By FCF Staff
It may not have been the kind of highlight reel victory Hiroyuki Takaya was looking for, but the Japanese fighter avenged his previous split decision loss to Bibiano Fernandes today in Saitama, Japan, earning a unanimous decision win to claim the Dream Featherweight Championship.
Both men were somewhat tentative on their feet early on, and when Fernandes was able to take Takaya to the mat, the resilient vet managed to work his way out from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champ. As the bout wore on Takaya stepped up his pursuit of Fernandes, and although neither man was able to land any fight ending strikes, Takaya was the busier of the two and landed more often.
In the third and final frame, a seemingly frustrated Fernandes elected to pull guard, but Takaya steered clear of any submission attempts and landed punches from above. In the end, all three judges scored the bout in Takaya’s favour, sending a visibly upset Fernandes to his corner.
Alistair Overeem added the exclamation mark to what has already been a successful 2010 campaign, as the recent K-1 Grand Prix winner need just 19 seconds to KO UFC vet Todd Duffee. As expected, both men came out firing on their feet, but Overeem quickly wobbled the America heavyweight by landing an overhand right to the temple. A follow up left hook from the Strikeforce champion sent Duffee crashing into the ropes and the bout was called to a halt, handing Overeem Dream’s interim heavyweight belt.
Tatsuya Kawajiri demonstrated that he remains a significant presence in the lightweight division, following a quick submission loss to Shinya Aoki this summer, as “Crusher” turned to his controlling top game to defeat former Strikeforce champ Josh Thomson.
Kawajiri looked to take the fight to the mat from the opening bell, and although Thomson fought to keep the fight standing, the powerful lightweight consistently swept the American to the mat. From there, Kawajiri was able to outscore a resilient Thomson throughout much of the fight, passing into full mount on a couple of occasions and threatening with submissions.
Although Thomson managed to land several telling strikes with a late, third round flurry, it was too little, too late and Kawajiri was awarded the UD win.
The welterweight title fight between Dream champ Marius Zaromskis and aging Japanese star Kazushi Sakuraba came to a gruesome end, as Sakuraba’s right ear was partially torn from his head, quickly ending the bout.
A flat footed Sakuraba looked to trade punches with the noted striker as the bout started, and it wasn’t long before Zaromskis had split open Sakuraba’s badly cauliflowered right ear. After doctors gave the Japanese veteran the okay to continue, the fight ending injury incurred moments later, as Sakuraba tore his ear while attempting to take Zaromskis to the mat.
Although Shinya Aoki managed to survive a round of kickboxing with accomplished K-1 competitor Yuichiro Nagashima, the Dream champion was viciously knocked out seconds into the MMA round of their mixed rules bout.
During the opening round, which was governed by K-1 rules, Aoki did everything in his power to waste time and avoid trading with Nagashima by constantly clinching or attempting futile dropkicks. As the MMA round began Aoki immediately shot in on Nagashima, but the telegraphed takedown was met with a well time right knee, which instantly knocked out the submission artist.
Former UFC welterweight Jason High earned his third win in a row, by working to a split decision over notable veteran Hayato Sakurai. While High likely controlled more of the bout through his wrestling and top game, Sakurai appeared to be within a strike or two of ending the fight in the final frame, after stunning the American with a knee.
Rising Japanese star Satoshi Ishii utilized his Olympic Gold Medalist judo skills to grind out a unanimous decision win over renowned kickboxer Jerome Le Banner. Ishii closed the distance and set up many of his takedowns with well time strikes on his feet, and although he dominated the French heavyweight on the ground, Le Banner battled on and fought out of several Kimura attempts.
Dream Dynamite 2010 Results
Hiroyuki Takaya def. Bibiano Fernandes via unanimous decision
Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Josh Thomson via unanimous decision
Jason High def. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai via split decision
Marius Zaromskis def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (doctor's stoppage) - R1, 2:16
Satoshi Ishii def. Jerome Le Banner via unanimous decision
Alistair Overeem def. Todd Duffee via knockout (punches) - R1, 0:19
Yuichiro Nagashima def. Shinya Aoki via knockout (knee) - R2, 0:04
Sergei Kharitonov def. Tatsuya Mizuno via TKO (strikes) - R1, 1:25
Hiroshi Izumi def. Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa via TKO (punches) - R3, 2:50
Hideo Tokoro def. Kazuhisa Watanabe via submission (armbar) - R3, 2:02
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Caol Uno via unanimous decision
Andy Ologun def. Katsuaki Furuki via unanimous decision
Mixed K-1 / MMA Rules Match
Yuichiro Nagashima def. Shinya Aoki via knockout (knee) - R2, 0:04
K-1 Rules
Tetsuya Yamato and Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura fight to a majority draw (30-30, 30-29 Yamato, 30-30)
Gegard Mousasi def. Kyotaro Fujimoto via unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-28)
