(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.
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Alistair Overeem, dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Jake OBrien, Ricco Rodriguez
(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...
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Alistair Overeem, dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Jake OBrien, Ricco Rodriguez, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri
Filed under: UFC
You probably wouldn't recognize
Christian Wellisch. Even if you vaguely recognize his name, even if you remember him as the guy who got knocked out by some UFC rookie named
Shane Carwin back in 2008, chances are you'd walk right by him as he sits behind the American Kickboxing Academy's booth at this weekend's UFC Expo and never know you were looking at a former UFC fighter.
That dream is over now for Wellisch. After an 8-5 career that spanned a little over seven years, he said goodbye to his fighting life.
"I do sometimes miss it, but I don't wish I was still fighting," says the 34 year-old Wellisch, who now runs his own law practice outside San Jose, Calif. He knows it means that he'll never see his face on a UFC fight poster, never get to hoist the championship belt in front of a throng of cheering fans. And he's perfectly fine with that.
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Christian Wellisch, Jake OBrien, Mike Swick, Shane Carwin, UFC 94
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.
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dream.15, gegard+mousasi, Jake OBrien
Filed under: DREAM, Japan
This is the
Dream.15 live blog for
Gegard Mousasi vs.
Jake O'Brien, a catchweight bout on tonight's Dream event from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Originally scheduled for light heavyweight, O'Brien failed to make weight and enters this fight with an automatic yellow card and a 10 percent purse deduction. Mousasi is coming off a Strikeforce title loss to King Mo last April.
The live blog is below.
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dream.15, Gegard Mousasi, Jake OBrien