Confuseyus: UFC On Versus, UFC 111, UFN 21 & DREAM 13 Predictions (Updated)

Confuseyus

After a bit of downtime we’re upon another great stretch of MMA-not one, not two, not three, but FOUR events in just 10 days starting this weekend! OK, 5 if you count Strikeforce Challengers, but here we’re not. It starts this Sunday with UFC’s first event on Versus featuring Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones in a match of top Light Heavyweight contenders, then the following Saturday UFC returns to New Jersey for UFC 111 with Georges St. Pierre defending the UFC Welterweight Championship against Dan Hardy and Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir for the Interim Heavyweight Championship and perhaps Brock Lesnar in July, finally it’s to North Carolina on 3/31 for UFN 21 featuring TUF 10 winner Roy Nelson’s “official” debut and the UFC return of former PRIDE Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi. And as a bonus, I’ll throw in picks for Monday’s DREAM 13 event in Japan. Too much MMA? Nah. Click below and let’s get to picking. (Updated 3/25)

Confuseyus Special: Fields Dynamite!! Predictions (Updated)

Confuseyus

New Year’s Eve is the biggest day of the MMA calendar each year in Japan as it marks the holding of “Dynamite!!”, the single biggest MMA event on the schedule. Normally co-promoted by K-1 and one of the other MMA organizations, the blowout show is loaded with big K-1 kickboxing and MMA fights bringing out some of the biggest names in Japanese MMA and kickboxing. This year’s version, to be held Thursday, is Fields Dynamite!! and will feature a interpromotional war of sorts courtesy of FEG owned/promoted DREAM and World Victory Road Sengoku on the MMA side, while the K-1 side is headlined by the annual K-1 KOSHIEN (King Of U-18) Semifinals and Finals, aka a tournament for those who like watching high school boys kick each other in the head. This year also marks the final K-1 match in the career of Japanese K-1 icon Masato, who faces fellow K-1 icon Andy Souwer before retiring, so all the stops will be pulled out. The predictions for this event are after the jump, note they will be for only the MMA fights. (Updated 12/29)

Confuseyus: DREAM 11 Results

Confuseyus

Click the link below for quick results from today’s/tonight’s DREAM 11 event in Yokohama, Japan. If you miss it on TV today it will repeat Friday at 10 PM ET on HDNet.

Confuseyus: DREAM 11 Quick Predictions

Confuseyus

Weekday morning MMA is once again upon us thanks to tomorrow morning’s DREAM 11 event from Japan. Although it’s being overshadowed by the next event later this month, the first by the promotion to feature a cage instead of a ring, tomorrow still features a solid card headlined by the crowning of their first Featherweight Champion, a Lightweight Title fight, and the continuation  of that ridiculous Super Hulk Tournament. Since the event’s only a day away, no time for detailed stuff but here are quick predictions for tomorrow’s event.

Something To Keep You All Occupied This Weekend

Won’t be doing much if anything here this weekend, on the road tomorrow to get some fresh air then to a birthday party (where hopefully I will make a good first impression on a birthday girl turning 30…knowing me, I won’t, haha, but hopefully it could at least be the start of a nice friendship) then trying to get to the gym before NASCAR at Indy Sunday, so to keep you busy this weekend comes this, courtesy of SportsNavi (the Japanese version of Yahoo Sports) via Japan-MMA.com:

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/photo/2009072401/index.html

Roughly 40-some pictures from DREAM 10 this past week of none other than the lovely DREAM ring girls. And if you missed it a while back (roughly February), the site’s primary author linked to his popular post showing off the World Victory Road Sengoku ring girls-I posted one or two pics a while back because they claim a couple of beauty pageant contestants, models, and bikini idols among their ranks (keep in mind that quite a few gravure/bikini idols do other modeling work on the side, including being ring girls for MMA & K-1 events as well as being among the ranks of the famed “race queens” at motorsports events throughout Japan):

http://www.japan-mma.com/2009/02/sengoku-ring-girls.html

Enjoy. You’re welcome. And of course thanks to “Borre”, the Japan-MMA author/webmaster, for helping to get my Friday off to a nice start.

Confuseyus: DREAM 10 Preview & Predictions (Updated)

Confuseyus

After putting on quite the freakshow event last time out, DREAM is back with a not-so-freakshow event next Monday with DREAM 10 from Saitama, Japan. This time they’ll crown their first Welterweight champion but the rest of the card is still a bit uncertain beyond that, but rather lean in terms of number of fights. There’s a good chance this preview will be updated a couple times before the event, so check back now & then for more. In the meantime, here’s what it looks like now. (Updated 7/16)

Confuseyus: DREAM 9 Results: No Main Event Winner, Kid Loses!

Confuseyus

Click the link below for results from today’s DREAM 9 event in Japan. If you missed it today, the event will be replayed Saturday at 10 PM ET on HDNet. (Fight videos will be added to the vodpod, if possible, as they become available)

Confuseyus: DREAM 9 Preview & Predictions

Confuseyus

The freakshow is back in town. No, not the circus-DREAM. And for their 9th event on May 26 they are pulling out all the stops-Welterweights! Lightweights! Heavyweights! Super Heavyweights! Jose Canseco! Jose Canseco? Way, Jose. Too good to be true, I know, but all indications it is. Prepare for some serious “only in Japan” MMA wackiness. Click below when you’re ready.

Rant: DREAM Is Becoming A Nightmare For MMA

Just when you thought, after this past weekend, MMA couldn’t get more ridiculous with some of the freakshow matches promoters and bookers come up with…it does. Only In Japan. But this is just absurd and could very well set MMA quite a bit back, at least in my eyes. MMA just started juicing…but this rant is guaranteed steroid-free. Assuming caffeine doesn’t count.

Confuseyus: DREAM 8 Results-Rua Loses, Aoki Quickly Destroyed!

Confuseyus

Click below for results from today’s DREAM 8 event in Japan.

Confuseyus: DREAM 8 Quick Predictions (Updated)

Confuseyus

After a show that produced nothing short of a ratings nightmare, DREAM will try to bounce back with it’s 8th event this Sunday from Japan. Headlining the event is the start of the 8 man Welterweight Grand Prix and finishing up the Featherweight GP round 1.
Due to circumstances beyond my control I will be unable to do the usual detailed preview, so this time I can only do quick predictions for each fight. So let’s prognosticate then! (Last updated 4/4)

Confuseyus: DREAM 7 Quick Results

Confuseyus

Click the link below for quick results from this morning’s DREAM 7 event in Japan.

Confuseyus: DREAM 7 Preview & Predictions

Confuseyus

DREAM is finally ready to get it’s 2009 schedule going, starting with DREAM 7 on Sunday from Saitama, Japan. The card features the start of the DREAM Featherweight GP, a 15-man tournament to be spread out over at least 2 shows between now and September, plus at least 2 non-GP fights with major name talent. Let’s get to work, shall we?

Rant: Chase Beebe Is Pulling A UW(S)C(rew Job) (Updated)

And as a fan I’m not happy about it, although the circumstances didn’t totally catch me off guard. Here’s the deal: BloodyElbow.com first reported that former WEC Bantamweight Champion Chase Beebe, scheduled to face Mike Easton for the UWC Bantamweight Title on tomorrow night’s (Saturday) UWC event, streaming live for free on Sherdog.com (scheduled start time is 7:30 PM ET), may be off. Beebe claims a knee injury has prevented him from training and he may not make weight for the fight, which given it’s a title fight means 135. Beebe’s side, according to the BE write-up, essentially asked for it to be catch weight, meaning Beebe can fight without making weight. UWC said 1 pound over at most (typically Athletic Commissions allow fighters to weigh in at 1 pound over the division limit for non-title fights). Supposedly Beebe is to be examined by a pre-determined doctor (UWC’s choice) if he’s allowed to miss the fight, but a flight that Beebe was supposed to take from Illinois to DC the other day he didn’t take. Below is a link to the original story-please be sure to note the disclaimer inserted at the end by the author:

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/2/19/765032/bloody-elbow-exclusive-cha

The DREAM Becomes A Nightmare-2009 Edition

DREAM-No "Kid" Zone

Pun seriously intended. Japanese MMA can’t catch a break these days, it seems…MMAmania.com is reporting that top Japanese Featherweight Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto will not be ready for the start of the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix, a tournament to start in March to crown the promotion’s first Featherweight Champion. Yamamoto is considered a Top 10 Featherweight in the World and has won 14 straight fights (his overall record is 17-1) but suffered an injury last July 3 days before his scheduled DREAM debut and hasn’t fought since. He hasn’t even been able to train at full speed. This hurts DREAM because not only does the tournament lack perhaps the best Featherweight in the world not named Urijah Faber (so what if he lost to Mike Thomas Brown, too early to judge Brown on what could’ve been a fluke), but Kid has huge drawing power in Japan. His fights would’ve meant a packed house and pretty big TV ratings, the latter of which isn’t helping Japanese MMA much these days. DREAM will liekly do a smart thing and put him in a reserve bout for later rounds, meaning that if he wins that fight and a fighter who wins and moves on can’t continue due to injuries or damage accumulated, he’s in. Worked out quite well for one Joachim Hansen in last year’s Lightweight GP, as Eddie Alvarez made it to the LWGP Finals but couldn’t continue after his semi win due to an injury. So Hansen steps in with his second chance and wins the GP and the title. The tournament certainly will go on and there likely will be some good fighters-especially if they can bring in other top guys like Akitoshi Tamura (coming off a loss at WEC) or Dokonjonosuke “That Tekken Guy” Mishima (former UFC fighter and the current DEEP Featherweight Champion), or other top guys like Hatsu Hioki or “Lion” Takeshi Inoue…but will their promotions let them fight here and if they do, will they succeed, among other things? Time will tell. I remain hopeful for DREAM and Sengoku-the 2 big promotions trying to revive a scene that’s been somewhat stagnant since the fall of PRIDE-and I realize some of this is out of their control, but it hurts nonetheless. Not just for MMA in Japan but all of MMA. The economy being how it is doesn’t help either. At least it’s one thing we can’t blame on the empire that is UFC.