Venom77 - Abel Cullum just signed to fight in Dream GPThanks! Good addition.
http://newmexicocombatsports.com/home/?p=4507
Mad Xyientist - ^Both under WEC contract, so I wouldn't expect to see them.
Smoogy I'll take Reis, Imanari, and an unannounced Yuji Hoshino in the Sengoku GP :)
Ill take Hioki in Sengoku, and Kid in Dream if hes in it.
IrishLew - Not interested at all, the top FW are in the WEC.
Youre probably trolling but the WEC champ was tapped out by one of the favorites to win the Dream GP
Huge Update: The Sengoku FWGP will air on HDNet, joining the DREAM FWGP.
Sengoku on HDNet is fucking awesome news.
Maybe HDNet can convince Sengoku and Dream to have there FW champs fight eachother
Update: DJ Taiki Hata defeated Shoji Maruyama in DEEP, earning his spot in the DREAM tournament.
Updates: Yahir Reyes signed to Bellator
Possibility that Kid now fights a first round match against none other than Darren Uyenoyama at DREAM 8.
The DREAM tourney is insane. I don't even know where to begin to pick a winner there. For Sengoku, I'm going with a Hioki/Sandro final.
Mad Xyientist, with the fighters confirmed so far, who are your pre-tournament picks?
MX, more good news for the Featherweight Division.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/13976/free-of-afl-rafael-assuncao-seeking-april-return-for-bellator-or-wec.mma
great find KC! I am NOT letting go of my hope of Assuncao in Bellator, though WEC would be awesome as well. Obviously in Bellator he would be the top competition for Reis as the names announced right now.
j-money: Sengoku: It depends on the matchups, but I'd agree with you, Hioki and Sandro are the favorites. I'd lean slightly towards Sandro as my pick to win the tournament. The X-Factor is if Yuji Hoshino gets announced, because he has looked absolutely unstoppable lately.
DREAM: Very hard to say. Kid would be the favorite, bus as of now isn't even announced for it. Imanari looks good, but he's a one trick pony and may have some trouble with some matchups. I'm tentatively picking Bibiano, but like you said the tournament is rather stacked and very even.
Bellator: I think you have to make Reis the pick, if Assuncao gets announced it complicates things though. Some of the other names are simply too green for a guy like Reis. I've also thought of Renan Barao for one of those remaining slots, and he could be the favorite if he manages to make it in.
Yes, I realize that I sound like a total Brazilphile picking Sandro, Bibiano, and Reis, but I'm not stuck on any pick. And thanks to j-money and Kansas Comet for paying attention to this thread, it gets lonely in here sometimes!
ttt
Hoshino has definitely been on a roll in Cage Force. I'd love to see Hioki test himself vs Sandro. Hioki has good enough striking to beat Hominick in a mostly standup fight, but he also has the ground skills to dominate Curran and beat Carvalho in the grappling area of their fight though losing the match.
As for DREAM, I think I need to see the actual confirmed fighters and the brackets because there are so many potential compelling matchups. Bibiano looked good in his matches vs Kid and Faber despite his limited experience. Hopefully we get to see Imanari vs Tokoro at some point.
Dream almost has "can't miss" matchmaking with that tournament. I'm not sure there's many ways to pair that field that won't look ultra-exciting.
UPDATE: Sengoku announced Shintaro Ishiwatari, Michihiro Omigawa, and Seiya Kawahara are CONFIRMED for the Featherweight Grand Prix.
Also, the remaning 5 fighters, and non-tournament matches, will be announced early next week.
Fight you should have seen, but probably haven't: Urijah Faber vs. Bibiano Fernandes
Micahs gonna be the sleeper in the tourney and take it all.
war Micah
GO ATT
Mad Xyientist - var so = new SWFObject("http://www.youtube.com/v/zQV4ooflyxg&hl=en&fs=1", "postVideo-25066337-Flash", "425", "355", "9.0.28", "##000"); so.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "samedomain"); so.addParam("allowNetworking", "internal"); so.addParam("wmode", "transparent"); so.write("postVideo-25066337"); Fight you should have seen, but probably haven't: Urijah Faber vs. Bibiano Fernandes
Does anyone in the sport have a better short elbow that Uriah Faber? So quick so explosive and needs little or no room to fire them off!
Updates:
Nam Phan now 99% for Sengoku FWGP
Rafael Assuncao signed by the WEC
Fredson Paixao vs. Wagnney Fabiano for the April 5 WEC show
Remaining slots: 2-3 in DREAM, 4 in Sengoku, and 2 in Bellator.
We should know on DREAM and Sengoku this week.
UPDATES TODAY:
Sengoku announced 4 entrants: LC Davis, Nam Phan, Matt Jaggers, Hideki Kadowaki. 1 spot remains.
DREAM held a press conference to finalize plans for its featherweight grand prix starting at DREAM 7 on March 8.
Abel Cullum was confirmed, and Yoshiro Maeda is the final entrant in the tournament. The field was held to 15 as a second-round spot is being held for Kid Yamamoto.
Here are the matchups:
DREAM 7 - March 8, 2009
Masakazu Imanari (15-6-1) vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (12-5-1)
Hiroyuki Takaya (9-6-1) vs. Jong Won Kim (0-0)
Yoshiro Maeda (23-6-2) vs. Micah Miller (10-2)
Chase Beebe (11-3) vs. Joe Warren (0-0)
Takafumi Otsuka (8-3-1) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (3-2)
Akiyo Nishiura (9-3-1) vs. Abel Cullum (13-2)
DREAM 8 - April 5, 2009
Hideo Tokoro (21-15-1) vs. Daiki Hata (9-5-3) (delayed due to injury sustained by Hata in qualifier)