Elite XC lightweight Eddie Alvarez advanced to the semifinals of the 2008 Dream Lightweight Grand Prix this weekend, outpointing Joachim Hansen to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
It was an epic back-and-forth battle that some onlookers are nominating as a possible “Fight of the Year” candidate.
Caol Uno and Mitsuhiro Ishida also put forth a spirited effort until Uno ended the contest in the second round with a submission (rear naked choke) … it was an entertaining fight to say the least. Uno, like Alvarez, punched his ticket to the grand prix semifinals with the win.
And believe it or not, Nick Diaz actually competed in a mixed martial arts bout — something that he has not done since November 2007. It was a long strange trip to Japan for Diaz, but he came through with a convincing technical knockout of Katsuya Inoue in the first round of their bout.
Diaz is set to have a quick turnaround and take on Muhsin Corbbrey on June 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Jason Mayhem Miller also returned to action over the weekend with a first round technical knockout of his own over Katsuyori Shibata. Mayhem has been on the sidelines for the past few months with a leg injury.
Here are the complete DREAM 3 quick results:
Takeshi Yamazaki defeats Shoji Maruyama via unanimous decision
Jason Miller defeats Katsuyori Shibata via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Melvin Manhoef defeats Dae Won Kim via technical knockout in round one
Daisuke Nakamura defeats Bu Kyung Jung via knockout in round two
Nick Diaz defeats Katsuya Inoue via technical knockout strikes in round one
Tatsuya Kawajiri defeats Luiz Firmino via unanimous decision
Eddie Alvarez defeats Joachim Hansen via unanimous decision
Caol Uno defeats Mitsuhiro Ishida via submission (rear naked choke) in round two
Of course, there was one lightweight grand prix bout between Shinya Aoki and Katsuhiko Nagata that did not take place. This final piece of the puzzle will be revealed next months at DREAM 4 on June 15.
This is shaping up to be one very thrilling event with some great match up … and it’s only going to get better.
43 Comments »
This event turned out to be pretty good…I am glad to see Diaz back to his normal self..
Mayhem was dominant in his fight, and like alsways he put on a show by, acting funny while fighting , and giving a peace sign to the crowd..|The guy waas wearing zebra spandex-Too funny!.Glad to see him back..
The Alverez fight was good to.But I wass hoping for Alverez to finish the fight….
i thought the whole show was great from the prodution to them fights, i am glad they did such a good job and am looking forward for the rest of it.
I thought Mayhem was too far over the line with his in-ring antics. He was beating the living daylights out of the guy and acting unprofessional.
It’s one thing to make a name for yourself with the wrestling masks on the way in to the ring, but he was acting like a jackass (reminded me of Prince Hassim – the boxer)
I hope to see him get beat down next round
I’m trying to say this was too much of a mismatch. Like when the high school bully picked on the 4th grader
Dont mess with Mayhem… Period.
espesially when he is wearing zebra spandex..lol
Diaz looked good
Diaz looked great!..Granted he did not fight top competition, he still looked great!..WAR DIAZ!
He looked good but he ate a lot of counter shots. He’s lucky he has such a good chin.
Finally a fight with Diaz.
I’m really starting to get pissed off that I don’t have HDNet. I mean, even if I had it, I wouldn’t have watched it at 3am this morning, but I would have refrained from coming to this site today and watched it as soon as I got home from work. I got Comcast and could switch to AT&T, but I don’t like somethings about them.
I am very happy to hear that Nick Diaz is back to his winning ways, and ended a fight early, by TKO nonetheless. That is a fight that I MUST see. As soon as someone finds a link to the Diaz or the Alvarez fight, PLEASE do post.
Thanks,
VM
Yo ViolentMike I got the link right here for you!
I know you are a BIG Nick Diaz fan, Like myself..
You are going to like what you see!!..enjoy!
http://www.mmatko.com/nick-diaz-vs-katsuya-inoue-fight-video-dream-3/
I just checked for the link to the Alverez fight, and the one I watched yesterday has been removed from the site..sorry dude. It was a pretty good fight..
I do have a link to the Mayhem Miller fight..It was pretty much a one-sided beat down, but If you like Mayhem fights?, This one is just as entertaing as most of his fights..Not the best fighter, but he knows how to put on a show..He was wearing zebra spandex-LMFAO”..
http://www.mmatko.com/jason-mayhem-miller-vs-katsuyori-shibata-fight-video-dream-3/
Stagger, I’m a Mayhem Monkey for life!
LOL ViolentMike, Me too!..Mayhem is too funny!
What did you think of the Diaz fight??.I posted yesterday on the Laimen thread about/on my feelings on the Diaz fight..But to sum-up what I said on that thread, is I am glad to see Nick fighting like he used too, maybe even fighting better?
couldn’t agree more!! Noons watched that, and I guarantee he wants no part of Diaz!
The Alvarez fight is back up. Here is the link.
http://www.mmatko.com/eddie-alvarez-vs-joachim-hansen-dream-3-video-fight/
Thank you much Stagger – Lee!!!!!!!!!
HDNet is putting on a ton a new fights.
Dream 3 was way better than 1 or 2 in my opinion, and you can’t beat a 5 hour free event in HD.
I’m psyched for the rest of the series. i.e D4 – Aoki is a monster and all his fights are top notch. The beating he took to the face, pinned to the floor with full wind up hammer fists, in D2 only to come back and dominate was one of the most impressive comebacks I’ve ever seen.
This week we get the new Sportfight 22 and the new IFL championship. Generally, I’m not too much of a fan of the IFL but they’ve had some good events lately.
HDNet is worth the $$$, I’m only paying $8/month for the whole HD Suite and there’s at least 12 hours/week 30% new every week.
great fights the alvarez hansen fight was awesome diaz looked great and miller took it to far he could have endend that fight alot sooner. well now hes in there with the big dogs and i bet he wont pull that shit with sakuraba or souza oh and the shoji, yamazki fight was great to
I am hearing from a lot of different smart mma fans that this event was the event of the year so far and that Alvarez/Hellboy was the fight of the year….Happy to hear that DREAM is putting out a good product and hopefully the organizations lasts! I saw a couple of the fights (diaz and Alvarez fights) and they looked like awesome matches.
Correct me if I am wrong, but Mayhem’s win, advances him into the next round of the middleweight grand prix…Right?
Mayhem has to be one of the favorites to win it all!
Hoopefully next we will get to see Nick Diaz vs. Mach Sakurai for trhe DREAM title! That would be an awesome fight and a very tough task for Diaz because MACH is NO JOKE!~
The Alvarez/Hellboy fight was awesome! It was an amazing fight from the first 30 seconds to the end.
I got a question. If dream is Pride execs reviving pride, didn’t UFC get a no compete clause? Just a question, I’m not exactly sure who started dream, but if they keep putting shows like that on, it will grow into a pride like entity
mayem will move on but i dont know who he will fight next but he said he whould like to fight sakurba
I would like to see Mayhem face either Gerard Moussasi or Jacre in the next round. After Jacre wins his matches, his alligator crawl is just to funny. Jacre is a phenominal athlete and Ju jiTsu WONDER, I really hope to see him fight in the UFC one day soon. Jacre is helping train wanderlei for his up coming fight against Jardine at extreme Couture.
Here are my thoughts on Dream. I only watched a few fights, but the first thing I love (and miss) about fights in Japan is the crowd! You can hear every punch or breath taken by the fighters. No one boos if a fight goes to the ground, and the fans act the way fans should act IMO.
Nick Diaz looked like the Nick Diaz of old. Gary Shaw must’ve told him to make short work of this guy and not get cut, and he did just that. While he did take a few hard shots, I was glad to see he didn’t cut. The one thing my wife loved was how respectful and gracious he was to his opponent and also the fans. I don’t know how many of you guys have been to stockton, but it’s a cesspool! I compare it to “I am legend.” I live in the bay area, and dread when we need to go to stockton to visit with my wife’s family. But to see how Nick is growing with the sport is great (unlike Leben growing by turning himself in only to be able to fight outside the U.S.)
Mayhem Miller (who I don’t know much about besides his whacky interviews)looked dominant too. I read that the guy he fought is a pro wrestler, but who knows. What weight is he, and what does Dana have against him? John, I’m sure you’ll fill me in.
All and all, some good fights, was mainly watching because I’m a Nick Diaz fan. One thing I took from this card, and my wife agrees, we are going to (at some point) take in an event in Japan. Not only to see a different culture, but so we don’t have to deal with drunks morons with zero MMA knowledge their to boo great technique and try to pick fights with me because my wife is hot. I can’t stand people who aren’t fans, with Tapout shirts, thinking they can beat the world.
Sorry for the long read, and John, the affliction card looks great, keep your fingers crossed and bet large on Timmy. I can almost start to smell Tito vs. Babalu! I think if Affliction can put on 4 unbelievable PPV’s a year, they may be able to make money.
VERY happy that Nick did not cut in his fight, looks like his surgery is already paying off!!!
As for Jason Miller, he has only had one fight in the UFC. He was the opening fight on their biggest PPV to date. It was Liddell/Couture II, the final showdown that was hyped up during the very first season of TUF. Who did Mayhem fight??? GSP. And yes, it was at WW, so Miller had to cut a lot of weight. Miller took a beatint, but GSP could not finish him. That was the very first time I ever saw Mayhem Miller, and I was an instant fan. Blood spewing from his mouth and nose with GSP on top of him, and the kid is smiling. With the UFC MW division being as weak as it was over the past year and a half, I am surprised that the UFC never made a run at Mayhem. They might have, but they weren’t serious.
thanks Mike, I do remember that. He’s kinda got that Rampage personality. Very likable guy! I’ve seen a lot of him, and all I can think of is he and Dana don’t get along, or money??
Kevin: I could not agree more with your post. beside the rule changes, the crowd is the best part of Japanease MMA. My dream is to go to Japan to see an event live, because like you I cant take drunk American fans. They bare so respectful in Japan, and its good to see Diaz mellow out his personality and tailor it to the Japanease crowd…All that Middle fingers in the air stuff is great in America, but would be really trashy in Japan.
As for Mayhem: 1 of the biggest UFC unsold mysteries is why in the world Mayhem only had 1 UFC fight. Like Violentmike, Mayhem vs. GSP was the 1st time that I saw Mayhem fight, and I have been a big fan ever since. I never heard anything about a beef betweewn Dana and Mayhem, so I have no freakin Idea why he has not been in the UFC….makes no sense to me, I mean at 1 point he was under contract with Zuffa, but they wastexd his talents in WEC….I dont get it!
P.S: Kevin, you know how many close fights I have almost gotten into going to sporting events with a hot chick in Philly….It a disgrace that a man cant sport a hot chick on his arm at a sporting event (mainly eagles games)in Philly….It got to a point where I just stopped going to events with chicks….I have a Nasty temper and I dont back down, so bringing hot chicks to events in Philly is a really BAD Idea, because unfortunately people dont know how to act where I am from! Kevin, must be nice to have a wife thats such a big mma fan. like you 2, I am dying to go to Japan for an event…..,As for Affliction, like you I am not sure that they can put out more then 4 big events per year, but as long as the cards remain stacked like this 1, I wwill still be happy even if they only do 4 shows a year….Babalu vs. tito is a must see, but its a terrible match up for TiTO, so they would have to pay him a boat load ot get him to fight Babalu….I would love to see it, but Tito is a coward and I dont think that fight will ever happen. I would like to see it happen, but I have my reservations.
They should have matched up Babalu vs. Lindland….but whatever….This will still be 1 of the best cards of the year….and I hope you arent serioously considering throwing away your money by betting on Tim Sylvia…..Say it aint so Kevin! lol
Mania, I would appreciate it if you post my long ass response to Kevin’s post….It took me half of my international marketing class to write that post! lol
Post that Sh*t Hommie!
Thanks Mania!
lol john, they got something going on today, lots of news, good post bro
thanks! I love Japanease mme…it puts me in a good mood!
How freaking entertaining would a Diaz-Mayhem fight be?! lol
I was thinking the same thing.
Diaz looked awesome and so di Alvarez!
Most of the fights were great fights, DREAM is really starting to look good. It’s a shame Hansen had to fight Alvarez though, they were two of my favorites to win. Would have liked to see them both last another round.
The UFC need to sign Manhoef!
I got to say I was a bit worried about him, he was losing that fight but up to 30 seconds from the end he pulled out the hammer fists and it was over. wasn’t really a dominance performance for him this time, but I still love his fights.
What I don’t understand is where are the Caol Uno comments? This guy is legend and is going to come in like a quiet storm. Just wait and you’ll be as excited as I am to know he is fighting again. Don’t know if its possible but if someone has a thread to that fight please hook me up. THX
I can’t understand why they allow knees to the head on the ground but ban elbows to the head. Bas was saying this leads to more submissions but I’m not sure I agree.
The North/South knee to the head is a devistating blow and the full wind up knee from side mount(ala Manhoef) is a little too much – we might as well let them start bringing their 9mms in the ring.
lol… it certainly changes the dynamics of the positions they want to get into depending on what bodily harm is allowed
right on Stagger for posting the links dude! just finished watching the diaz, alvarez, mahem fight.
diaz = looks like he hits harder. is it just me or did the ref interrupt that fight waaaaayyy too many times?! wtf?
alvarez = fight was alright. pretty slick escape out of the armbar.
daym! Mayhem is a bad bad bad boy. MONSTER KNEE TO THE FACE eeeewwwww!! fuccin love that sh*t! my kind of fight