DREAM Mixed Martial Arts Organization Launches with 16 Man Grand Prix K-1 owners, Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) and former PRIDE Fighting Championship executives from Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) have now formed DREAM to compete with the UFC and bring back to life Pride. Despite the UFC buying out Pride the former workers have now started up their own MMA fight organization and they look to rival Zuffa with a vengeance. Since Pride was bought out the former owners have received a petition including over 3,000 signatures from fans who requested that they find a replacement for Pride. The promotion, which will also be run by officials involved with Yarennoka! and promoted by the Tokyo Broadcasting System, will now serve as the official successor for the PRIDE and K-1 Heros brands. K-1 announced plans for the discontinuation of Heros events late last month. President of FEG Sadaharu Tanikawa will also head DREAM and Keiichi Sasahara will be Head and Matchmaker for all events. With a number of superstars already agreeing to sign, the UFC will want to secure a number of their top stars who were former Pride fighters. With the success of Yarennoka! The FEG and the former DSE staff decided to combine their efforts and form a new Japanese promotion. The result, DREAM and the UFC better watch their backs because their opening kick off event is the 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix to determine the lightweight champion. They have also announced the 16 man 2008 Middleweight Grand Prix to determine the new DREAMs middleweight champion. This content is protected DREAM will start off with 5 weight classes which includes: 66kg/145lbs - Featherweight 70kg/154lbs - Lightweight 76kg/168lbs - Welterweight 84kg/185lbs - Middleweight 93kg/205lbs - Light Heavyweight +93.1kb/+205lbs Heavyweight There will also be a new weight class for fighters under 145 pounds to accommodate Kid Norifumi Yamamoto and other fighters. The M1 mixed martial arts organization has also agreed to let former Heavyweight Champion of PRIDE FC, Fedor Emelianenko, to fight in their events. This leads way for a Fedor and Randy Couture match that everyone had been waiting for. Also Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Hunt and Josh Barnett have agreed to sign on unofficially with the organization. Although not signed with DREAM, several fighters have stated that they are going to fight in the promotion including the person who started it all for mixed martial Royce Gracie. Also scheduled to fight for the organization are Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Norifumi Yamamoto, Sergei Kharitonov, Hayato Sakurai, Ikuhisa Minowa, Denis Kang and Melvin Manhoef. The middleweight tournament has not been announced but Yoshihiro Akiyama, Denis Kang, Melvin Manhoef, Kazuo Misaki and Matt Lindland are suspected participants which will make this 16 man Gradn Prix the best in MMA history. The inaugural event will kick off at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on Saturday, March 15, 2008 with the Light Weight Grand Prix First Round with Shinya Aoki from Japan / Paraestra Tokyo fighting JZ Gesias Calvancante from American Top Team fighting. Both fighters are considered to be among the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Also participating in the lightweight tournament will be Andre Dida, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Caol Uno, Joachim Hansen, Gilbert Melendez, Luiz Buscape Artur Oumakhanov, Koutetsu Boku, Jung Bu-Kyung , Kazuyuki Miyata and two other fighters to be named later. DREAM plans to rival the UFC who has had sheer monopoly on the mixed martial arts game since they bought out Pride and acquired all their talent like Anderson Silva, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Paulo Filho and Heath Herring. With the rise of DREAM will these fighters go back to Japan to fight where they were considered Gods and where the MMA audience is more knowledgeable and accepted? Events [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Date[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Venue[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]City[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] March 15, 2008 Saitama Super Arena Saitama, Saitama [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] April 29, 2008 Saitama Super Arena Saitama, Saitama [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] Saitama Super Arena Saitama, Saitama [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] TBA (Yokohama Arena or anywhere in South Korea) Yokohama, Kanagawa or South Korea [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] Osaka-jo Hall [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] This content is protected [/FONT] Saitama Super Arena Saitama, Saitama Right the article is relatively old. But it would seem DSE have rejuventated themselves and are looking to make a splash this year. Could be very interesting times ahead considering there latest card which is stacked with talent. Can anyone confirm that Hero`s is defintly now defunct? If so as the article states the ovious choice for those fighters would be DREAM. Looks like happy days are here again!!:happy:happy
The first 2 events weren't that good but the last one I and a lot of others enjoyed. Yep, Hero's has stopped. It will take time but I hope Dream can become the Pride.
but there is also a bunch of other org's jumping in the mix and they are all trying to give the UFC a go. Only prob is there is only so many good fighters to go around to make a great card worthy of ppv. alot of these org's will be in bidding wars for talent and end up over paying and red tape soon follows....it will be interesting to see if they can all survive.
How come? Hero`s has some serious talent!!! **** Melvin Manhoefs coming to DSE!! Im about to loose my mind!!!:happy:happy:happy:happy:happy:happy
Scurlaruntings what was your fav Pride event? I loved Bushido 9 (The Tournament), imo it was one of the best MMA shows.
Bushido 9 followed by Shockwave. PRIDE cards were the best ever. The crowds were great and knowledgeable. The presentation was awesome. The bouts were exciting with plenty of emphasis on action. The ring announcer was great. Overall it was simply the best MMA production ever with the deepest cards you would have ever have seen. Every fighter in MMA would have wanted to have fought on a PRIDE card. The diffrence between PRIDE and the UFC is a bit like comparing a well presented and done steak with a cheese burger.
Its official DREAM has assimilated ALL the fighters from K1 HERO`s. There also working very closely with Affliction and M1 to bring the best MMA shows ever. Looks like the good times could be ahead!!
It's a breath of fresh air as far as i'm concerned...what a huge irony when i think about it...dana's dream was to have the #1 org , the # 1 HW division , the total monopoly of the sport...i think it was pretty much the case several months ago but the tides have turned once again...and for good... Couture's decision to leave was a first sign... Today , new orgs are emerging , some amazing mma cards are finally proposed from different orgs , under different rules too... The ultimate irony...was also the downfall of dana's plan... He wanted to buy Emelianenko...but the # 1 HW was a special case...His pride fc contract had no exclusivity...the guy was untouchable... And because of that , couture left , then...Couture was also the first to openly ***** about everyone's salaries , absurd contracts...Then Sylvia bitched about it...so did arlovski... Then dana categorically refused to let Barnett participate in the UFC...(what a mistake that was)... Crocop...was supposed to be their cashcow but ended up performing like utter ****... Today , ufc's stuck with Antonio Nogueira who'll never be concidered as # 1 HW despite the fact that he's UFC's HW champ (unless sylvia beats fedor)... They bought Pride fc for nothing...all the ex-pride fc staff members are still doing the same job , only under a different label / brand name.
Dream and EliteXC annouced a few weeks ago that they have formed a working relationship which involves sharing fighters and also co-promoting shows in the future. EliteXC fighters (Alvarez, Diaz, Miller) have already appeared in Dream events. Don't think Dream have a relationship with Affliction and M-1.
Lil NOg has just signed with DREAM. Its only a matter of time before big Nog moves back there for a swan song or 2.:yep
