Although Dream's 2008 launch is predicated on the tournament format, their lightweight tournament has provided headaches from day one. First, there was the problem of only having seven opening round bouts, which eventually led to veteran Caol Uno (Pictures) being inserted into the quarterfinal round. Then, disaster struck in the main event of Dream's debut offering in March when some iffy elbows led to the hotly anticipated Shinya Aoki (Pictures)-Gesias Cavalcante (Pictures) bout being deemed a No Contest, while all the other lightweight tournament contests went off without a hitch. As a result, Aoki and Cavalcante had to renew their rivalry in late April to determine who would advance, however, after Aoki bested "JZ" by unanimous decision, it was too soon for him to fight again in the quarterfinals only two weeks later for Dream's fourth card.
Now, the winner of this bout will have only a moment to rest, as in only five weeks, they will join the aforementioned Caol Uno (Pictures), Eddie Alvarez (Pictures) and Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) at Osaka Castle Hall on July 21, where the tournament semifinals and finals will be waged and Dream's lightweight king will be crowned.
In terms of hype and stature, this bout is night and day. At this point, the 25-year-old Aoki has entrenched himself as one of the sport's premiere lightweights and continues to tweak and refine his one-of-a-kind grappling game. On the other hand, the 34-year-old Nagata was initially considered an also-ran in the tournament, despite his impressive win over Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) in the opening round.
Despite being the rightful underdog, Nagata does have some reasons for rejoice in a stylistic sense. A Greco-Roman Olympic silver medalist, Nagata should be able to negotiate Aoki's preference to clinch. Moreover, while few bouts give Nagata the chance to ably employ his striking, this may be one of them. Although Aoki can use low kicks and body kicks from a distance, he won't want to trade hands, which at least gives Nagata a glimmer of hope.
However, at this point in time, we have seen Aoki overcome stylistic considerations. If the raw physicality and clubbing power of Calvancante couldn't get him out of the ring, it's extremely unlikely Nagata will. Despite lacking powerful takedowns, Aoki consistently finds ways to get his opponents to the mat, and if he can't, he has the ability to climb all over them like a scarecrow drill. Nagata may be able to neutralize Aoki early, but the "Tobikan Judan" will find his opportunities before long and cash in with a textbook submission to punch his ticket to the final four, where he'll find much stiffer opposition with Uno, Alvarez and Kawajiri.
Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (Pictures)
After fighting for Heros at 154 pounds, the ever-popular Tokoro - Japan's MMA "Cinderella Boy" -- belongs in the ring as a featherweight. The chance to fight at his more natural weight is probably even more welcomed after his last MMA bout (a ZST tag team match last month aside), where he gave up somewhere around 40 pounds to Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures). While he may not have the skills or the chin to be atop the featherweight heap, Tokoro's gameness and grappling skills generally produce highly exciting affairs.
Uyenoyama began his career some six years ago, but put MMA on hold to cut his teeth in the grappling world. Since his return, Uyenoyama has gone 3-1, with his lone loss coming to undefeated bantamweight prospect Rolando Velasco (Pictures), a highly forgivable loss.
With both guys being aggressive, submission-minded grapplers who aren't afraid to exchange on the feet, excitement should most certainly be on the menu.
Tokoro may not have an iron chin but he's still likely the better stand-up fighter. And with both guys preferring to go for the jugular on the mat, Tokoro is also the better submission grappler. Expect up-and-down action and some great displays of grappling, but look for Tokoro to be in the driver's seat for the duration as he'll either submit Uyenoyama, or if Uyenoyama is particularly difficult to deal with, the "Cinderella Boy" will take a decision.
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (Pictures) vs. Ralek Gracie (Pictures)
It's hard to spin an Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (Pictures)-Ralek Gracie (Pictures) bout as sexy matchmaking. However, the real bit of magic in the bout is actually in its very circumstances.
Gracie was originally scheduled to face Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in a grappling match, which even now is a hard-to-digest thought. Although a lingering elbow injury nixed Cro Cop's from the all-too-surreal bout, Gracie was fortunate, because shenanigans were going on elsewhere on the card.
Grappling standout Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira had been on fire in the MMA realm recently with a host of quick highlight-reel submissions and was scheduled to take on Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (Pictures). However, in an oh-so-Japanese fashion, Ferreira was unable to obtain his visa, and so FEG announced he pulled out of the bout due to… (drum roll) jetlag.
In the only part of this story that makes any discernable sense, all the chicanery left Gracie and Gadzhiyev without opponents and this bout became an easy and logical fix.
The 23-year-old Gracie, son of UFC part founder Rorion Gracie, had buzz before he ever made his MMA debut as the "Next Generation Gracie." In his first and thus far only MMA bout, Gracie easily handled Katsuyori Shibata (Pictures) on the floor en route to an armbar win last July. Gadzhiyev, 25, is a gritty Russian sambist who has shown a penchant for the KO. In his Pancrase run, he knocked out four of five opponents, with none of the knockouts taking longer than a 80 seconds.
Although Gadzhiyev's experience and striking advantage would seem to give him a considerable advantage, his last bout against Hikaru Sato (Pictures) offers a worrying glimpse as to what may be ahead. Although the bout will be immortalized for Gadzhiyev hilariously --and improbably -- starching Sato from the bottom of full mount, it cannot be ignored that he was taken down and quickly mounted by Hikaru Sato (Pictures). Even though Gracie has a long way to go as a fighter, Gadzhiyev has obvious liabilities on the ground which should be exploited early as the Gracie family's foremost freestyle rapper gets top control, achieves dominant position and takes the submission win.
Alistair Overeem (Pictures) vs. Tae Hyun Lee (Pictures)
If you're not Korean and don't spend your time watching National Geographic or the Discovery Channel, you probably don't know what ssireum is. Luckily, for combat sports fans, FEG is just dying to educate you.
For the uninitiated, ssireum is Korea's traditional form of wrestling, which is said to have roots in the prehistoric era. Supposedly, there a multitude of weight classes in ssireum, however, more often than not the sport involves two pituitary freaks hurling each other around in a ring of sand. Of these human-hurling giants, the most well-known is Hong Man Choi (Pictures), whose affable antics and athletic adaptability have made him a fan favorite. But did you know that Choi isn't the best ssireum player the sport has to offer?
Heavyweight ssireum superstar Tae Hyun Lee (Pictures), the winningest ssireum player in history with 472 victories, is fit to have his entrails dented by the knees of perhaps the most depressingly mercurial fighter in MMA, Alistair Overeem (Pictures).
After completing his PhD and seemingly set for a career as an academic, Lee couldn't shake the urge to compete and thus decided to give MMA a shot. His MMA debut came in the Pride ring in September 2006 in a mind-numbing, abysmal gong show against fellow freak Ricardo Morais (Pictures). However, in his second MMA bout this past October, Lee destroyed perennial no-hoper Yoshihisa Yamamoto (Pictures) in 63 seconds.
Overeem, once a light heavyweight, now a heavyweight, is eternally upsetting. Few fighters are so consistently inconsistent or show true flashes of brilliance before finding definitively unique ways to implode. Overeem is coming off of one of his spectacular showings in November, where he captured Strikeforce's heavyweight title by spanking the always game Paul Buentello (Pictures) over eight-and-a-half brutal, one-sided minutes. Despite over three dozen bouts and almost nine years experience, the flying Dutchman just turned 28 last month, which either gives him time to finally live up to his potential, or possibly another five, seven or maybe ten years to confuse MMA fans with wildly uneven performances.
If Overeem was to lose this fight, it would be his most epic in-ring combustion to date. There is no reason that Overeem shouldn't be able to kick and knee the bejesus out of Lee and use him as a heavy bag with arms. Unless he walks into a titanic windmill punch, it is hard to think of how Overeem could lose, even if he comes in with the faulty cardio that has often been his undoing. A TKO for the "Demolition Man" early on is likely, but for humorously aesthetic purposes, I'm hoping Overeem can cinch up his signature guillotine for the win.