighter. Both losses come by first-round KO.

Mitsuhiro Ishida will be making the move down to "featherweight" to meet Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata and the light heavyweight title eliminator match between Gegard Mousasi vs. Jake O'Brien was made official.

When using the term featherweight with DREAM, one must use caution though. Omigawa rejected DREAM's odd weight limit of 63kg and will instead fight at 65kg and the Ishida vs. DJ.taiki weight limit is still under negotiation.

News Daiki+DJtaiki+Hata, dream.15, Karl+Psycho+Amousso, Young+SamJung

Filed under: DREAM, FanHouse Exclusive, News

Despite reports to the contrary, Alistair Overeem says he will not be fighting Ricco Rodriguez later this week at DREAM.15.

That's the word from the Strikeforce heavyweight champion himself, who sent MMA Fighting a personal statement, which will hopefully clear the air on the matter.

"I have heard numerous rumors about me fighting at Dream on July 10. I want to give my side of the story before speculation arises:

"After my Brett Rogers fight on May 15, I decided to take time off and do media appearances -- MMA expo in Canada, E3 expo, Strikeforce events -- and enjoy some time off with my family. I knew Dream wanted me on the show, but I didn't want to go back in training preparation. Then, they offered me a fight against Andrei Arlovski for the Dream heavyweight title. As I have said on occasions, fighting for a belt means something more, and I wanted that Dream title so much that So as a result, I agreed to lay off my media and holiday plans, and went back to training.

News Alistair Overeem, dream.15, Ricco Rodriguez, Ricco+Rodirguez

Filed under: DREAM, interview, Japan

Shinya Aoki has not allowed me to take a decent photo of him in over a year. Every time I ask him for a photo he covers his face. I have never had any problems with him, and we used to have a good working relationship. It wasn't just me though, it was all foreign press. I have often wondered what caused this dramatic change in attitude.

Watching the signing ceremony for his title fight against Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM.15, I noticed that he was doing the same thing with the Japanese media. On Thursday, a member of the Japanese press commented on it.

"At the signing ceremony you had the aura that it was difficult for us to get close to you..."

Aoki commented without looking up.

"Well I don't feel any different now."

News dream.15, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri

Filed under: DREAM, Strikeforce, News, Japan

Two of the fighters who lost lopsided decisions on April's Strikeforce card on CBS bounced back with impressive victories Saturday at Dream 15 in Saitama, Japan.

In the main event, Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki submitted Tatsuya Kawajiri to retain his title, looking as good as he ever has three months after looking as bad as he ever had in a loss to Gilbert Melendez.

Aoki, wearing board shorts rather than his trademark spandex grappling pants, immediately took the fight to the ground and went for one of his signature foot lock submissions, twisting and turning Kawajiri's leg for a full minute on the ground before Kawajiri finally had to tap out. There was nothing more to it than that, as Aoki -- Japan's biggest MMA star -- did exactly what he wanted to do.

---

---

News dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri

Filed under: DREAM

---

---

News dream.15, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri