TOKYO -- American import David Gardner cited boredom as the motivation behind antics that cost him his welterweight super fight against Shinya Aoki at Dream 7 on Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Aoki cinched a fight-ending rear-naked choke after Gardner exposed his neck by waving to the crowd and yelling, “Hello, Japan!”

“He wasn’t doing anything, and the ref wouldn’t stand it up, of course, because [Aoki’s] world is on the ground,” Gardner said. “I was getting frustrated. Just sitting there wasn’t any fun for me. I was extremely bored. He was just sitting on my back, not working anything, so I was just [expletive] with the crowd, saying, ‘Hello.’ It was just so [expletive] boring. I was trying to have fun. I just hope he makes it a little bit funner [sic] next time for the crowd. If that’s what people like, then I guess it was a great fight, but just sitting there, doing nothing … it was frustrating to me.”

The move surprised Aoki (20-3, 1 NC), who has won his last three fights by submission.

“I was wondering what he was doing when he raised his hand, but when I heard him say, ‘Hello Japan!’ I thought, ‘No way! What’s with this guy?’” said a laughing and animated Aoki. “He felt so relaxed, so I knew he was making jokes. Maybe he thought he was on vacation here in Japan, so I punished him.”

Aoki has since hijacked Gardner’s “Hello, Japan!” He used the catchphrase repeatedly while fielding questions from the media during the post-fight press conference.

“The only thing I have to say is ‘Hello, Japan!’ And that should tell you everything about the fight,” Aoki said with a smile. “I think I’m going to keep saying this for quite a long time.”

Queued up as the first fight for the tape-delayed airing on TBS, the Aoki-Gardner bout was the highest-rated match of the broadcast, according to Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara. Overall, the Dream 7 replay did a 2.4 rating in its midnight timeslot, a satisfying rating relative to its time of broadcast, Sasahara said.

Warren Talks Beebe Victory

Greco-Roman wrestling standout Joe Warren was impressive in his professional debut, as he showed toughness and tenacity en route to stopping former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Chase Beebe on a cut. However, the mixed martial arts neophyte does not plan to rest on his laurels after such a significant first win.

“I’m happy to beat a WEC champion,” Warren said, “but that match is behind me, and I’m moving on.”

However, Warren was dissatisfied with how the match ended between rounds.

“[At] the end of the first round, I was feeling comfortable,” he said. “Then they stopped the fight, and I was upset because I was finally relaxed. I was excited to go out for the second round and get the job done.”

While Warren made particular note of the difficulty in adjusting to MMA from wrestling, his opponent had an even bigger hurdle to overcome, apparently unaware he would be fighting a 10-minute first round.

“I think I was fighting wrong,” Beebe said. “I didn’t train for 10 minutes. I wasn’t aware it was a 10-minute first round, so I was kinda’ gassing a little bit. I fought hard, you know, just … circumstances took me out of the fight.”

Beebe was questioned as to whether or not his highly publicized knee injury hindered his ability to perform. He pulled out of a bantamweight title fight against Mike Easton at an Ultimate Warrior Challenge show on Feb. 21.

“I really have no excuses,” Beebe said. “My knee was feeling alright. Obviously, it hindered my training camp a little bit, but I still should have been prepared for this fight. It was feeling good enough to perform. I can’t really use it as an excuse. It held up on me. I think I just need to fight harder next time.”

The victorious Warren plans to improve in the coming months in hopes of meeting Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto in the final.

“I’ll get 100 percent better than this in three months,” he said. “I’d like to fight someone like Kid in a championship fight. He is number one in the world at fighting, and I’m number one in the world at wrestling. I respect his technique and his work ethic. I’ve got some things to learn before I’m at his level, but I’d be more than happy at anytime [to face him]. Maybe we see each other in the final.”

Cullum Leads Parade into Second Round

King of the Cage featherweight champion Abel Cullum joined Warren in the second round of the Dream grand prix and impressed onlookers by taking the fight to Akiyo Nishiura. Where previous “Wicky Akiyo” opponents appeared wary to engage the dangerous counterpuncher, Cullum saw aggressiveness as the key to victory.

“I think when fighters are cautious against someone like Wicky -- who’s a great counter fighter -- I believe that is actually falling into his gameplan,” Cullum said. “He likes to use his ‘Wicky Shuffle’ to keep his opponents on edge. I saw that as a way to get this victory, by staying in close, staying in tight, not giving him his opportunity to do his shuffle and work his game. That was my way of countering his style. Luckily, it paid off.”

Like Beebe, Nishiura had difficulty with the 10-minute first round.

“It was tough. How do you spend 10 minutes, you know?” Nishiura asked. “I thought I could win the fight in the first two minutes, but as time grew on, I waited for Cullum to get tired. However, I got tired instead and couldn’t move as I wanted.”

One-time WEC bantamweight title challenger Yoshiro Maeda also advanced in the draw despite putting forth what he saw as a subpar performance.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve fought in Japan, so I was nervous about the ring and the tournament style,” Maeda said. “I learned a lot fighting abroad, and it’s not like I couldn’t show some of what I learned, but I felt like I couldn’t show all of it. I felt sorry for not finishing.”

His opponent, WEC veteran Micah Miller, was dissatisfied with the fight’s outcome but remained confident in the strength of his own performance.

“I think overall I did pretty well,” the American Top Team prospect said. “I controlled what was going on in the fight from bottom using my rubber guard. I thought I had more submission attempts and dictated the pace, but I guess they thought he was controlling on the ground.”

Deep bantamweight champion Masakazu Imanari expressed sentiments similar to Maeda’s and cited disappointment in his inability to finish Atsushi Yamamoto in the main event.

“I couldn’t move as I wanted, so I’m a little disappointed with myself,” Imanari said. “I went along with the flow of the fight, so I wasn’t just sticking to his legs. The reason I couldn’t finish with a leg lock was that Yamamoto was too strong-willed. Even though I was about to catch something, he kept moving, escaping my submission attempts.”

Of the six men who advanced in the featherweight tournament, only Maeda and Imanari named opponents they wanted to face in the second round. Both men pointed to Cullum. Imanari also mentioned a desire to fight Warren -- not a surprising gesture given Nippon Top Team’s track record against non-Japanese foes.

Maeda liked what he saw from Cullum.

“He’s very quick and has very good technique,” he said. “I was impressed with him. I think we have good chemistry, so we can put up a good show if we fight.”

Notable Quotables

“I’ll only say one thing. I know I can beat any opponent I face for my belt. Doesn’t matter who is in my way. I don’t care.” -- Bibiano Fernandes after he advanced in the Dream featherweight tournament with a decision victory against Takafumi Otsuka

“We trust that all fighters will make the weight, so when Ross Ebanez didn’t make weight, it was quite unexpected. We have to start planning for this eventuality more so in the future. We do have strict rules that say that offending fighters should be penalized but no clear guideline on how to carry it out. Maybe we should count it as an automatic disqualification for the offending fighter. I’ll think of something so it will not happen again.” -- Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara talking about Ebanez coming in overweight against Tatsuya Kawajiri

“Because I won today, I declared that I wanted to face ‘JZ.’ I think it’s the most direct way to the belt.” -- World-ranked lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri calling for about with American Top Team standout Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante in May

“Well, if I can fight against Kid, I think it’d be an interesting match. I don’t mind fighting him in the second round or in the championship, but I don’t think we could fight our best if we had to face each other in the second fight of the night [in the final]. So maybe we should fight in the second round.” -- WEC veteran Hiroyuki Takaya discussing a potential bout with Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto

“Of names announced, I’d like to fight ‘Mach’ in the [welterweight grand prix]. He has a win over me, and so it’d be a fight that will excite the crowd.” -- Shinya Aoki requesting a match with Hayato "Mach" Sakurai