Post-Dream Notebook
Diaz wants Aoki
Tony Loiseleur May 13, 2008
Diaz will fight Sakurai, but he wants
Aoki
Despite having to battle through bureaucratic hardships that complicated the weight-cutting process, Nick Diaz (Pictures) was still able to put on a striking clinic against welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (Pictures).
Diaz credits his superb conditioning as the key element in making
the 170-pound limit on such short notice.
"Yeah, it affected me, [but] I came here to fight so I understand what it's like," Diaz said. "I come prepared, so it didn't have anything to do with me. I was also prepared to go ahead and make whatever weight he wanted. If you said I wasn't going to be able to fight unless I was 154 pounds, I'd have stayed up all night running a marathon trying to make 154 pounds to get in there and showcase my skills in that ring."
"I think [Inoue] did an excellent job for trying to throw a lot of punches like he did," Diaz remarked. "He got back up, and I didn't mean to let him back up, but I wasn't too worried about exerting the energy trying to keep him down. I didn't know what would be better, trying to finish the fight early -- but with the weight issue, I didn't want to use that kind of energy on the ground, so I threw punches.
"I felt like I was a lot stronger than him, and I kept that sort of a pace because I wanted to make sure I could take some of his energy before I could settle down and land punches. I had a lot less sparring for this fight, so I didn't want to play around. I wanted to make sure I stayed on him and kept him at a low energy level. Once I took his wind, I wanted to keep him that way."
Inoue, who perhaps unwisely decided to stand with Diaz, claimed that doing so was in line with his game plan.
"Well, as for my fight against Gomi, it wasn't like being hit with one strong strike," Inoue said of Diaz's punching power. "When [Diaz] hit me, it wasn't like it was really hard, but after a few of them, it really got to me."
Having put Inoue away, Diaz is now expected to fight Hayato "Mach" Sakurai for the Dream welterweight title. Despite respecting the veteran Shootor, Diaz was decidedly less excited at the prospect of fighting him compared to dropping to lightweight for other challenges.
"You know, there's a lot of other people I'd like to fight, just considering Mach Sakurai is a lot older than I am," Diaz said. "He's probably in his late 30s I'd imagine, so I'm going to have a lot of respect for him and everything he's done. I tend to do better with people I have less respect for. To be honest, I'd rather be fighting Shinya Aoki (Pictures) or Kawajiri -- somebody other than the guy that got knocked out by someone I already beat [Gomi].
"But I think I match up very well against Mach Sakurai. I think he's a little too short to reach me, and I think his ground game needs a lot of work and you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Like I said though, I'm not afraid to fight anybody -- that's not the issue. I'll fight anyone you got. I'm here to prove I'm pound-for-pound the greatest fighter on Earth."
After discussing Sakurai, Diaz reasserted his challenge to rising Japanese star Shinya Aoki.
"I know the only way to win is not care to win or lose," he said. "That's why I'm not afraid of anybody and why I want to fight the best. I think Shinya Aoki is the best fighter here. I want to fight this guy -- I think I can beat him.
"I think that I would use the same technique and skills of judo and jiu-jitsu that he does, just that I get excited and will punch when it's time to punch. And I know he's not much of a striker or standup fighter, but I train a lot of standup striking. [Aoki is] good on the ground, but I'm good on the ground too. I know [he's] not good at standup, and I do a lot of standup. I would like to fight and win to bring that one home for the team to prove that I'm the better jiu-jitsu student, and so I can represent Cesar Gracie (Pictures) jiu-jitsu."
Miller's dream: to fight Sakuraba
Jason "Mayhem" Miller's eccentric character has not suffered a loss in translation. Between the bling and broken Japanese, he delivered the wholesale destruction of pro-wrestler Katsuyori Shibata (Pictures) -- a performance that spoke very much for itself.
"I thought he would be tough, and he proved to be very tough," Miller said of Shibata. "He had the samurai spirit inside him. He had a strong heart. Despite sustaining injuries, he didn't quit.
"I really expected to defeat Shibata faster. All I wanted was an exciting fight, and I hope I delivered it in my new home of Japan. I love it here."
Shibata is not the last Japanese pro-wrestler that Miller has in his sights. He also made mention of his reverence of Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) -- a fighter he now has the potential to face given Sunday's victory, which earned Miller a spot alongside Sakuraba in next month's continuing middleweight tournament.
"My biggest dream ever was to fight Sakuraba," Miller said. "He was my hero growing up. I'm lucky that in my business, I'm allowed to beat my heroes up in the same way I beat my dad up now.
"Sakuraba is my hero, and the prospect of being able to fight my hero is huge. It's my dream, and hopefully I can accomplish my dream here. I'm happy that we're in the tournament at the same time. No matter who they put in front of me, I want to defeat them in the most exciting manner possible. I've never seen Sakuraba tap out."
Manhoef fought with stitches
Melvin Manhoef (Pictures), who defeated Dae Won Kim (Pictures) with a brutal knee to the head and strikes on the ground, revealed Sunday evening that he had sustained a serious injury in his kickboxing bout against Remy Bonjasky two weeks prior.
After having half a liter of blood drained from a surgically opened hole under his left arm, which was apparently unknown to promoter Fight Entertainment Group, Manhoef boarded a plane for Japan against his doctor's wishes. He planned on employing a conservative and technical game against Kim, so as to prevent the reopening of his stitches.
Yamazaki first featherweight winner
Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures) carries the honor of being Dream's first featherweight victor after defeating lightweight King of Pancrase Shoji Maruyama (Pictures) by unanimous decision.
Yamazaki, who is a semifinalist in this year's Cage Force featherweight tournament, said he was not worried that fighting in Dream could have potentially prohibited his further participation in the Cage Force tournament.
Last year's Cage Force lightweight tournament was thrown slightly awry when finalist Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) suffered a vicious knockout defeat to Andre "Dida" Amade in Hero's, causing Cage Force promoter GCM to levy a medical suspension on Oumakhanov. Despite facing a knockout artist in Maruyama, Yamazaki indicated that his opponent for the June 22 Cage Force card had been injured and unable to make the bout, thus opening up his opportunity to fight in Dream.
Despite having to battle through bureaucratic hardships that complicated the weight-cutting process, Nick Diaz (Pictures) was still able to put on a striking clinic against welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (Pictures).
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"Yeah, it affected me, [but] I came here to fight so I understand what it's like," Diaz said. "I come prepared, so it didn't have anything to do with me. I was also prepared to go ahead and make whatever weight he wanted. If you said I wasn't going to be able to fight unless I was 154 pounds, I'd have stayed up all night running a marathon trying to make 154 pounds to get in there and showcase my skills in that ring."
Diaz described the process of originally preparing to fight
Marcelo Garcia
(Pictures), only to have his opponent
switched to Inoue and then have the bout cancelled altogether.
Discouraged after the cancellation, Diaz had lifted his dietary
restrictions and looked to move forward by helping teammate
Jake Shields (Pictures) prepare for his upcoming bout.
Shortly thereafter, though, he received the call to continue with
the weight cutting because the fight was back on.
"I think [Inoue] did an excellent job for trying to throw a lot of punches like he did," Diaz remarked. "He got back up, and I didn't mean to let him back up, but I wasn't too worried about exerting the energy trying to keep him down. I didn't know what would be better, trying to finish the fight early -- but with the weight issue, I didn't want to use that kind of energy on the ground, so I threw punches.
"I felt like I was a lot stronger than him, and I kept that sort of a pace because I wanted to make sure I could take some of his energy before I could settle down and land punches. I had a lot less sparring for this fight, so I didn't want to play around. I wanted to make sure I stayed on him and kept him at a low energy level. Once I took his wind, I wanted to keep him that way."
Inoue, who perhaps unwisely decided to stand with Diaz, claimed that doing so was in line with his game plan.
"Well, as for my fight against Gomi, it wasn't like being hit with one strong strike," Inoue said of Diaz's punching power. "When [Diaz] hit me, it wasn't like it was really hard, but after a few of them, it really got to me."
Having put Inoue away, Diaz is now expected to fight Hayato "Mach" Sakurai for the Dream welterweight title. Despite respecting the veteran Shootor, Diaz was decidedly less excited at the prospect of fighting him compared to dropping to lightweight for other challenges.
"You know, there's a lot of other people I'd like to fight, just considering Mach Sakurai is a lot older than I am," Diaz said. "He's probably in his late 30s I'd imagine, so I'm going to have a lot of respect for him and everything he's done. I tend to do better with people I have less respect for. To be honest, I'd rather be fighting Shinya Aoki (Pictures) or Kawajiri -- somebody other than the guy that got knocked out by someone I already beat [Gomi].
"But I think I match up very well against Mach Sakurai. I think he's a little too short to reach me, and I think his ground game needs a lot of work and you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Like I said though, I'm not afraid to fight anybody -- that's not the issue. I'll fight anyone you got. I'm here to prove I'm pound-for-pound the greatest fighter on Earth."
After discussing Sakurai, Diaz reasserted his challenge to rising Japanese star Shinya Aoki.
"I know the only way to win is not care to win or lose," he said. "That's why I'm not afraid of anybody and why I want to fight the best. I think Shinya Aoki is the best fighter here. I want to fight this guy -- I think I can beat him.
"I think that I would use the same technique and skills of judo and jiu-jitsu that he does, just that I get excited and will punch when it's time to punch. And I know he's not much of a striker or standup fighter, but I train a lot of standup striking. [Aoki is] good on the ground, but I'm good on the ground too. I know [he's] not good at standup, and I do a lot of standup. I would like to fight and win to bring that one home for the team to prove that I'm the better jiu-jitsu student, and so I can represent Cesar Gracie (Pictures) jiu-jitsu."
Miller's dream: to fight Sakuraba
Jason "Mayhem" Miller's eccentric character has not suffered a loss in translation. Between the bling and broken Japanese, he delivered the wholesale destruction of pro-wrestler Katsuyori Shibata (Pictures) -- a performance that spoke very much for itself.
"I thought he would be tough, and he proved to be very tough," Miller said of Shibata. "He had the samurai spirit inside him. He had a strong heart. Despite sustaining injuries, he didn't quit.
"I really expected to defeat Shibata faster. All I wanted was an exciting fight, and I hope I delivered it in my new home of Japan. I love it here."
Shibata is not the last Japanese pro-wrestler that Miller has in his sights. He also made mention of his reverence of Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) -- a fighter he now has the potential to face given Sunday's victory, which earned Miller a spot alongside Sakuraba in next month's continuing middleweight tournament.
"My biggest dream ever was to fight Sakuraba," Miller said. "He was my hero growing up. I'm lucky that in my business, I'm allowed to beat my heroes up in the same way I beat my dad up now.
"Sakuraba is my hero, and the prospect of being able to fight my hero is huge. It's my dream, and hopefully I can accomplish my dream here. I'm happy that we're in the tournament at the same time. No matter who they put in front of me, I want to defeat them in the most exciting manner possible. I've never seen Sakuraba tap out."
Manhoef fought with stitches
Melvin Manhoef (Pictures), who defeated Dae Won Kim (Pictures) with a brutal knee to the head and strikes on the ground, revealed Sunday evening that he had sustained a serious injury in his kickboxing bout against Remy Bonjasky two weeks prior.
After having half a liter of blood drained from a surgically opened hole under his left arm, which was apparently unknown to promoter Fight Entertainment Group, Manhoef boarded a plane for Japan against his doctor's wishes. He planned on employing a conservative and technical game against Kim, so as to prevent the reopening of his stitches.
Yamazaki first featherweight winner
Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures) carries the honor of being Dream's first featherweight victor after defeating lightweight King of Pancrase Shoji Maruyama (Pictures) by unanimous decision.
Yamazaki, who is a semifinalist in this year's Cage Force featherweight tournament, said he was not worried that fighting in Dream could have potentially prohibited his further participation in the Cage Force tournament.
Last year's Cage Force lightweight tournament was thrown slightly awry when finalist Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) suffered a vicious knockout defeat to Andre "Dida" Amade in Hero's, causing Cage Force promoter GCM to levy a medical suspension on Oumakhanov. Despite facing a knockout artist in Maruyama, Yamazaki indicated that his opponent for the June 22 Cage Force card had been injured and unable to make the bout, thus opening up his opportunity to fight in Dream.
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