MMA - Dream.9 HDNet Coverage w/ Controversial Finish

Our coverage of Dream.9 from the Yokohama Arena in Japan will be LIVE so feel free to hit F5 or refresh as often as you want for updates!

"Fighters know it's the size of their heart that makes a champion." And the size of Jose Canseco's heart must be bigger than a soccer ball after all the steroids he took. I kid, but seriously, Dream.9 is underway RIGHT NOW. The announcer Michael Schiavello just called Dream.9 "ridiculously stupendous" and I'm already pleased - I think this is the same over-the-top animated guy who does every K1 replay I've ever seen. He's joined by Michael Kogan and Guy Mezger, who is "happy to be here." About as vanilla as you can get.

WOOOOO! The Super Hulk tournament is being kicked off by the entrance of Bob Sapp, complete with Ric Flair robe and music. In the BLUE CORNER - we have the female voice of Pride screaming for Sapp's entrance. As El Guapo would say, "God speed and party on!" And his opponent in the RED CORNER is none other than Ikuhisa Minowa a.k.a. Minowa-Man! Schiavello's non-stop hyperbole is in full effect. "This is truly a happening!" It's truly a spectacle, that's for damn sure.

* Bob Sapp v. Ikuhisa Minowa (Opening Round Super Hulk Tournament Match)

Schiavello of Sapp: "This guy gets the munchies, entire farming communities go out of business." Sapp mean mugs and the bell rings. He charges towards Minowa throwing bombs, Minowa tries to close with him, and Sapp quickly bulls him to the ground. The announcers play like Minowa could go for a submission but if anything it's Bob who gets closest to one - almost taking the back for an RNC. Just under one minute to go Minowa actually manages to switch and wind up on top and HOLY SHIT HE TAPS SAPP OUT.

It looks like he twisted on that giant beefy leg of Sapp's until he just couldn't take it any more - either an ankle lock or heel hook. I'm going to say ankle lock. Minowa-Man pumps his left fist in the air over and over and the crowd chants along with him each time he does. They're eating this up! The bad news for him is he's probably facing Hong Man Choi in the next round.

Just that quickly we're moving on to the Canseco v. Choi match. We see a video package of Choi crushing an apple with the strength of one hand, and then we see another of Canseco cranking homeruns out of the ballpark with statistics that go all the way back to 1988. For some reason NES style baseball graphics and photos of Madonna are shown as well, and the music playing in the background is "Wild Thing." You have to love the promos for Japaese shows! Canseco comes out first and he's ENTERING to Wild Thing too. He has a baseball bat over his left shoulder. Even though he has no abs to speak of whatsoever, I will say his arms look pretty beefy. Here comes Hong Man! I love that PRIDE announcer. Choi isn't from Korea, he's from KORRRREA.

* Hong Man Choi v. Jose Canseco (Opening Round Super Hulk Tournament Match)

Canseco is actually being billed as from Cuba on screen - that's an interesting choice. The judge is explaining the rules to them now. It looks like Canseco has the blue corner and Choi the red. Here we go!! Canseco getes caught with an overhand right almost immediately. "He's last 20 seconds longer than I thought." Canseco is trying to circle, bob and weave like a boxer, but he nearly gets killed with a muay thai knee and runs into a nasty jab. He's lasted a minute now - in fact he's lasted longer than Sapp did! Well I spoke too soon - the fight is ALL OVER. The ref stopped at 1:18 when Choi grounded him and laid in the g'n'p. CHOI GETS THE TKO! Schiavello tries to give Canseco credit for hanging in and one of the other announcers no-sells this and says it was nothing but glorified Celebrity Boxing. Commercial break!

Hype video for the next fight starts with Sokoudjou running through the jungle and climbing trees. I can't even make this up. You'd think they were on safari with all the shots of lions and trees. Apparently we missed the hype video for Nortje. "ME AND MY CLICK WE DON'T GIVE A FUCK." Nortje is coming out to Trick Daddy's "Let's Go." Nice choice! Wow - they're even putting roaring lions into Sokoudjou's entrance music. The Japanese are so shameless about the way they promote shit.

* Sokoudjou v. Jan 'The Giant' Nortje (Opening Round Super Hulk Tournament Match)

The announcers are billing this as the all African battle. A quick check of Wikipedia confirms it - for some reason I thought Nortje was from Europe. Shows what I know. Apparently Rameau Thierry no longer exists and Sokoudjou is a last name only. Here we go! Nortje looks like he could have eaten Sok for breakfast. They get tied up in the corner in the first 30 seconds with Nortje pushing all of his bulk onto him. You hear a call for AKSHUN not once but twice. I wonder if they'll get a yellow card. Sokoudjou and Nortje keep spinning around in the clinch and the ref calls for the clean break 1:20 in. Sok tries to keep distance and throw kicks, and Nortje lumbers towards him. They're saying Nortje weighs 350 pounds and he looks every one of it. Sok takes him down gets side control starts pounding away from half guard and GETS THE STOPPAGE AT 2:30 - SOKOUDJOU WINS!!

IT IS A MELEE IN THE RING!! Apparently Nortje's corner was pissed because Sok threw a couple of extra shots after the ref had already stopped it. The replay confirms that even as the ref was trying to get Sok to stop he was throwing punches and hammer fists AROUND the referee's arms - just blatantly ignoring the signals he was being given. Still the over-reaction by Nortje's entourage was pure pro wrestling. I almost thought someone was going to come in and give Sokoudjou a DQ the way they were selling it, but the decision stands. Commercial!

Time for Gegard Mousasi v. Mark Hunt! Hunt comes out first representing for the blue corner. Schiavello gives the "crazy Japanese lady" her props on how she pronounced Hunt's name on his ring entrance. And in the RRRRRRRED corner it's Gegard MOO-SAW-SEE!!! He should have given her even MORE props for the second introduction, she went all the way with the man from the Netherlands.

* Gegard Mousasi v. Mark Hunt (Opening Round Super Hulk Tournament Match)

I believe this is the last opening round fight of tonight's Super Hulk Tournament. Hard to believe we're on the fourth fight and only 44 minutes into the show. Here we go! Hunt and Mousasi are the closest matched in height of any Super Hulk fight so far, but Hunt still seems to have about a hundred pounds on him. Mousasi stuns Hunt, takes side control on the ground, and is more likely looking for a submission than a full mount. Yup he's going after the left arm for a kimura AND HE GETS THE SUBMISSION OF HUNT AT 1:20. Just like that - the man who once looked like he actually had half a chance in hell of beating Fedor loses his fifth MMA fight in a row. Hard times for Hunt.

Kawajiri vs. J.Z. Calvan is teased as coming up shortly, as Schiavello actually calls this fight "the talk of internet message boards worldwide" and puts over Sherdog! Apparently to stall for time they're running a Dream hype package set to the music of Robbie Williams "Let Me Entertain You." The back of t-shirts are being animated. There's a midget boxing in the ring. And my cat just sat on my chest so now I can't see a thing! Not like it was making sense anyway - it was awesome regardless though. If you want a video of the song (which makes some sense as Robbie Williams is trying to get into KISS with his facepaint) you can watch it HERE. Okay my cat moves and I can see again. Thanks Tango!

"Opening Ceremony." What? Apparently the Super Hulk tournament was the PRELIMS or something! They're putting up graphics for all the announcers. Schiavello: "We've already seen the Super Hulk tournament but now all the real fights begin!" Okay that confirms it. All of the fighters on the rest of the card are being brought out one by one. Yamamoto gets a big pop. Mayhem Miller does a big smile and a whacky laugh. Jacare does his "alligator dance." They're all in the ring and all ready to rock'n'roll!

* Tatsuya 'Crusher' Kawajiri v. Gesias 'J.Z. Calvan' Calvancante (Lightweight Bout)

Calvan hails from BRRRRAZIL in the blue corner. Schiavello notes that Calvan is coming off a loss to Shinya Aoki which he took time off to heal up from over a year ago. Calvan is taking his time making his way to the ring, dancing to the beat and throwing his arms up and down like a robot. The announcers try putting him over as having muscles most people don't have places for muscles - and I admit he's in good shape - but he doesn't look anything like a Dave Batista. Schiavello yells at us to "listen to that ovation" but his entrance music is so loud it's hard to tell the difference between that and whatever crowd reaction he's getting. The last thing we learn as the judge explains the rules is that the oddsmakers have Calvan as a heavy favorite. Here we go!

Calvan presses the action with strikes early. Kawajiri tries to keep him off with kicks. It's not helping. Kawajiri shoots for a takedown at about the 40 second mark. "You knew he was hurt because he took the shot." I was thinking as much myself. Kawajiri nearly got submitted all the way THROUGH the ropes but survived. We're moving up to 90 seconds as Calvan tries to sink in a guillotine choke but had bad position and finally had to let go. Kawajiri winds up on top in the process. At two minutes this is already the longest fight of the night. Kawajiri seems content to be held down by Calvan and try to fire off whatever shots he can, but the ref decides they're too far into the ropes and makes them move to the center of the ring to reset in the same position. 3 minutes gone by. Calvan pulls his head down each time Kawajiri manages to get in a strike. He scrambles and nearly gets up 3:40 in but Kawajiri manages to stay on top. At 4:30 I think this fight is now longer than all the Super Hulk fights put together. Calvan is trying to hold down the arms as we pass the five minute mark, scrambles again, and at 5:20 manages to get back to his feet... but at 5:30 Kawajiri takes him right back down again. They're in the ropes so we get another reset in the middle with Kawajiri on top in the guard. For a second I thought Calvan was looking for a triangle. 6:30 in. You're reading that right - all the first rounds have been 10 minutes tonight. YELLOW CARD! Both men get it for a lack of action, but Kawajiri was far more at fault than Calvan. At 7:30 Calvan hits him with a nice right and then tries to follow up with a single leg takedown, but they end up in the ropes. Kawajiri reverses position, pushes him into the corner and gets a flurry of knees to the thighs. At 8:30 they are seperated again. Good striking by both men as we pass the 9 minute mark. Calvan misses with a head kick and Kawajiri punishes it for him with a series of strikes, then gets a double leg takedown as the round comes to a close. Guy points out that takedowns don't count in Japan like they do in America - they only mean something if you do something with it. He gets a few hammers to close the round so CLEARLY he was doing something with it. I'd score R1 10-9 for Kawajiri... or would that be 20-18 for being twice as long? No, I don't think it works that way in Japan. I'd be amused if it did.

Time for round two! Big right from Kawajiri early in the second. This is a five minute round for those keeping track. K-Man takes him down 30 seconds in. He seems to be getting the better of the fight in almost every way. What happened to JZ being a heavy favorite? He sure as heck doesn't look it. JZ escapes approx. 80 seconds in and the fight stalls out in a clinch war in the corner. Ref breaks them apart for a restart with 2 minutes gone by in R2. About 30 seconds later we're back down on the ground again with Kawajiri on top of him and both men's heads all but under the ropes. The ref calls for a reset with one minute left and gives Kawajiri full mount at center. Time is runing out for JZ - I suspect Kawajiri is on his way to a unanimous decision here. Ten seconds remain and Kawajiri is just content to ride it out on top throwing what little head jabs he can.

First judge - Kawajiri. Second judge - Kawajiri. Hardly matters but the third judge gave it to Kawajiri too so KAWAJIRI TAKES THE UNANIMOUS DECISION AS EXPECTED. Now I need some caffeine to survive. I hope there's a break between fights so I can go get some!

* Hideo Tokoro v. Abel Cullum (Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round)

Cullum comes out with a black cowboy hat on and a bandana over his face, all set to the strains of Kid Rock's "Cowboy." When Tokoro comes out Schiavello describes him as a former janitor "looking to clean up" in this tournament.

Cullum comes out throwing rights. Tokoro responds with knees and kicks. Low left leg kicks snaps into Cullum hard. Cullum goes for a takedown but only has him down for half a second. Tokoro throws a nice head kick when we go back to the standup. Tokoro hits a hard knee to the midsection that rocks Cullum. Tokoro tries to wrap a triangle around his neck, Cullum stands up with him, but wisely doesn't try to slam his opponent and sink the triangle in deeper. This triangle has been on for about two minutes and Cullum hasn't been submitted. In fact at 2:30 he slips out and starts rocking Tokoro with shots. Tokoro recovers and takes the back, and Cullum rolls so he takes the full mount, and Cullum rolls again. They're changing positions so fast the announcers complain they can't keep up and quite frankly neither can I. Finally at 4 minutes Cullum ends up in full guard trying to reign down shots all while Tokoro looks for submissions. At 4:30 they pull apart and go back to the feet. Wild strikes and wild swinging misses by both men! Schiavello: "This is a fantastic contest, one for the annals of time!" Only he can get away with that kind of blatant overselling of a midcard fight that's been by turns great and really sloppy from second to second. We end up back on the ground with Tokoro on top then Cullum going for a knee bar. Tokoro responds by cracking him in the head with his heel. Cullum gets back to the feet with 2:15 left. Tokoro tries to hold the ropes to avoid a takedown but the judge catches him in the act. With his hand freed, Cullum is able to carry him across the ring and slam him down. With 15 seconds left Cullum is on top throwing shots at Tokoro's face with his cornerman screaming "DO SOMETHING NOW!" Cullum did, no worries. I score that round for the Cowboy.

Crazy rolling around on the ground at the start of R2 as Cullum tries to go for a single leg. Tokoro winds up on top, then in full mount, then going for an armbar, then to side control, then to Cullum trying to either sweep or stand up as the corner screams at him to "SUCK IT UP." Cullum was caught with something that was making him bleed. Cullum tries to stand up with Tokoro on his back and TOKORO SINKS IN THE RNC DEEP AND MAKES CULLUM TAP. Good fight, OUTSTANDING finish.

There's one of the long whacky mid-card intermissions going on right now. HDNet Fights did a big profile piece on Joe Warren for the featherweight grand prix, and now the announcers are running down the rest of the card that has yet to take place. Guy Mezger looks very animated talking to Michael Schiavello, but I have no idea what he's saying - I've muted the volume to listen to Wrestling Observer Radio until the live fights start again. That's the only way I can fight from nodding off before this card's over.

* Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round)

Finally this fight gets underway at 7:30 AM EST. Maeda ends up on top early, first throwing rights down the pipe, then getting clinched and held down so he winds up throwing shoulders at Takaya's head. He even tried a jumping knee to the midesection, probably looking to pass. Both men get back to standup with two minutes gone by. Maeda tries to take the fight to the ground at 3:30. At the 4:30 mark we get the interesting visual of Maeda trying to soften up a clinch by throwing elbows at Takaya's thigh. As they both scramble to their feet Maeda hits Takaya with a knee between the eyes. For whatever reason, Takaya was able to survive it. He does have a cut over his left eye though. Maeda seems to be connecting at will now with jabs, hooks and overhand rights. Maeda gets a takedown at the 7:00 mark and starts moving to posture up. Ref calls time to look at Takaya's cut. After the restart at center Takaya desperately tries to break free and Maeda jumps to half guard, then throws short jabs at Takaya's head whenever he gets the chance. Eventually he stands up and stacks Takaya on his head trying to land a big shot, nearly eating an upkick in the process. The fight is stopped and Takaya is given a yellow card for being too passive. 45 seconds to go in R1. I GUESS TAKAYA TOOK THE WARNING FOR INACTION SERIOUSLY! WITH 26 SECONDS TO GO HE LANDS A RIGHT TO THE HEAD STUNNING MAEDA, HE JUMPS ON TO FINISH, THE REF LEAPS IN TO STOP IT, AND TAKAYA WINS BY TKO! Fantastic finish to a fight that the winner had been losing until the moment it was stopped - not unlike Barry v. Hague was at UFC 97. Commercial.

* Masakazu Imanari vs. Bibiano Fernandes (Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round)

Imanari is trying all kinds of kicks. Fernandes tries some ground and pound when he manages to catch one. Imanari gets away and goes back to the standup. Fernandes looks like a heel visually in this fight - he seems bigger, tanner, and just overall meaner. Now Imanari seems to be trying to bait Fernandes into jumping into his guard on the ground. Fernandes is having none of it. Fernandes catches a kicking leg yet again and dumps Imanari on the ground. Once again Imanari refuses to take the bait and just fires off kicks at the legs. These have got to be leaving some nasty bruises. Restart in standup as Imanari wasn't doing enough. 4:30 gone by and Imanari takes one shot and goes back to ground again. 5:05 left to go. If Imanari keeps this up he's going to get a yellow card. At times like these I wish they could give out yellow cards to guys like Anderson Silva in UFC. At one point Imanari takes a dive after LANDING a kick, but at least he quickly stands back up. The judge finally admonishes both men and asks for more action but doesn't hand out the yellows just yet. Imanari starts to give chase with under 3 to go in response but at 2:45 he's on the ground again. Fernandes kicks the legs again and won't jump in. IMANARI GETS THE YELLOW CARD. That was well deserved and well earned. Fernandes lands a knee, gets his opponent's side on the ground, and has one minute left to do damage. Reset to the center of the ring. Fernandes grinds it out from side control for the last 20 without doing much, but he probably takes the round on the whole.

Here we go with R2! Imanari tries flopping to the ground 30 seconds into the round and eats a kick to his posterior, while the announce team debates whether it's better to say "ass" or "backside" in describing it. Fernandes may be hurting Imanari a bit with leg kicks this round. Imanari is on his back again with 2:15 left, what's new? Imanari ALMOST suckers Fernandes into a heel hook but his opponent wisely blocks it and gets away. Fernandes gets a yellow card! Mezger: "If Fernandes gets a yellow card, Imanari should be thrown out of the ring!" I couldn't possible agree more. Mezger: "He just took 10 percent away from a guy who's actually fighting the fight." The second round ends with Imanari flopping to his back yet again. I have a feeling Fernandes takes a unani decision.

FIRST JUDGE - FERNANDES. SECOND JUDGE - FERNANDES. IT DOESN'T MATTER BUT THE THIRD JUDGE SCORES IT FERNANDES TOO AND HE ADVANCES.

* Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto vs. Joe Warren (Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round)

It's the final second round fight of the grand prix and probably the biggest match for the Japanese fans, as they're undoubtedly hoping 'Kid' Yamamoto, a man dubbed "God's Son" in his pre-fight hype video, gets the huge win and represents for his home country. Yamamoto's entrance starts out with the Darth Vader style Imperial Theme and transitions into hip-hop. Warren's theme is far more techno but that's all I have to say about it. The crowd is definitely popping for this fight. Warren is the closest thing to a heel all night as he isn't booed but only gets the lightest of respectful applause.

Warren gets muay thai knees and uppercuts in the first minute of the fight after being stymied on a takedown. Yamamoto gets a knee of his own in a brief clinch but Warren finally gets the takedown he had been looking for as we reach 90 seconds. Things slow as Yamamoto does his best to hold Warren down and prevent him from posturing up. They're almost underneath the ropes at the 2:30 mark and I'm surprised they haven't been reset to center yet. Judge finally pulls them towards center at 2:51. Yes PULLS since Warren doesn't break. At restart Warren picks up Yamamoto and slams him down to the ground. The announcers are all surprised Kid hasn't picked up the win already. Warren tries to pass, has to avoid upkicks, and chooses instead to get back into full guard. More pickups and more slams by Warren. Somewhere along the way Kid got a cut over the left eye and the doctor stops things to take a look. Yamamoto gets a yellow card, I'm not really sure why. Kid lands a big right on Warren at the 4:30 mark. Warren ties him up for a little bit then eats a big liver kick at the halfway point. Yamamoto seems to be picking up confidence in his striking as this wears on. Warren pushes him into the corner at 5:30. They break apart shortly after. Warren eats two lefts and keeps coming. 6:30 gone by. Warren gets some muay thai knees and a right hand as we come up on 7. Warren with an uppercut and a hook pulling the head down at 7:30. The announcers now think Kid may be afraid to pull the trigger and giving Warren too many opportunities. Warren takes him down at 8:30 and winds up in butterfly guard. Warren grinds away getting as much damage as he can in the last minute. Honestly it may be an unpopular call but I'd score R1 for Warren.

Warren comes forward right away in R2. Yamamoto responds with a liver kick. The two trade knees in the corner. Warren misses with a spinning backfist. Kid lands a big left. Warren wisely shoots in. Schiavello: "It's a kaleidoscope of reds and purples on the left side of Warren!" Warren finally gets a takedown in the red corner as we come up on two minutes. Judge calls for a reset in the center of the ring. The crowd pops as Yamamoto throws his legs up but Warren slips away. Judge calls for a standup when things slow for a brief second. Yamamoto hits a right and Warren smiles. As always that's a sign you got hurt by the punch, when you try that hard to no-sell it. Warren goes for the takedown again then back to standup with 90 to go. Warren pushes him into the ropes as we get under 60 left. Warren gets a takedown into half guard and grinds an elbow into Yamamoto's face. He manages to get some hammerfists and a few rights with 20 seconds and jumps to pass the guard. Yamamoto tries to get an armbar in the closing seconds but can't sink it in! Kid has a big mouse under his left eye and a cut on his face to boot. If you go by that you'd think Warren won but it's all up to the judges.

JUDGES CARDS - ONE TO WARREN, ONE TO YAMAMOTO... AND THE THIRD JUDGE CALLS IT FOR WARREN! JOE WARREN WITH A HUGE UPSET!!!

* Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza v. Jason 'Mayhem' Miller (Dream Middleweight Title Fight)

The winner of this bout will claim the vacant Dream Middleweight Title. The pre-fight videos are as pro wrestling as anything has been all night long. Miller cuts a promo about how being #1 in Dream is being #1 in the world. We see videos of him doing his crazy dance moves. Then we see clips of Jacare crawling around on the ground like a crocodile. Then we see Mayhem wearing the lucha mask and ripping the head off a pinata. The whole put of this video may be "Which of these two men is the craziest?" Miller says he often fights with his heart and not his head, but this time he'll be different, and this time he'll create magic.

Mayhem has a choreographed entrance for his title fight, with ten Japanese schoolgirls in short skirts and neckties copying his every move! Schiavello: "God bless you Mayhem you are living my fantasy." Really mate? Is that something you want to admit on live television? Nevertheless it's one HELL of an entrance, the kind only Mayhem in Japan can pull off. Jacare smiles for the crowd and does his alligator clap/chop on the way down to the ring. Following anybody else I would have said Jacare's entrance was charismatic, but you just CAN'T top Mayhem. Before the fight they play the two men's national anthems, starting first with Miller. I don't recall UFC playing the Brazilian or American national anthem before the title fight for Evans and Machida, but once again that's Japan for you. I have to admit it's kind of cool to see Jacare and his whole fight team singing along to the song.

An official reads a proclamation, Mousasi hands over the title he's vacating to an official, the ring announcer introduces both competitors for the title one more time, making sure to pronounce MAYHEM and JACARE correctly, and the judge gives one last explanation to both fighters. Judge, judge, judge, ready, go! We're finally underway!

Both men trade left hands to start. Jacare ducks under a punch by Miller and goes for a takedown. Miller manages to avoid going all the way to the ground by using the ropes to steady himself. The two break apart and throw lefts at each other. Miller already has a cut over his right eye. Jacare gets a head kick just over the hairline that cuts his head right as Jacare is falling down. I don't think Miller was intentionally trying to do it - they issue him a yellow card all the same. Both men have their cuts checked over during a loooooooong delay. If the fight was stopped at this point it would be a no contest - thankfully Jacare's doctor rules he's okay to continue. Jacare immediately goes for a takedown after the restart and gets it. He's smearing blood all over Miller's chest in the process. We've got another stoppage to check the cut and they're calling for a timeout. Miller is being toweled down as well but clearly the concern is almost entirely over Jacare's deep gash. The announcers are pointing out a cut to the top of your head bleeds much more than one to the face and visually that's easy enough to confirm just looking at both men.

THE REFEREE HAS THROWN OUT THE MAIN EVENT, RULING THE CUT CAUSED BY MILLER WAS ACCIDENTAL, BUT DUE TO THE FACT THE BLOOD FROM THE CUT CAN'T BE STEMMED THIS FIGHT IS THROWN OUT AS A NO CONTEST.

Well there's nothing left to say, that's it for Dream.9, I'm gonna go crash. G'night everyone!