DREAM.5 Recap & Analysis
DREAM.5 could arguably have been the best card of the weekend in terms of action and great battles between top lightweights. While Affliction had some entertaining matchups and the UFC produced an Anderson Silva knockout, DREAM.5 pushed lightweight international stars into the spotlight with the final round of the Grand Prix. The most anticipated matchup of the evening pitted American Eddie Alvarez against T-Blood veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri, arguably a top 3 Lightweight. Undoubtedly, the winner would take on either Shinya Aoki or Caol Uno in the final. We'll break down the action…
Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
This was one of the best fights I've seen from two lightweights so far this year. It was an absolute barn-burner of a fight with both combatants tagging each other with flurries for most of the fight. Kawajiri's typical controlling style on the ground was nullified by Alvarez's sprawl and brawl tactics for most of the fight, but Kawajiri was still able to land some significant flurries to Alvarez's face.
At one point during the matchup, Alvarez sustained a heavy cut under his eye that required some attention. Alvarez was allowed to continue and pushed the pace as Kawajiri continued to throw huge flurries that barely missed their final destination. As the round progressed, the flurries of punches were reminiscent of a Rocky movie, as Bas Rutten put it. Alvarez finally connected flush with a round of punches, and finished off Kawajiri with a powerful shot to the chin. Alvarez made sure it was over as he pummeled Kawajiri with hammer fists and hooks on the ground to end the fight.
I've always believed Alvarez had the tools to make an impact, but not the kind of impact he is making in the top 10 rankings at this point in his career. He has solid wrestling skills, a good sprawl, and powerful striking that can be technical at times. He possesses the all-around skills to make a run at being a top lightweight in the world, and it showed against the powerful "Crusher" in this bout.
Alvarez's chin should get a trophy for its performance against Kawajiri. Many sites failed to mention during their play-by-plays the amount of damage that Alvarez was sustaining during some of the flurries, but he was being tagged relentlessly during some of the exchanges. Although bloody from his cut and those shots, Alvarez continued forward to launch his own attacks that landed much more cleanly and with more power. Determination and scrappiness have come a long way with Alvarez, and fans should want to see him fight regularly. Welcome to the top 5, Eddie Alvarez.
Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno
The matchup between Aoki and Uno got a lot of steam behind it after Uno's impressive performance against Mitsuhiro Ishida. Uno is a legend in the MMA scene from his stint in the UFC and numerous battles with top talent in Japan, but his legacy can only go so far as he ages. Aoki surprisingly defeated "JZ" Calvancante in a fight that I must admit, I found it impossible for Calvancante losing. We didn't see a dominating Caol Uno in this battle, but more of a defensive Uno trying to keep the monkey off his back for most of the fight.
Aoki showed his grappling prowess for most of the matchup, and Uno defended the submission for nearly the entire battle. Aoki had numerous opportunities to submit Uno, and even worked multiple transitions in which he had a number of choices as to which submission he could pull off. Uno isn't exactly green in the ground game, and he was able to stave off being submitted by the premier grappler. It was a dominating performance by Aoki nonetheless, but it did wear on Aoki's conditioning.
Once the final's matchup had been made between Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki, it became a question as to whether who was more tired or hurt. It was obvious that Alvarez's war with Kawajiri was going to be a factor, but Aoki was visibly tired after his decision over Uno. The decision to stop Alvarez from continuing was made later during the event due to doctors claiming Alvarez's cut was too severe to allow him to continue. Most of us called this a sham, and Alvarez was robbed of an opportunity to show the world that he belongs in the top 3. I imagine DREAM will give him the opportunity though in the future. After all, he did prove he can be an exciting fighter in front of the Japanese fans.
Joachim Hansen vs. Kultar Gill
Kultar Gill is an anomaly in this sport. An Alistair Overeem-like prospect at such a low weight class should be able to destroy much smaller opponents with his standup skills. Gill, however, has the unfortunate problem of having poor ground tactics and horrible submission defense. Hansen took advantage.
For the opening minutes of this bout, Gill used his range and knees to score some solid blows to Hansen. Hansen is known for being one of the scrappiest and grittiest fighters in the weight class, and a few choice shots from Gill didn't deter him from moving inside on Gill. Hansen ate a few more shots, but was able to obtain the clinch and eventually push the fight to the floor. Hansen displayed some slick transitioning from the armbar submission attempt to a triangle attempt and back to the armbar for the win. Although it didn't look good for Hansen early, his gameplan worked perfectly in exposing Gill's obvious weakness.
Gill could actually be a product in the future, but his jiu-jitsu needs to be improved dramatically. Even some work on his submission defense and sprawl would help immensely in helping him keep the fight on the feet where he is much more dangerous.
Hansen showed why he's still in contention for a top spot in the lightweight rankings. He has a well-rounded base in both the standup and ground game, and he's always active in trying to end the fight. Solid performance from Hansen.
Lightweight Grand Prix Final: Joachim Hansen vs. Shinya Aoki
As mentioned earlier, Hansen moved onto the final after Alvarez was not cleared to fight due the cut he sustained during the Kawajiri fight. I won't dwell on how unfair this was to Alvarez. We've learned over the years that things like this happen in nearly every promotion on the face of the Earth, so there really isn't any reason to argue over how ridiculous it was to stop Alvarez from fighting.
Aoki was the obvious favorite going into the final, but he had a much longer fight that Hansen while Hansen didn't have to work extremely hard to pull off the win in the reserve match. As expected, the battle hit the floor quickly with Hansen trying to work a strong top control game and punish Aoki.
I'll spare all the minor details and finish our analysis with this: Aoki is still susceptible to ground and pound, just like everyone else in mixed martial arts who tries to work a jiu-jitsu ground game. While Aoki has one of the most dynamic skillsets on the ground, Hansen was able to slip a huge right hand through his defense and knock him out. It wasn't the most exciting knockout we've seen, but it got the job done in handing Hansen the Lightweight Grand Prix belt.
Aoki isn't indestructible on the floor, and Hansen showed that this is mixed martial arts. Anything can happen. Hansen had a solid two fights during the event and remained fresh for the final after his first fight. I would have rather seen an Alvarez vs. Aoki matchup in the final, but I'm sure we'll see that pairing down the road in a future DREAM event.
Other action…
Daisuke Nakamura easily submitted Japanese comedian and K-1 fighter Andy Ologun in the first round. Very lopsided matchup with Ologun not even being a very good K-1 fighter let alone MMA fighter. Nakamura traded for a bit, but simply took the fight to the floor for the submission.
Yoshihiro Akiyama sported the gi for his fight, and easily picked his punches against pro-wrestling personality Katsuyori Shibata. Akiyama spent much of the round waiting for the right time to pounce. He eventually submitted Shibata on the floor with a gi choke at 6:34 of the first round. Uneventful battle for the most part, but Shibata might eventually be able to win some fights if DREAM actually wants to make some stars out of these guys who pull in wrestling fans.
Alistair Overeem made Mark Hunt look terrible by submitting him easily in only 1:11 of the first round. Both men came out striking with Hunt pushing Overeem to the floor quickly into the fight. Hunt went in for the kill, but Overeem was able to reverse the position and get a keylock sunk in on Hunt. Disappointing performance for Hunt. He needs to get back into shape after such a long layoff from the sport, and he needs to work on the ground a bit more if he wants to avoid being "clowned" in such a quick fight.
Overall Analysis
I wasn't able to check out the production of the event as I had hoped, but the fights were very entertaining. Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri is worth watching the event by itself. It was the perfect mixture of back and forth battling and sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for one man to falter.
The other matchups on the card definitely peaked my interest over the preceding week. Hansen being a reserve is always a nice addition, and even though Eddie Alvarez was robbed of his chance to solidify his mark on a top three ranking, Hansen was a nice fill-in. It obviously paid off huge for him, and it likely helped him redeem himself on some of his past losses.
Even with Aoki's loss in the final, his grappling is still some of the slickest we've seen from a lightweight. His ability to put an opponent in danger constantly on the ground is a valuable asset to have in avoiding damage, and he unfortunately wasn't able to control Hansen's wrists enough to stop the incoming barrage that ended the fight. It was controversial during his battle with Uno earlier because Aoki seems to be in love with grabbing his opponent's gloves instead of gaining wrist control. I'd love to see how the rules state that in the DREAM promotion.
Overall, I thought the event was a success and the most entertaining of the weekend action. Most of that is attributed to the lightweights being involved in the event, but as we all know, the faster action always prevails in the excitement factor. I look forward to the future events in DREAM.
cisco kid :: Nov.20.2008 :: General :: No Comments »