(The best way to stop Cheick Kongo from kneeing you in the jewels? Turns out, it’s a simple jab. Who woulda thunk it?) 

As is the case for approximately 95% of the UFC’s current roster, Mark Hunt was forced to pull out of his last scheduled fight (against Stefan Struve) due to injury. But while he’s been quietly recuperating his knee and enjoying his current, not to mention improbable 3 fight win streak in the UFC, he’s apparently also been thinking about leveling the score with some of his former foes. Mainly, that of Alistair Overeem, who defeated Hunt by first round keylock when the two clashed back in June of 2008 at DREAM 5. It was Hunt’s third straight loss to come via form of arm-lock, but it certainly wouldn’t be his most painful.

In either case, it appears that Hunt may have heard through the grapevine that Alistair stated he would prefer to fight as soon as he got his license back, title shot or not, and figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Those two birds being a bit of redemption and possibly the next heavyweight title shot. He told The MMA Hour: 

If they’d like to get me a fight I’d like to get a rematch with Alistair Overeem, you know, when he comes back from his injury or from whatever, his hiatus. You know? I’d like to have my rematch with him. I’d be willing to fight next year so it doesn’t matter. If he gets a title shot, that’s good on him.

We hate to sound like a bunch of little schoolgirls but OMG JOE SILVA BOOK THIS FIGHT WE’LL LUV U 4EVER PLZZ!!

(Oh, well hello there.)

Ok, so the good news is that DREAM isn’t actually dead. The bad news is that it is a far cry from what it used to be. It was announced today that the organization will return with another New Year’s Eve show this year AND THERE ISN’T ONE FREAK SHOW FIGHT SCHEDULED ON THE CARD.

“Glory Sports International (GSI), owner and operator of the Glory World Series…will be responsible for presenting ‘DREAM 18 – Special NYE 2012’, a New Year’s Eve MMA mega-event taking place at the Saitama Super Arena on December 31,” a press release reads.

The press release also says that the card will have ten MMA bouts and three kickboxing ones. Featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya, Tatsuya Kawajiri and lightweight contender Satoru Kitaoka are the only three fighters confirmed for the event. Great fighters all, sure, but we had better see a Giant Silva or Zulu Jr. thrown into the mix before things are done or we will be incredibly disappointed. Does Minowaman have anything scheduled these days?

(“You’ll never get me Lucky Charms!”)

For nearly four years, the Japanese MMA promotion DREAM did its best to carry the mantle of PRIDE, presenting the same mix of top international talent and freak-show comic relief, all inside of a traditional ring, rather than a filthy American cage. But we were hit with some sad news this weekend as multiple sources reported that DREAM has ceased day-to-day operations, and will no longer be producing events. So as we like to do when great MMA traditions die, let’s take a look back at some of the fights that made this promotion so unique, so entertaining, and so balls-out insane…

#8: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
DREAM.4, 6/15/08 

Though Kazushi Sakuraba’s fame was partly based on his willingness to absorb damage from larger fighters, the level of savagery that Melvin Manhoef inflicted on him during their meeting at the Yokohama Arena probably should have convinced Saku to walk away from the sport. The moment when Manhoef drags Saku away from the ropes by his leg so he can dive in to continue the assault (see the 2:43 mark above) remains one of DREAM’s most indelible and brutal moments.

#7: Shinya Aoki vs. dumb-ass gaijin
DREAM.7, 3/8/09

Another tradition that DREAM inherited from PRIDE? Absurd mismatches. At the time of this fight, Aoki was widely considered to be a top-3 lightweight, while Gardner was an obscure 13-7 journeyman who was coming off a loss to Brian Cobb. Aoki’s domination on the mat was no surprise, but the fight became legendary for how it ended. Stuck with Aoki on his back, Gardner took advantage of a brief pause in the action — and the near-silence in the Saitama Super Arena — to wave to the crowd and shout “Hello Japan!” Aoki immediately wrapped up Gardner’s neck and choked him out, causing the crowd to break out in laughter and Bas Rutten to cry “Oh my God it is so dumb! So dumb! Why?!” Some things just can’t be explained, Bas.

(Behold: The most fabulous bounced-check in combat sports history.)

The writing was on the wall when they couldn’t pay their fighters anymore, but it looks like Japanese kickboxing and MMA promoter FEG might be one step closer to officially closing up shop. Sherdog is reporting that the combat sports promoter best known for K-1, DREAM, and the now-defunct Hero’s brand has declared bankruptcy after eight-and-a-half years of operation:

“Long-beleaguered combat sports giant Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) has officially declared bankruptcy, according to a report by private credit research firm Teikoku Databank. First published Wednesday by Yahoo.co.jp, the Databank report claims that FEG began the process of declaring bankruptcy on May 7 in Tokyo District Court. No figures indicating the extent of FEG’s debts were revealed,” Sherdog‘s Tony Loiseleur writes.

“Though K-1’s brand rights were transferred to Japanese real estate firm Barbizon, Inc. in January 2006, FEG continued to promote the event under their banner. After the purchase and closure of Pride Fighting Championships by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta in 2007, FEG partnered with former Pride production staff in the form of Real Entertainment to produce the Dream series.”

(Kazushi Sakuraba during his PRIDE glory days in 2005.)

By Elias Cepeda

What does it take for a person not to eagerly anticipate the next time one of his favorite fighters competes? When that fighter should have retired years ago due to the damage he’s endured over the years. That’s the way I’ve feel each time Kazushi Sakuraba gets a new match — not with excitement, but with genuine concern for his well-being. The legendary “Gracie Hunter” may be the best MMA fighter the warrior-nation of Japan has ever produced, but he’s lost four fights in a row, hasn’t won a bout since 2009, and has suffered enough beatings for 12 lifetimes. (This guy knows what I’m talking about.)

What makes Saku’s situation worse is that so many of his early losses were the result of savage abuse at the hands of much larger opponents (Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Cro Cop, Ricardo Arona, etc.), leaving him completely broken down at the age of 42. Sakuraba competed just once in 2011 — getting choked out at Dream 17 by unheralded Brazilian prospect Yan Cabral — and has yet to fight this year, while venturing back into pro wrestling just to stay active.

It is now being reported that Sakuraba will return to the ring at Dream’s next event, for a welterweight match against Shinya Aoki. If there’s a silver lining to rolling out Saku for another pay day, it’s that Aoki is foremost a grappler like Sakuraba, so it’s possible that we could see a technical wrestling and Jiu Jitsu match with minimal blunt strikes hitting the legend. Also, Bloody Elbow’s Anton Tabuena is reporting that the fight, now signed according to him, could be Sakuraba’s final MMA appearance.

(The future is wide open for “The Flash.”)

Bibiano Fernandes contacted us today via email to clear up any controversy that may have arisen from a mistranslated quote from TATAME that we reported on this morning.

According to the Brazilian website,  the DREAM bantamweight champ allegedly revealed during a recent interview that he had turned down the UFC in favor of re-signing with the struggling Japanese promotion after his contract expired following his 2011 DREAM Bantamweight tournament final win over Antonio Banuelos on New Year’s Eve.

(Penny for your thoughts, Brett.)

Heavy.com is reporting that the planned heavyweight bout between Brett Rogers and Tim Sylvia has been scrapped because “Da’ Grim” was denied a travel visa to Japan due to his recent dust-up with his wife that landed him behind bars and on trial for domestic assault.

(What? Was Zuluzinho not ready for a rematch?) 

Fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Jeff Monson that snapped the only multiple fight losing streak of his career, word has just broke that Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting in Japan for the first time since his armbar victory over Hong Man Choi at Yarennoka – New Years Eve 2007. As luck would have it, “The Last Emperor” will be fighting on New Years Eve once again, this time under the DREAM banner and against 2008 Olympic gold medal winning Judo practitioner Satoshi Ishii.

Not exactly the freak show bout that Japan (and Fedor) have been known to dabble in, but to call it a mismatch would be somewhat of an understatement. After winning the gold medal in Beijing, China over three years ago, Ishii has built up a 4-1-1 MMA record, with wins over the likes of Ikuhisa Minowa and former K1 great Jerome Le Banner, but has not fought since his draw with pill popper and occasional fighter Paulo Filho back in September. Ishii’s lone loss came in his MMA debut at the hands of fellow Judoka gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida.

(“Well old sport, I look forward to matching skills with you in the chain link-enclosed competition area.”)

According to a report from the Apple Valley Patch, Brett Rogers could land himself back in the clink if he breaches any one of his several probation requirements when he is released from jail later this month.

Most notably, “Da Grim” is forbidden from participating in “assaultive or intimidating behavior toward anyone,” which means that telling his upcoming DREAM opponent Tim Sylvia that he was going to “hurt, maim, or kill” him would be contrary to the terms of his release.

(Will justice be served to Rogers by Sylvia?)

Well, our hunch about Brett Rogers fighting on DREAM’s New Year’s Eve card was right.

According to a report by Heavy.com, the former Strikeforce heavyweight and convicted wife abuser will travel to the Land of the Rising Sun to take on former UFC heavyweight champ and current part-time Illinois police officer Tim Sylvia.

With all the buzz surrounding UFC 135, you might have forgotten that DREAM 17 transpires Saturday, and features a pretty stacked card to boot. Japanese legend Kasushi Sakuraba returns to action for the first time since nearly having his ear torn off by Marius Zaromskis, taking on undefeated submission specialist Yan Cabral. Sakuraba is currently riding a three-fight losing streak including the aforementioned loss to Zaromskis as well as a submission loss to Jason “Mayhem” Miller at Dream 16 and a unanimous decision loss to Ralek Gracie back at Dream 14. “The Gracie Hunter” is in desperate need of a win here to avoid falling into Ken Shamrock territory, though some critics out there feel he already has.

Also on the card, Shinya Aoki takes on Rob McCullough in a lightweight bout. Aoki has technically gone 5-0 fight win streak since his loss to Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce: Nashville; this is of course excluding his embarrassing knockout loss to Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima in a mixed rules match at Dynamite!! 2010. But hey, if Sherdog doesn’t count it, then it never happened. McCullough on the other hand recently had a two fight win streak snapped by the heavy hands of Patricky Friere back at Bellator 36.

(That’s what we call ‘marketable skills’.)

It’s been a strange, at-times painful trip for our good buddy Gerald Harris. After being released by the UFC after his first loss in four appearances, Harris dropped a decision in a rebound fight against James Head at an Xtreme Fight Night event in February. Head earned a ticket to the UFC while Harris secured his place on the outside looking in. ‘Hurricane’ finally got back to the win-column with a decision over former Strikeforce contender Anthony Ruiz at Tachi Palace Fights 9 in May, but broke his hand in the process.

Luckily, things are about to get a lot better (we hope). Harris announced on his Twitter page today that he’s signed a multi-fight deal with DREAM:

Izumi’s mouthpiece (and teeth) seek greener pastures. (Pic: MMAFighting.com)

Somewhere in time, between our last night and our this morning, Japan was getting busy with the Dream Fight For Japan Grand Prix Finals. As is par for the course, this event was not broadcast here in the USA, but it probably will be at some point in the next few weeks, so if you can hold out and don’t want to ruin the show by reading the results look away, and look away now.

Last minute injuries and changes in line-up aren’t exclusive to American promotions, and this Dream show had its fair share of adjustments to its card. Within days of the event both Todd Duffee and Mach Sakurai were forced from their bouts due to injuries suffered in training, but there was plenty else at stake and the show did go on.

A pithy synopsis and full results await you after the jump.

Sorry, Nation. This will not be happening again this Saturday. VidProps: lsydogma01/YouTube

Well, dammit again. The upcoming (and ludicrously titled) DREAM card took another hit when it was announced that Hayato Sakurai was suffering from a leg injury and would not be able to compete against Marius Zaromskis this Saturday. The non-title bout was a rematch; Zaromskis scored a head kick KO that you’ve not doubt seen (which will not stop us from showing you again) when the two met in DREAM’s welterweight GP event two years ago. Zaromskis went on to win the title with another headkick knockout over Jason High.

Zaromskis will instead meet Pancrase and DEEP veteran Eiji Ishikawa, a journeyman grappler out of Tokyo’s Grabaka gym. Ishikawa’s record carries losses to some guys you know (Hector Lombard, Yushin Okami, Yuki Kondo), a draw with Nate Marquardt (under the Pancrase banner back in 2004), and one win over a guy you’ve ever heard of (a majority decision over Ryo Chonan in 2002). In forty fights, Ishikawa has just six stoppage wins. So … yeah.
Man, what is up with main events in 2011?

[RX]

You know, stuff like this. Except moving

Last night, HDNet aired their footage from DREAM’s disaster benefit show, which took place last weekend. Most of you already know what to expect, as results were posted immediately after the event took place, but the fights are worth a quick look. During Aoki vs Clementi Frank Trigg generously guestimated that a half dozen fighters were mentioned as possible opponents for Shinya Aoki. To be fair, that’s about when we stopped paying attention to rumored opponents for Aoki as well. Unfortunately, we don’t have any videos from the bantamweight tournament semifinal matchups. If we find some we’ll get them up. Videos are after the jump.

All videos courtesy of Fight Video MMA:

(When did Rampage learn to kick? – Video courtesy of YouTube/TATAMETV)

- Bout Agreements Distributed to Hendo and Fedor (Sherdog)

- Brazilian Dude Does Soundtrack for Street Fighter II With His Mouth (TuVez)

- Made Babe: Arianny Celeste (MadeMan)

- Let’s Make This Clear: Urine is Not Perfume (HolyTaco)

- Bruce Leroy vs. Leonard Garcia targeted for UFC on Versus 5 (MMAJunkie)

- Laugh in the Face of Cancer With the 50/50 Trailer (ScreenJunkies)

- Noons vs. Masvidal fighting for shot at Melendez (MMAMania)

- The Best of Bulls-Heat Game 5 in Slo-Mo (ScoresReport)

- Spiffy Cat Kitten Profile: Ashton Taylor (SpiffyCats)

- Sportsbook says MMA has passed boxing on the Betting Front (CageWriter)

- FEG, DREAM ‘Sold’ to Investor; It’s Showtime Declares War (FightersOnlyMag)

(Video courtesy of TheScore.ca)

A rumored June 10 bout between fast-rising Canadian welterweight Jordan Mein and DREAM 170-pound kingpin Marius Zaromskis was made official today as representatives from The Score Fighting Series confirmed the main event pairing.

Zaromskis will pose the biggest challenge of the career of the 21-7 Albertan, who defeated UFC veterans Joe Riggs (TKO) and Josh Burkman (decision) in his last two outings. “Young Guns” is hoping that a win over a fighter like Zaromskis will elicit a call from the UFC.

“I pride myself on being entertaining and putting on a good show for the crowd,” says Mein. “I know Marius will give me a great fight and test my abilities.”

That’s right, JZ. Dress for the job you want to have.

Joe Silva isn’t the only matchmaker working overtime lately. Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou Sean Shelby has been as busy shoring up the organization’s upcoming June cards.

The second leg of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix (June 18^th-Dallas, TX) will also feature the return of Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante, who will be climbing into the cage for the first time since his October fight against Josh Thomson, a loss that everyone but the judges thought was close as hell. His opponent will be AKA’s Justin Wilcox, who bludgeoned Rodgrigo Damm in a first round stoppage at Strikeforce Challengers 15 last April.

Two more match ups after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MiddleEasy)

It took a while, but Antonio McKee has finally played the race card against the UFC when attempting to explain why he was dropped by the promotion after just one loss in the Octagon.

McKee spoke to Layzie the Savage from MiddleEasy recently and had some interesting things to say about Zuffa’s stranglehold on the sport or on black fighters, depending on how you interpret his racially-infused rhetoric.

(Aoki is not impressed by DREAM’s choices of opponents)

DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will reportedly take on either former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner or former Maximum Fighting Championship lightweight champion Antonio McKee at DREAM’s “Fight for Japan” disaster relief benefit show on May 29 in Tokyo.

According to MMAWeekly, Aoki’s original opponent, UFC and Shooto veteran Williamy Freire, was unable to secure a visa to fight in Japan, so the promotion offered the bout to McKee, who was inexplicably stripped of his MFC belt earlier this month and learned of the news from a press release put out by the Edmonton, Alberta-based promotion announcing that Drew Fickett and Hermes Franca would be competing in its next show for “Mandingo’s” strap. His opportunity to contend for DREAM gold, however has hit a snag as he too does not have a visa to fight in Asia. As a precaution, DREAM has now offered Varner the bout, but it is unclear at this point which of the two former champions will be taking on Aoki in three weeks.

(Imanari and Aoki: The [lady-]boys are back in town.)

While Sengoku’s tail-spin has been widely publicized, news about DREAM has been almost non-existent since Dynamite!! 2010 on New Year’s Eve. The silence was broken today at a press conference in Japan, where DREAM organizers announced a May 29th event at the Saitama Super Arena — the promotion’s first show of 2011.

DREAM.17 will feature the quarterfinals and semifinals of their Japan Bantamweight tournament, which will feature the following native competitors: Hideo Tokoro, Masakazu Imanari, Kenji Osawa, Darren Uyenoyama, Keisuke Fujiwara, Atsushi Yamamoto, Takafumi Otsuka, and Yoshiro Maeda.

According to Nightmare of Battle, the finals and third-place fight (between the losing semi-finalists) will take place at a subsequent event in July. The winner and loser of the final match and the winner of the third-place fight will advance to the DREAM World Bantamweight Tournament (date TBA). N.o.B passes along even more details…

(Sure, he looks like a bum, but he’s got a golden radio voice. PicProps: SBNation)

More good stuff out on Sunday from MMA Fighting Japanese correspondent Daniel Herbertson, who debuts a new weekly, notebook-style feature chock full of overseas news tidbits. Item No. 1? According to D-Herb – citing those ever-present “sources close to the fighter” — Dream lightweight champion and notorious a-hole Shinya Aoki is considering hanging up the fingerless gloves after his embarrassing knockout loss to Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima at K-1 Dynatmite!!! 2010 on New Year’s Eve.

You’ll remember this bout as the “special rules” contest that alternated a three-minute kickboxing round followed by a five-minute round under Dream rules. You know, kind of like they do it on “Bully Beatdown.” You’ll also recall that Aoki clearly came out with a game plan to just fuck around during round one, waste as much time as possible with copious rule-breaking and rely on the impotent Japanese referee to not penalize him for it. It was a strategy that worked like clockwork until the opening bell of round two, when Nagashima knocked him stiff with a knee as he shot in for a takedown. On this side of the Pacific, it seemed like an obvious case of karma being a complete bitch. At home, it doesn’t sound like Aoki is taking it too well.

 
FEG announced last night during the weigh-ins for this morning’s Dynamite!! show that the impromptu heavyweight match-up between testosterone deficient UFC castaway Todd Duffee and 2010 K-1 OWGP winner and Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will be for the interim heavyweight belt.

Not sure why it’s for the "interim" strap considering DREAM has never had a heavyweight title holder unless of course they’re planning on putting together a heavyweight tournament in 2011. Whatever the reason, it’s pretty crazy to think that Duffee could experience a career-changing moment a la Fabricio Werdum *if* he can pull off the impossible and beat Overeem.

If that happens, expect Scott Coker to be put on suicide watch after receiving multiple "LOL!" texts from Dana White.

Well it looks like his detractors won’t be able to call Alistair Overeem a can crusher after New Year’s Eve.

According to heavyweight prospect Todd Duffee, he and the the Strikeforce and 2010 K-1 Grand Prix champion will meet in Japan that night as the main event of Fields’ K-1 Dynamite!! show.

Duffee made the announcement via his Facebook page, but quickly took the post down, but not before we grabbed a screenshot of the message in which he asked, "Have no plans on NYE? Dream Dynamite 2010: Duffee VS Overeem on HDnet!!!"

The 6-1 Evansville, Indiana native, who only fought once this year and was dropped by the UFC for his "bad attitude" according to the promotion’s president Dana White, has not fought since being knocked out by Mike Russow in the third round at UFC 114 after pounding on the Chicago, Illinois native for the first twelve and a half minutes of the fight. He’s scheduled to face 6-3 TUF 10 veteran Abe Wagner under the Titan Fighting Championship banner on January 29.

Overeem (33-11-1) has been equally as inactive in MMA this year, logging just one fight against Brett Rogers, whom he defeated by TKO in just under four minutes at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery in St Louis, Missouri in May.

The fight has not officially been announced, but Overeem stated last week that he was hoping for a decent opponent and that he was hoping that DREAM would put their heavyweight belt up as the prize for the winner if the match-up was belt-worthy and this fun little scrap fits the bill.

(Nobody puts "Big Daddy" in a corner)

When news first broke that UFC veteran Gary Goodridge stood up former The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 contestant Tom Murphy for their MFL fight this weekend in Montreal, rumors started circulating about why "Big Daddy" walked out of the arena minutes before the main event bout.

CagePotato.com spoke with Goodridge last night and the MMA veteran explained why he went AWOL Saturday night.

According to 44-year-old Barie, Ontario, Canada resident, the event’s promoter, Dirk Waardenburg promised to pay him double what the commission was to be told he made for the fight, with 50 percent to be paid in cash prior to the bout and the remainder to be paid via check after the event.

(Fight starts at 4:15, though all the good stuff is before that.  Vids Props: YouTube/ZombieProphet420)

Leading up to his fight with Kazushi Sakuraba at Dream 16, Jason “Mayhem” Miller said he wanted to be the first person to submit the Japanese legend since Kimo did it during a possibly worked fight back in 1996. Well, Miller gets his wish here, though at this point beating Sakuraba seems to be the same level of accomplishment as going to the grocery store and coming back with everything on your list. The only way it’s not going to happen is if something goes horribly wrong.

We’re told that Saku’s entrance video before this bout is an homage to a popular cartoon in Japan. Don’t know about all that. In the states, we just call that shit creepy. The whole scene – complete with fellow old-school fighting phenom Tsuyoshi Kohsaka on the “drums” – is almost bizarre enough to distract from the sad reality of what’s become of Sakuraba as he continues to fight well into his golden years. Almost, but not quite.

As a little pick-me-up, after the jump watch Chase Beebe get knocked out by Hiroyuki Takaya.

(I have to admit, I was skeptical when FEG announced their business plan using a map with a spaceship on it that would shuttle fighters to events around the world.)

Ever since news of DREAM stiffing a number of fighters of their contracted fight purses including Gary Goodridge, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and featherweight champ Bibiano Fernandes, rumors have been running rampant about how dire of financial difficulty the Japanese promotion is in.

Nightmare of Battle does a great job in summing up exactly what the issues have been for FEG that have led to the company being barely able to keep its head above water.

Apparently DREAM has become the Michael Lohan of the MMA world.

According to TATAME, five months after he won the DREAM featherweight tournament, Bibiano Fernandes hasn’t been paid his contracted fight purse. Unlike the Impact FC fighters who haven’t been paid for their July fights by the Australian promotion, Fernandes has something over the Japanese promotion he is contracted to for one more bout: his belt.

The report says that Fernandes has turned down a title defense on the September 25 DREAM 16 card and maintains that he won’t fight for the organization until he receives his check for his win over Joachim Hansen at DREAM 13 back in March.

(Video courtesy Vimeo/TheReem)

Here’s the latest episode of Alistair Overeem’s web documentary series "The Reem."

In this installment, the Strikeforce heavyweight champion is filmed hanging with Bas Rutten, training with Gegard Mousasi and talking about everything from his ill-fated DREAM championship bout with Andre Arlovski to his four-year-old daughter’s future potential suitors.

(VidProps: YouTube/evilbyte)

Give the DREAM bosses some credit, these guys sure know how to build suspense into what otherwise might be a fairly straightforward and pleasing night of MMA fights. As it turned out, there was no surprise run-in from Alistair Overeem and the Japanese promotion with the fly-by-the-seat-of-its pants matchmaking style never found a fight for Ricco Rodriguez. We hope it paid for the flight and the sushi, at least.  On the bright side, DREAM finally did manage to convince Gegard Mousasi to put in the 31 seconds of work it took to defeat an overweight Jake O’Brien and Shinya Aoki likewise bounced back from an embarrassing loss in Strikeforce a few months ago to put a quick and typically stoic beating on Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Like “Sweet and Sassy,” Aoki called it an early night, withstanding some heel kicks to the face as he locked up an Achilles lock that secured the tap and appeared to damage his Kawajiri’s leg in just one minute, 53 seconds. A couple of days after possibly declaring his bi-sexuality at the event’s weigh-in (we assume he was being ironical), Aoki ditched his trademark colorful tights for relatively conservative board shorts and rushed from the ring following his win to get some lovin’ from his (possibly female) fiancé.

After the jump, O’Brien vs. Mousasi, where it will take you all of the first 15 seconds to see why the American had a little trouble making weight …