The Dream opener for their middleweight grand prix was awesome. The card was packed with serious fighters and serious fights, and the tournament only promises to get better as it goes on.
Shinya Aoki beat J.Z. Calvancante by unanimous decision, making him a top lightweight in the world in many minds.
The brief recap of the seven middleweight fights that opened the tournament:
Kiyoshi Tamura beat Masakatsu Funaki by TKO in 57 seconds. Unfortunately, even his highlight reel performance won't give him any weight as he moves to the next round, because there are some seriously legit fighters and he is not at the top of the bracket.
Zelg Galesic whipped out an armbar submission victory in a little over a minute and a half to advance to the next round. His muay thai skills are notable, but the fact that he's displaying some groundfighting is very, very good.
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza choked out Ian Murphy in Murphy's debut. The fight lasted almost 3:40. Jacare is still my pick to win this whole competition, as he is the best grappler in the tournament by far.
Taiei Kin upset Japanese fan favorite Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa on the judges scorecards, and he was convincing the whole way. It's not likely Kin will win the whole competition, as he couldn't finish Minowa and the Punk is hardly a top competitor, but it is a legit win that improves the look of Kin's 3-2 record. (Note: Kin's record is more impressive than it looks, as his losses are to top middleweights in Galesic and K-1 warrior Yoshihiro Akiyama)
Dong Sik Yoon beat out Shungo Oyama on the judges scorecards. This is Yoon's fourth straight win, which has brought him up to 4-4 for his career. Still, he's beaten Galesic before (with an armbar back in K-1 in mid-2007) and, though he lost to Sakuraba in his MMA debut, he's definitely looking to his momentum to carry him through this tournament. We'll see if he has it, though I don't really think so.
Kazushi Sakuraba finished Andrew Nakahara with a neck crank almost eight and a half minutes into the first round. Sakuraba seems to be one of the heavy favorites, especially among the Japanese fans, and we'll see if the Gracie Killer can hold this one together at his age. Many would like to hope so, for nostalgia's sake.
In the biggest shocker of the night, Gerard Mousasi choked out Denis Kang with a triangle. The fight makes the underdog Mousasi look more interesting and his record is very impressive, including the little sidebar that he's now finished his last seven fights. I'm liking Mousasi more and more, but we'll see if the skills he has been using in the smaller circuits pay off against bigger competition, they certainly did against Kang, who's no small fish and was, for many, the pick to pull this one out.
I had Jacare before this card started and I'll stick with him, because I have no reason to think that anyone else in this bracket is going to out-grapple him and, while I'm well aware that this is not Abu Dhabi, I'd like to see Jacare get some respect in MMA, as he definitely deserves it.
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