DREAM 2 Video, plus more

Found at Nightmare of Battle, a great place to stop by for up to date Japanese MMA news.

NOB said it was a “great” video. I agree with him (or her?) to a point. It’s good because it has a bunch of famous fighters in it. But man, DREAM is in dire need of Sato Daisuke to step in and show a brother how to edit a promo video. That video had oodles of potential to be gut-bustingly awesomely pumperific. But instead it was flat and uninspiring.

Check out some of Mr. Sato’s work to see how it should be done:

My all-time favourites, the Pride GP 2004 Final Round opening and the promo for Cro Cop vs. Fedor… Brings a tear to the eye, spelling mistakes and all…

PRIDE 2004 GP opening movie

Uploaded by torihada

Fedor Emelianenko vs Mirko Crocop

Uploaded by torihada

Yarennoka 2007 opening

Uploaded by torihada_man

Fedor vs Nogueira ×1 OP

Uploaded by torihada_man

Watched all those DREAM videos.

Watched all the videos in this post. Very enjoyable!

So, here are my thoughts.

• I’m not sure who this was made by, but it has the same feel as all the Pride pre-fight videos.
• There is a hell of a lot of talk about Fedor. Despite the fact that he is not a part of the organisation, they have no qualms about fighters like Cro Cop saying that he is probably the best fighter in the world right now. They show footage of Fedor’s fights, and his sambo escapades. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t end up fighting for DREAM, after seeing these videos.
• It really is an absolute who’s who of MMA, apart from a handful of stars on the North American circuit. These videos truly got my pumped about the promotion. It all looks almost too good to be true… It seems that Pride the ship went down, but all the passengers survived and are now cruising on the good ship DREAM. There’s Cro Cop, Aoki, Calvan, Uno, Kid Yamamoto, Kawajiri, Akiyama, Sakuraba, Tokoro, and in fact Fedor’s name is directly mentioned along with the others, as if he already was a part of the promotion… I need to be careful, I’m getting a killboner in my brain just writing all these names in the same sentence.
• Aoki is being pushed as the great Japanese hope. He’s also got the mind of a pervy old Japanese businessman.
• Actually, the more I watch the videos in terms of production, the more I feel they have a stronger K-1 / Heroes influence than a Pride one. Although they were always very similar, I was reminded of the K-1 / Heroes TV broadcasts.
• Crusher Kawajiri is absolutely fucking ripped. I had no idea the guy was such a monster.
• Saturday night is alright for fighting.

Does Fedor / Couture have to be in the UFC?

 

 

I want some responses to this question!

In my desperation waiting for the Fightlinker podcast, I have been listening to the absolute drivel that is excreted by the slubs from Sherdog.

There’s the Savage Gross Show, The Beatpunch, the Fuck Awesome Shit Show, the I don’t know whatever the fucking shitting hell they want to call it but every single show might as well be renamed

“The barely-awake-irritable-smarmy-condescending-morons-recorded-in-a-submarine-

then-post-processed-in-a-food-blender show”

And the ads! Don’t get me started on the ads. Anyway, I think I heard it on the show with Josh Gross and TJ De Santis (their chemistry is “brilliant”… Josh Gross sounds as though doing a radio show about MMA is some kind of community service sentence handed down by a judge for exposing his genitals to a kindergarten. TJ De Santis takes the full brunt of his lazy, barely concealed hatred until a caller comes on, then De Santis assumes role of smarmy condescender for a few minutes.)

Basically Gross said that he didn’t care where any fight took place (ie with what organisation), as long as the fight was compelling. And that got me to thinking.

The one fight that I really, really give a shit about at the moment is Couture vs. Fedor. This is absolutely the fight of the ages. No question that Randy’s storied history, plus his incredible comeback, put him as one of the greatest fighters ever to hold a belt in the UFC, and one of the best in the world, full stop. Fedor’s complete and unblemished domination of Pride’s heavyweights also guarantees him a place as one of the finest fighters of our time. Those two meeting absolutely has to happen.

But the question is where?

I’m all for other organisations coming up to challenge the UFC. I think it’s good for the fans, and good for the fighters, to have some choice. A monopoly is never good for anyone except the monopolisers.

But right now, at this moment, or in 2008 when I hope this fight happens (and I feel dirty saying this,) I really really want the fight to happen in the UFC.

The UFC carries weight. When you watch someone fight in the UFC, it feels important. It feels legitimate. Ken Shamrock fought in Cage Rage the other day, and it barely registered a twitch on my patented Emotionometer. However, when Shamrock fought Tito Ortiz a while back in the UFC, my Emotionometer was flipping wildy from “Seriously pumperised” to “God shit this is so exciting.”

All the other shows, and I mean all of them, play second fiddle to the UFC. Not something I like, but it’s true. It would be a crime for the biggest fight of the decade not to happen in the biggest promotion of our time.

I suppose I could settle for seeing them slug it out in DREAM, but even so… DREAM doesn’t feel permanent, and doesn’t have the history of the UFC. Randy and Fedor fighting in an organisation that could go tattooed-tits up any moment just wouldn’t have the gravity it would have if they fought in the UFC.

What do you think? In an ideal world, where would this megafight take place?

Would you be happy seeing it on HDNet alongside Johnny Buttnuggets versus Peter Dillfarb for the PMT Super Light Featherweight Championship?

Would you want to see it in Elite XC and being commentated by Mauro Ranallo?

Or an organisation based around a t-shirt company?!

Like it or not, there’s only one company big enough to pump up Fedor vs. Randy to the levels it deserves, and it’s the one headed by the bald guy who says fuck a lot…

Oh and if I have to hear any more stupid Sherdog staff members butcher Fedor’s name (sometimes multiple times in the same sentence) … It’s not FEEDOR, F’DUR, FAYDOR, or FUNDABBDOOZIE. It’s fucking Fyodor. Goddamn idiots.

PUMPED about NYE?!?!?!

So the New Years Eve MMA scene in Japan went from being about as exciting as watching men’s figure skating to as awesome as inhaling TNT whilst boning Lucy Liu during an earthquake with two tiny crocodiles nibbling on your nipples.

First, K1’s Dynamite spectacular.

We are going to see Rani Yahya against Yamamoto Kid. Kid showed in his last fight that he can be really pushed by a strong and skilled, elite-level BJJer. Yahya may not be as strong as Bibiano Fernandes, but his BJJ is world-class (as Joe Rogan would say in between frowning at Mike Goldberg’s overenthusiastic use of the word “teep”). Kid is always exciting, so this should be a fantastic fight.

We are going to see Sakuraba against Funaki. Putting aside the fact that these two guys combined ages probably reaches over 100, this is going to be awesome. Two absolute legends, and they both like a bit of the old grapple grapple, so it should be a chessmatch between two greats. Here’s hoping it’s not a fly-swatting match between two pensioners, or a yawn-inducing snooze fest a-la Gracie Sakuraba II.

Then there’s the rumours of Kharitonov, Minowaman, Tokoro, and Melvin Manhoef (last spotted ripping the heads off babies and skewering them on his penis) all competing which pretty much make this a can’t miss.

Second, the revival of Pride… or is it? A quick glance at the website ( http://www.yarennoka.com/ )reveals that Pride’s Japanese web designer clearly wasn’t out of a job for long… I also hear that Sato Daisuke will be involved. He’s the one who made all the majorly pump-tastic introduction clips for the Japanese broadcasts of Pride… I compiled a couple here.  Basically, everyone who was involved in Pride is involved in this special event. Yarennoka means “Can’t we do it?!” and was one of Antonio Inoki’s catchphrases. His others being the equally as inventive “ONE TWO THREE DAAAAAAAAAAH” and its derivate, “DAAAAAAAAAAAAA” (while slapping you in the face.)

Basically a bunch of the Japanese MMA scene’s bigwigs got together ( Monte Cox (CEO of M-1 Global), Shigeru Saeki (DEEP) and Sadaharu Tanigawa (FEG)) and decided to make a totally awesome MMA spectacular, and a shitload of cash for themselves. They all claim this is a farewell to Pride, rather than a revival. Takada is on board… you may remember him from such disasters as “Man with a nappy on bangs a huge drum for ten minutes”. Takada said he’d only get involved with Yarennoka if he could get Gomi on the card. Well that didn’t happen, but still…

We are going to see Shinya Aoki against Gesias Cavalcante. This has got Japanese MMA fans salivating harder than Gabe Ruediger in a Mister Donut. Can Aoki’s high-flying submission style beat the ape-like strength and aggression of “JZ Calvan”? (Hint: no. Aoki will take too much punishment trying to reverse boston crab JZ’s earlobes.)

Then there is the strong possibility of Fedor fighting the Techno Goliath, Choi Hong Man. While I am disappointed that such a great man has been reduced to a comedy match worthy of a K-1 main event, I am also pretty pumped to see Fedor pummelerizing the be-tumoured one’s rather large head into a giant Korean flavoured pancake. Other rumoured competitors include Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Kazuo Misaki, Joachim Hansen, Luiz Azeredo, Ricardo Arona, Gilbert Melendez, Aleksander Emelianenko, Mark Hunt… basically, it is going to be sweeeeeeeet as.

I’m pretty pumpalised about the whole thing, really.

If you’d like to keep up with Japanese MMA news, I recommend the following sites. Bookmark them if you haven’t already!

http://nightmareofbattle.wordpress.com/
http://sukimma.blogspot.com/
http://www.fightopinion.com/

Emilianenko brothers videos

Lots of interesting videos here of the brothers Grimm.

Fedor is keeping himself busy with the World Combat Sambo championships.

The definition of PUMPED

Here is a little showdown from 2005’s Pride Middleweight GP Final Event.

This was a heavyweight title match, shown before the finals of the GP.

I have found two clips. The first is the build up to the fight, which is absolutely AWESOME, complete with the Terminator theme.

Two of the sport’s absolute legends preparing to do battle.

The second video is the fight itself. It is a beautiful fight.  I want Fedor’s man-babies.

The Build Up:

The Fight:

PS Still training.

Thoughts: Coach says all I need to improve to stand a chance of getting my blue belt is my defence against getting my guard passed. Sounds fair enough to me.

Collecting some of my favourite clips.

Some good ones that everyone should see.

Bonus points for spotting the odd one out!

Fedor vs. his sombo coach in an exhibition in Korea. Sweeet.

Third Man by Boondock, great highlight maker.

Another Boondock highlight, Furious Angels

Highlight of Marcelo Garcia, an amazing grappler.

Highlight of Jacare. I think currently he is my favourite grappler. Amazing power, technique, and determination. See the part where Roger Gracie breaks his arm and he still wins the match for proof of that.

Eddie Bravo’s Rubber Guard private seminar from the Japanese DVD/Mook I just bought
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Why do I Watch MMA? By Robert Park. Looking dated now but a good package nonetheless.

Wonderdog