Dream and Sengoku join forces for New Year’s Fights
Tony Loiseleur of Sherdog.com reported earlier today that the top two Japanese MMA promotions, Dream and Sengoku, will join forces to co-promote on their new year’s spectacular together. Needless to say, this is a true “Holy shit!” moment for American and Japanese MMA fans alike. FEG president Sadaharu Tanigawa and World Victory Road representative Sumio Inamura confirmed the cooperative effort at a joint press conference on Wednesday at the ANA Intercontinental Hotel. The event will be held on New Years Eve at the Super Saitama Arena.
This being Japan, no bouts have been announced yet but there are expected to be 5-7 matches that will be cross-promoted, meaning Dream fighter VS Sengoku fighter.Rumored to be on the card, moreso since both fighters were present at the press conference, would pit Judo Olympics gold medalist Satoshi Ishii’s MMA debut against Barcelona Olympics judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. Many other fighters were present at the presser, including Shinya Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba, and the names below, the only ones to stir the pot:
The only cross-promotional challenge seemed to come from welterweights Hayato Sakurai and Akihiro Gono, who hinted that they had an interest in facing each other. In addition, Sengoku lightweight champion Mizuto Hirota called out an absent Dream fighter Eddie Alvarez, asking gathered press, “Wouldn’t [fans] want to see me knock him out?”
More details to come as this event is put together. I am beyond excited to see this event happen. It is not of the magnitude of Pride VS UFC, which sort of happened but not really. This is also a sign of the economic stress of both companies. The NYE shows are typically rating wars between pro wrestling, kickboxing, and MMA shows, and the fact that two of the bigger names are joining up is sure to bring a very large market share together on one station. In the meantime, what do you guys think should be the matches on this card?
PS If anyone finds pics of Sakuraba from this presser wearing his Evangelion mask, post the link! I need to get my anime nerd on!
You can read the original post on Sherdog.com at http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Dream-vs-Sengoku-on-New-Years-Eve-Made-Official-21164
I was kind of holding onto the hope that Eddie Alvarez would get a 2nd crack at Aoki. But with rumors that Aoki’s next fight will be in the US on a Strikeforce-promoted show and this Dream vs WVR now, that’s looking less and less likely.
I’m a little skeptical that Eddie will face Hirota, just because I can’t imagine WVR wants to risk any of their belts leaving the promotion. Particularly on the waist of a gaijin.