Hansen Training with Sakurai; Warren Ticks Off Fernandes

TOKYO -- In preparation for his Dream 11 bout with Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen has spent the last several days with the last man to beat the Japanese MMA ace: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai.

Hansen, the Dream lightweight champion, told Sherdog.com Monday that he has been training in Ibaraki prefecture at Mach Dojo.

“Mach was kind enough to offer me a place at his home and dojo. It was open and had lots of nature around and was far away from the chaos of Tokyo. I could focus on my physical and mental preparation for the fight with my coaches, my teammates, and of course, Mach,” said Hansen, who also mentioned lots of guitar playing between him and Sakurai as another highlight of visiting Mach Dojo.

When asked if Sakurai had any special blessings to give him regarding his title defense, Hansen answered with a wry smile. “Yeah, he told me, ‘You are next (to knock Aoki out like I did.)' I promise tomorrow to do just that and defend my belt. It's heavy metal or no metal at all.”

As no general presser was held after the weigh-ins Monday, fighters could only get in brief comments on their expected performance at tomorrow's event, going down at the Yokohama Arena. While most of the Japanese fighters offered their typical platitudes, featherweight breakout star Joe Warren, as usual, stole the show.

“Happy to be back to win my first set of belts in front of the Japanese audience,” said a jovial, self-assured Warren.

“I look at Bibiano [and he looks] scared as s--t to me. I'd be scared to fight me also, so tomorrow, get ready for the most violent fight you've ever seen.”

The comment had its intended effect in irritating opponent Bibiano Fernandes, who pressed in close for the staredown afterward.

After a solid win over Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante in Dream 9 and a crushing defeat to Masato Kobayashi in July's K-1 MAX, Tatsuya Kawajiri has decided to keep up his high work-rate in taking his fifth fight of 2009. He’ll meet Spike 22 gym leader Melchor Manibusan.

“Well, I had all these fights, and then I just got married, and all these ceremonies and parties are coming up for that. Yeah, I'm totally busy these days,” said a grinning Kawajiri.

Though Kawajiri arguably won his spot as the No. 1 contender in defeating Cavalcante, he expressed that Tuesday's fight was fueled by a desire to keep his MMA gears oiled.

“I wanted to fight for the title after winning, so when I lost to Masato, I just wanted to get the feel for MMA again,” he said. “Looking back, in 2007, I didn't fight at all, so I'm making up for lost time. Plus, when you have a job, you have a job. You gotta do it.”

Naturally, the standout Japanese lightweight has his eye on the evening's lightweight title bout between Hansen and Aoki, though he has no preference for whom he'd like to see win.

“It doesn't matter, either will be good,” Kawajiri said. “They're both very strong, but really, my interest is in that belt. That's all.”