There’s the vale-tudo of old, modern MMA, and the sport the way it’s done in Japan, which is a whole different creature. To not let fight fans down as they usher in the new year, the promoters of Dream has decided to go all out for their next show. Besides Fedor Emelianenko facing highly touted local judoka Satoshi Ishii, there’s room on the card for the little-guy GP and even some worked fights.
The biggest surprise to arise on the card is Tim Sylvia, who will be doing a bout of pro-wrestling. Tim was set to take on the heavy-handed Brett Rogers, who allegedly had visa problems and could not make it to Japan. According to the website Heavy.com, Sylvia accepted a match under pro-wrestling rules against K-1 star Jerome LeBanner so as not to have to sit out the event.
“The Mainiac,” who has 37 fights on his MMA record and won six of his last seven encounters, will be making his choreographed-fighting debut. Under the same rules, Josh Barnett enters the ring against Hideki Suzuki, Peter Aerts faces Kazutuki Fujita, and Kazushi Sakuraba will “fight” both Shinichi Suzukawa and Atsushi Sawada at the same time, alongside sidekick for the endeavor Katsuyori Shibata.
The night of December 31 in the Saitama Super Arena also features Bibiano Fernandes (Carlson Gracie Canada) squaring off with Rodolfo Marques (Nova União) in one of the bantamweight GP semifinals. The winner goes on to face the victor of the Antonio Banuelos-Masakazu Imanari matchup on the same night.
Check out the card:
Dream “Genki Desu Ka”
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
December 31, 2011
Hiroyuki Takaya vs Takeshi Inoue
Antonio Banuelos vs Masakazu Imanari
Bibiano Fernandes vs Rodolfo Marques
Fedor Emilianenki vs Satoshi Ishii
Shinya Aoki vs Satoru Kitaoka
Tatsuya Kawajari vs Kazuyuki Miyata
Megumi Fujii vs Karla Benitez
Hayato Sakurai vs Ryo Chonan
Hideo Tokoro vs Yusup Saadulaev
Pro-Wrestling
Tim Sylvia vs Jerome Le Banner
Josh Barnett vs Hideki Suzuki
Peter Aerts vs Kazutuki Fujita
Kazushi Sakuraba e Katsuyori Shibata vs Shinichi Suzukawa e Atsushi Sawada