WKR's Post-DREAM.15 Thoughts

Japanese MMA lives on! 

Early Saturday morning, Dream put on a solid, if not spectacular, show which saw Shinya Aoki bounce back from his tough defeat to Gilbert Melendez this past April in Strikeforce to successfully defend his title against the man many thought would be the one to dethrone him, Tatsuya Kawajiri. 

With the absence of Alistair Overeem from the card, there were only seven total matches, all of which entertained in one form or another. 

Here are some random thoughts regarding the event:

• In what came as a major surprise, Aoki ditched his trademark magic grappling pants in favor of traditional shorts for his title defense. Although in a subsequent interview, Aoki played it off by saying that, "There's no need to wear long [pants] in every fight," WKR believes this decision was made to prove that he doesn't need them to win and doesn't want the ignominy that stems from people thinking he can't be successful in the U.S. because of his inability to wear grappling pants there. 
• We'll wait and see how long he'll be out of action and how serious his injuries are before coming to a final determination, but as of now it's hard not to question "Crusher" for his stubborn refusal to tap when he first realized he was in trouble and couldn't get out. Aoki stated that he knew that Kawajiri "wouldn't tap," so he knew he had to "destroy his leg." Umm, that's not good. Leg locks are nothing to mess around and it's possible that Kawajiri may never be the same after his foot was put through the MMA equivalent of The Mangler.
• With his bizarre stance, unorthodox combos, and wicked liver kicks, Katsunori Kikuno has become one of the most exciting Japanese fighters around. Problem is that Dream officials had hoped to set up a fight between him and the winner of the Aoki/Kawajiri fight and he lost to Gesias Cavalcante. Kikuno is still the DEEP Lightweight Champion and could face Aoki in October, as Aoki has already confirmed that he will be participating in that event. 

SBN coverage of DREAM.15

• In his first bout in a little over 13 months, "JZ" passed a stiff test in rising star Kikuno. Perhaps we can chalk it up to ring rust, but JZ's striking wasn't as crisp as it's been in the past and his wrestling looked sloppy at times. Credit goes to him for eating a lot of hard shots in the first round, yet continuing to stand his ground. Despite this, I had Cavalcante edging Kikuno in the first round and there's no question he dominated the entire second to earn the split decision nod. While Cavalcante didn't blow us out of the water -- he did what he needed to do to get back in the win column for the first time in almost three years. We'll now see how he fares in Strikeforce when he makes his debut there later this year...
• In the joke of the evening, Jake O'Brien was squashed by Gegard Mousasi in just over half a minute. Hopefully, we'll get to see Gegard face a tougher challenge soon as he certainly wasn't tested by O'Brien.
• After his weigh-in debacle, O'Brien probably won't be invited back to participate in another Dream event anytime soon. That is unless they need another last-minute opponent for Alistair Overeem...
• It wasn't a good night for Melvin Manhoef, who suffered his fourth loss in his last six MMA bouts. Melvin briefly looked effective on his feet but eventually got battered by Tatsuya Mizuno. At one point, as Melvin's head laid outside the ring, he was using the padding on the ring post as protection from the bombs that Mizuno was raining down on him. In one of the many strange decisions made by Dream officials, they elected not to restart the fight in the middle of the ring. However, it was of little consequence as Mizuno ended the bout by locking in a kimura moments later.  
• In a bout that never would have been sanctioned in the U.S., Omigawa defeated winless Jong Young Sam after sinking in a fight-ending guillotine choke near the end of the first round. Omigawa looks strong at featherweight and seems to be ready for a shot at the title, so why not stop giving him winless cans and set up a fight between him and Dream champion Bibiano Fernandes?
• Mitsuhiro Ishida's featherweight debut (or as Michael Schiavello calls it, "day-boo") was a successful one as he outlasted DJ.taiki to take a unanimous decision in a bout that saw Ishida's gnarly cauliflower ear once again leak blood (a disgusting sight, if there ever was one). After having mixed success in the lightweight division, it seems as if Ishida has found a good home in the featherweight division which sets up many interesting future match-ups for him. Personally, I'd like to see him take on Hiroyuki Takaya next. 
• Compounding M-1 Global's problems (and making Fightlinker's subo very happy), Karl Amoussou dropped a decision to Yoshida Dojo pupil Kazuhiro Nakamura. Amoussou never was able to get his strikes going as his takedown defense was virtually nonexistent. Nakamura didn't do much damage from guard but was able to repeatedly gain the takedown which in the end won him the fight. Disappointing performance from Amoussou and I didn't see anything from Nakamura that would lead me to believe he could be successful against a fighter that has a modicum of takedown defense. Basically, I'm saying that despite two straight wins, Nakamura shouldn't be waiting by the phone for the UFC to call and ask him back.  
• Caol Uno's back fighting in Japan and will be making his return on the DREAM.16 card. Only instead of coming back to the lightweight division, this time he'll be competing as a featherweight. I'd love for him to take on Joachim Hansen in what would likely be a barn-burner of a fight. 
• Yellow cards, yellow cards, yellow cards! The officials were handing them out like candy on Halloween. It was insane and as more than one member of the BE Night Crew suggested, perhaps they were being used to help subsidize the cost of the event. Preposterous, I say! That was nothing more than late night, alcohol-fueled crazy talk, right? Right?