DREAM.3 Press Conference
TOKYO, May 10, 2008 -- It's a DREAM come true, and in
high-definition. Tomorrow's DREAM.3 Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 2nd
Round at the Saitama Super Arena is taking place in association
with American sports entertainment company ProElite, and will be
broadcast live in the United States on HDNet Fights television.
Confident that the hookup will provide a tremendous boost to all involved parties, DREAM's Keiichi Sasahara and FEG's Sadaharu Tanikawa today welcomed ProElite's William Kelly and T. Jay Thompson to a press conference at the Hotel East 21 Tokyo. After introducing himself in flawless Japanese, Kelly waxed enthusiastic regarding the new alliance.
"Last year's Dynamite USA at the Los Angeles Coliseum was the largest attended mixed martial arts event ever in the USA," he said. "ProElite is delighted that we will be building on that by sharing fighters and referees and doing co-promotions in Japan and the US, and potentially the UK and Korea also. Japan is important to ProElite, and we have great US television partners, so we can bring DREAM to the American public."
Tomorrow's DREAM Lightweight GP qualifier will see winners from the inaugural DREAM event meeting in a trio of bouts in the under 70 kg/154 lbs weight class, with victors advancing to the Osaka DREAM.5 Lightweight GP Final in July. The card features five additional contests in a variety of weight classes. Today, the 16 participating fighters shared their thoughts with the media.
In the Main Event, it will be Japanese legend Caol Uno (Pictures) meeting compatriot Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures).
Ishida was openly critical of Uno being given a bye to the second round of the Lightweight GP, and said today that was excited to have a chance a shot at the 33 year-old mixed martial arts star. "My goal is simply to get Uno," said the wrestler, "nothing else."
Uno said he felt a "good nervousness" on the eve of the bout, and would "make a fight deserving of the Main Event."
In the card's penultimate fight, another Lightweight GP matchup, it will be the explosive Joachim Hansen (Pictures) of Norway taking on American wrestler Eddie Alvarez (Pictures).
Said Alvarez: "I spent six hard weeks preparing for this, and I am in the best shape of my life, by far. I'm always relaxed before a fight, and I bear no animosity toward my opponent. But when we get in the ring tomorrow, my feelings will come out I will put on the best performance of my career for all the Japanese fans!"
Hansen was more reserved: "I know I have a hard fight ahead of me, as always I will do my best to make it exciting and to win."
The last of the Lightweight GP fights will see wrestler Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) of Japan step in against Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Luis Buscape. This is a revenge match that's been a long time in the making -- it was way back in 2005 that Kawajiri beat Buscape by decision.
Said Buscape: "I will give it all, to get the revenge I've been anticipating for three years. I will make it happen, because I want to make my fans to be happy! Looking at Kawajiri, I can see he still ugly, but I know I can make him even uglier tomorrow!"
Here, Kawajiri was the reticent one: "I will crush him," said the Japanese fighter, "that's all I have to say."
In a one-match Lightweight contest, it will be Bu Kyung Jong of South Korea and Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures) of Japan.
Jong: "I want to be happy after the fight, so I will make an enjoyable fight."
Nakamura: "I will show that my training has paid off."
A much-anticipated Welterweight (76 kg/167 lbs) qualification bout will see jiu-jitsu fighters Nick Diaz (Pictures) of the United States and Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) of Japan square off for the right to meet Hayato "Mach" Sakurai in the DREAM Welterweight Championship.
Diaz used his mic time to issue a half-joking call for assistance: "I'm happy to represent Caesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I promised to give 100% and make a good show, but I have to say that I don't know my opponent at all. I couldn't find any fight videos of him on the internet, so if anyone has some, I'd very much appreciate if they could e-mail me them!"
Inoue, meanwhile, said only, "I will do what I have to do to win."
In the Middleweight class (84 kg/ 185 lbs) Dutch dynamo Melvin Manhoef (Pictures) will meet Dae Won Kim (Pictures) of South Korea.
Manhoef was his usual confident self. "It's my dream to fight in DREAM," he said, "but the dream's not over because I am dreaming of the title. So, tomorrow there won't be any bullshit, I'll do everything hard, I'll punch hard and I'll kick hard and I'll win the fight!"
Kim did not appear intimidated: "I will do my best and I will win."
Also at Middleweight, jazzy American Jason "Mayhem" Miller will take on pro-wrestler Katsuyori Shibata (Pictures) of Japan.
Shibata pledged to show what he termed the "pro-wrestling spirit" to break a three bout losing streak against his opponent "with the strong eyes."
Miller swashed, in semi-intelligible Japanese, "I am a monster and I will win!" The Las Vegas-based fighter continued, in semi-intelligible English, "Yeah, I have strong eyes and I'm the new pro-wrestler and he's the old pro-wrestler and it's time to be in battle and I can't wait!"
The action will commence with a Featherweight (67 kg/ 147 lbs) fight featuring Japanese combatants Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures), who pledged to mount an aggressive challenge; and Shoji, who promised to win by KO.
The DREAM.3 Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 2nd Round kicks off at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 at the Saitama Super Arena. The event will be broadcast live in Japan on SkyPerfect TV Pay-Per-View, and live in the United States on HDNet Fights (see http://www.hdnetfights.com). It will be delay-broadcast across Japan on the TBS Network. For broadcast-schedule information in other countries, contact local providers. As always, visit the K-1 Official Website (www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp) for comprehensive coverage of this and all FEG productions.
Confident that the hookup will provide a tremendous boost to all involved parties, DREAM's Keiichi Sasahara and FEG's Sadaharu Tanikawa today welcomed ProElite's William Kelly and T. Jay Thompson to a press conference at the Hotel East 21 Tokyo. After introducing himself in flawless Japanese, Kelly waxed enthusiastic regarding the new alliance.
"Last year's Dynamite USA at the Los Angeles Coliseum was the largest attended mixed martial arts event ever in the USA," he said. "ProElite is delighted that we will be building on that by sharing fighters and referees and doing co-promotions in Japan and the US, and potentially the UK and Korea also. Japan is important to ProElite, and we have great US television partners, so we can bring DREAM to the American public."
Tomorrow's DREAM Lightweight GP qualifier will see winners from the inaugural DREAM event meeting in a trio of bouts in the under 70 kg/154 lbs weight class, with victors advancing to the Osaka DREAM.5 Lightweight GP Final in July. The card features five additional contests in a variety of weight classes. Today, the 16 participating fighters shared their thoughts with the media.
In the Main Event, it will be Japanese legend Caol Uno (Pictures) meeting compatriot Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures).
Ishida was openly critical of Uno being given a bye to the second round of the Lightweight GP, and said today that was excited to have a chance a shot at the 33 year-old mixed martial arts star. "My goal is simply to get Uno," said the wrestler, "nothing else."
Uno said he felt a "good nervousness" on the eve of the bout, and would "make a fight deserving of the Main Event."
In the card's penultimate fight, another Lightweight GP matchup, it will be the explosive Joachim Hansen (Pictures) of Norway taking on American wrestler Eddie Alvarez (Pictures).
Said Alvarez: "I spent six hard weeks preparing for this, and I am in the best shape of my life, by far. I'm always relaxed before a fight, and I bear no animosity toward my opponent. But when we get in the ring tomorrow, my feelings will come out I will put on the best performance of my career for all the Japanese fans!"
Hansen was more reserved: "I know I have a hard fight ahead of me, as always I will do my best to make it exciting and to win."
The last of the Lightweight GP fights will see wrestler Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) of Japan step in against Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Luis Buscape. This is a revenge match that's been a long time in the making -- it was way back in 2005 that Kawajiri beat Buscape by decision.
Said Buscape: "I will give it all, to get the revenge I've been anticipating for three years. I will make it happen, because I want to make my fans to be happy! Looking at Kawajiri, I can see he still ugly, but I know I can make him even uglier tomorrow!"
Here, Kawajiri was the reticent one: "I will crush him," said the Japanese fighter, "that's all I have to say."
In a one-match Lightweight contest, it will be Bu Kyung Jong of South Korea and Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures) of Japan.
Jong: "I want to be happy after the fight, so I will make an enjoyable fight."
Nakamura: "I will show that my training has paid off."
A much-anticipated Welterweight (76 kg/167 lbs) qualification bout will see jiu-jitsu fighters Nick Diaz (Pictures) of the United States and Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) of Japan square off for the right to meet Hayato "Mach" Sakurai in the DREAM Welterweight Championship.
Diaz used his mic time to issue a half-joking call for assistance: "I'm happy to represent Caesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I promised to give 100% and make a good show, but I have to say that I don't know my opponent at all. I couldn't find any fight videos of him on the internet, so if anyone has some, I'd very much appreciate if they could e-mail me them!"
Inoue, meanwhile, said only, "I will do what I have to do to win."
In the Middleweight class (84 kg/ 185 lbs) Dutch dynamo Melvin Manhoef (Pictures) will meet Dae Won Kim (Pictures) of South Korea.
Manhoef was his usual confident self. "It's my dream to fight in DREAM," he said, "but the dream's not over because I am dreaming of the title. So, tomorrow there won't be any bullshit, I'll do everything hard, I'll punch hard and I'll kick hard and I'll win the fight!"
Kim did not appear intimidated: "I will do my best and I will win."
Also at Middleweight, jazzy American Jason "Mayhem" Miller will take on pro-wrestler Katsuyori Shibata (Pictures) of Japan.
Shibata pledged to show what he termed the "pro-wrestling spirit" to break a three bout losing streak against his opponent "with the strong eyes."
Miller swashed, in semi-intelligible Japanese, "I am a monster and I will win!" The Las Vegas-based fighter continued, in semi-intelligible English, "Yeah, I have strong eyes and I'm the new pro-wrestler and he's the old pro-wrestler and it's time to be in battle and I can't wait!"
The action will commence with a Featherweight (67 kg/ 147 lbs) fight featuring Japanese combatants Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures), who pledged to mount an aggressive challenge; and Shoji, who promised to win by KO.
The DREAM.3 Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 2nd Round kicks off at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 at the Saitama Super Arena. The event will be broadcast live in Japan on SkyPerfect TV Pay-Per-View, and live in the United States on HDNet Fights (see http://www.hdnetfights.com). It will be delay-broadcast across Japan on the TBS Network. For broadcast-schedule information in other countries, contact local providers. As always, visit the K-1 Official Website (www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp) for comprehensive coverage of this and all FEG productions.
