By Joe Ferraro
The long awaited Dream 11 Card finally came to be. It was a long time coming for yours truly as there were so many bouts with so many of my favourites on this card. Joachim Hansen, a sentimental favourite due to his ties with my own MMA family here in the Greater Toronto Area, Tatsuya Kawajiri – who I would love to see fight BJ Penn, and of course, Kazushi Sakuraba…one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.
Let’s get to the bouts in chronological order:
Featherweight Grand Prix Reserve Bout: Kazuyuki Miyata vs DJ. Taiki
The winner of this bout would be placed on stand by reserve, with hopes to fight in the finals, should one of the semi-finalist winners be unable to compete.
Miyata’s first takedown attempt from the clinch was very well executed, as he transitioned to the rear mount. He started working for a “twister” and lucky for Taiki, he saw it coming. If he didn’t keep his head flat on the mat and stopped Miyata’s left arm from reaching around, the fight would have ended very quickly.
Miyata’s wrestling and positional control was excellent. He’s left knees to the body while inside Taiki’s half-guard were awesome. Miyata ended the first round by passing to side, getting mount, pounding Taiki from the top until he was able to gain his back and close of the round with some bombs.
In round two, Miyata starts with a strong left knee and left hook, followed by another left hook and double leg takedown. Sort of reminded me of how GSP took Penn down in their third or fourth round at UFC 94. He tried to ground and pound his way to victory but to no avail. They eventually get stood up and after another Miyata takedown, Taiki secures a tight guillotine, but Miyata escaped.
With forty seconds left, Miyata lands a suplex and is caught in Taiki’s guard. Both guys end the round swinging leather at each other.
Winner: Kazuyuki Miyata via unanimous judges decision
Featherweight Semi-Final Bout: Hiroyuki Takaya vs Hideo Tokoro
Both guys came out very intense and focused, with Tokoro beig far more precise with his attacks, that is, until Takaya lands an excellent three punch combo just over two mins in. The tide appears to be changing and Tokoro shoots in, but Takaya sprawls and brushes him off.
By the midway point of the first round, Takaya is in complete control, landing hard punches that are hurting Tokoro. He punishes Tokoro in every facet of the game. He stuffs a takedown and makes him pay with knees, leg kicks and when they are standing, more punches and knees. A few Takaya punches land around Tokoro’s left ear and you could just see the damage they caused.
After Tokoro landed a few of his own, he decides to pull guard, and pays a serious price, with Takaya pounding up out bigtime, to close off the first frame. Round one goes to Takaya
The second round was a disaster for Tokoro. A left hand from Takaya drops him and subsequent punches finish off his night. Takaya advances to the finals.
Winner: Hiroyuki Takaya via TKO
Featherweight Semi-Final Bout: Joe Warren vs Bibiano Fernandes
Although he is only 2-0, Joe Warren arrived at DREAM 11 as the favourite to win the tourney. Standing in his way en route to the finals, was Bibiano Fernandes, a veteran of seven professional fights and one whose record lists only two losses; defeats to the highly ranked Urijah Faber and Kid Yamamoto. Originally from Brazil, Fernandes now resides in Langley, BC and is one of the star instructors at Revolution Martial Arts.
Ironically enough, it was Warren who defeated Yamamoto in just his second fight, so on paper, he should be able to outlast Fernandes, but that was not the case.
As the fight begins, both guys immediately clinch with Warren getting the takedown, but Fernandes able to get back to his feet. Warren eventually comes in for another takedown and with Fernandes jumping to guard, Warren slams him down to the mat.
With his left arm posted on Fernandes torso, he begins to rain down punches, but Fernandes uses Warren’s arm as a tool to spin around an lock in a lightning fast arm bar that ends the bout in a flash. Controversy ensues as Warren stated he did not tap, with Fernandes losing his marbles, storming out of the ring.
Regardless, the transplanted Brazilian-Canadian earns a right to fight Hiroyuki Takaya in the finals.
Winner: Bibiano Fernandes via arm bar
Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Final Bout: Hong Man Choi vs Ikuhisa Minowa
Minowaman, who has the unfortunate history of being part of some of the most historic MMA bouts where he was outweighed by nearly double, was paired up against a giant, in Hong Man Choi.
Minowaman starts with a shoulder roll (there’s a shocker) and begins to size up the distance between he and Choi. At one point he runs away from Choi and performs one of his acrobatic rolls in hopes to catch Choi’s leg for a leg lock or at least to get the fight to the mat. Choi has none of it and wanted to keep the fight standing.
After a couple of instances where both fighters do end up on the ground, they stand up and Minowama shuffles his fists forward, to which Choi mocks him back by doing the same thing. The crowd laughs but I’m glad the referee informed both of them to “fight”.
Minowaman lands a stiff overhand right that Choi responds with a nice knee to the face, but Minowaman secures the takedown and gets into side control. He ground and pounds but does not cause enough damage so the referee stands them up.
The next few minutes are spent with Choi picking apart his smaller opponent. There is an actual classic moment where after being on the mat, Minowaman stands up and trades punches, with Hong, who is on his knees – they were nearly the same height. The first round closes out with both fighters visibly gassed and in desperate need to catch their breath.
Round two starts off slow until Minowaman gets the fight to the ground and eventually a scramble ensues, where he turns Choi onto his back, while securing his left leg underneath his right arm. He eventually transitions to heel hook finishing off the giant and securing himself a birth in the finals.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa via heel hook
Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Final Bout: Ramaeu Thierry Sokoudjou vs Bob Sapp
Sapp starts off strong, but Sokoudjou eventually gets the takedown. He lands in side control and begins the ground and pound. It didn’t take long for Sokoudjou to finish of “The Beast”, whose ground game is, well, never was.
The one disturbing factor in this bout was Sokoudjou’s continued punching of Sapp, even after the bout was stopped by the referree. He did the same thing in his bout with Jan Nortje. As much as I like Sokoudjou, he should be fined heavily for that.
He now moves onto the finals of the tournament, and will take on Minowaman, New Year’s Eve at Dynamite!
Winner: Sokoudjou via TKO
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Ruben Williams
Sakuraba, an MMA legend, who at this point is past the twilight of his career, was matched up against Ruben Williams, a pro-boxer making his MMA debut.
The Japanese icon immediately started throwing leg kicks, which immediately frustrated Williams…he almost looked confused that Sakuraba was allowed to do that in a fight. Sakuraba intelligently confuses Williams until he eventually goes for an ankle pic, transitions to a single leg, gets the takedown and immediately gets side control.
At this point, it’s a cat playing with a mouse as Sakuraba lands punches and knees while setting up an arm bar. He then starts playfully slapping Williams on the head and back, more or less to keep the American guessing as to what’s next.
What’s next is not an arm bar, but a Kimura on William’s right shoulder…I wonder if this was his easiest professional victory to date?
Winner: Kazushi Sakuraba via Kimura
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Melchor Manibusan
This was an obvious mismatch, something very typical to matchmakers in Japan. On paper, Manibusan was simply no match for Kawajiri.
To his credit, Manibusan starts of strong, throwing bombs and backing Kawajiri into the corner. The Japanese lightweight, nicknamed “The Crusher” eventually reverses him and takes him down to the mat. He lands in half guard and after a minute or so, passes to side control and immediately transitions to mount.
I look at my watch and start counting backwards from 60 seconds…as the ground and pound begins, it’s just a matter of time. Kawajiri pounds his way to victory in a bout that should have been stopped much sooner by the ref. Manibusan had no answer and could not escape. He covered up and that is the only answer he had. Late stoppage but an easy workout for Kawajiri.
Unfortunately, this does nothing for his rankings in the lightweight division but simply keeps him in line for a crack at the Dream Lightweight Title, and face the winner of tonight’s title fight between champion Joachim Hansen and Shinya Aoki.
Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO
Dream Lightweight Championship Match: Joachim Hansen vs Shinya Aoki
The long awaited lightweight championship match between Hansen and Aoki has been one many of the hardcore MMA fans have had circled on their calendars for a very long time.
The bout saw both guys on the ground, with Aoki controlling from the top. Hansen kept the Japanese submission wizard humble though, with a slick arm bar attempt, a barrage of elbows and up kicks, one of which hit Aoki in the groin, halting the bout.
With seconds left in the final round, Hansen was trapped by an Aoki arm bar attempt The champion had to be careful as to which way he moved, as a wrong decision would see Aoki potentially finish the fight.
And that he did – Aoki locks in the arm bar, earning himself the title, as the new Dream Lightweight Champion. Here’s hoping Hansen now drops down to featherweight.
Winner: Shinya Aoki via arm bar.
Featherweight Finals: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
This was a spirited affair with both fighters going back and forth landing various punches and laying it all on the line. Takaya nailed Fernades with a left hook that split the Brazilian open. It did not matter as Fernandes kept pushing forward engaging in any slugfest that Takaya was offering.
It appeared as if Takaya was getting the upper hand, but ironically enough, the Japanese judges were split on their decision.
It was a razor thin choice to make, but in the end, Bibiano Fernandes had two judges on his side, and was awarded the victory, earning himself the title as the winner of the DREAM 11 Featherweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion
Winner: Bibiano Fernandes via split decision
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