(You think Huerta’s had it rough over the last couple years, imagine how this guy feels. PicProps: ImageShack)

It’s hard not to feel a little bit bad for Bellator this month. Here the upstart promotion is about to stage the biggest fight of its short history when Roger Huerta takes on Eddie Alvarez next Thursday and it seems like nobody even cares. Part of that is just sheer bad luck, what with Brock Lesnar and his magnificent new beard gobbling up the headlines prior to his title defense against Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 two days later. Some of it has to be thrown at Bellator’s feet too, since this bout would certainly be garnering some more attention if it weren’t a weirdo nontitle affair. Then there’s Huerta who, after losing three of his last four, is putting waaay too much pressure on himself this week. 

“I feel like if Eddie wins, he ends up killing my career,” Huerta told Sherdog Radio on Monday. “I can’t take another loss. This is really personal for me. This is my life.”

(We know that expression. Looks like somebody needs a James Toney upset to hit their $42,500 parlay bet. Check out more exclusive photos at FightMagazine.com’s UFC 118 photo gallery.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– After Perfect Performance at UFC 118, More Tests Await Edgar (Versus MMA Beat)

– Kenny Florian Says Dana White Is ‘Dead Wrong’ About Him ‘Choking In Big Fights’ (MMA Convert)

- Wanderlei Silva Recovering, Hoping for February Return vs. Leben or Belfort (MMA Fighting)

– Roger Huerta vs. Eddie Alvarez set for non-title fight at Bellator 33 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Mark "The Smashing Machine" Kerr now sells cars in Scottsdale, Arizona. (MiddleEasy)

– Fan Opinon: Top 10 Personalities in MMA (LowKick)

– Tito Ortiz and Shaquille O’Neal face off at the UFC Fan Expo in Boston (Watch Kalib Run)

– Brett Rogers to Return Against Ruben "Warpath" Villareal Next Month in Halifax (Five Ounces of Pain)

– If Don Frye Says You Should Watch Shark Fights, You Should (MMA Scraps)

(The end of the Alvarez/Neer fight, via YouTube.com/BellatorMMA.)

By DL “Tank Abbot” Richardson

Some of Bellator’s biggest names were on the card last night at the Citi Performing Arts Center, for the first-ever major MMA show in Boston. Two semi-final matchups for the lightweight tourney were on tap, plus a 160-pound SuperFight between Eddie Alvarez and Josh Neer, and a heavyweight exhibition featuring one of Brock Lesnar‘s training dummies partners. But not everything went as planned. A full rundown of Bellator 17 is after the jump. Prepare yourselves — some crazy shit went down…

(Props: YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

Bellator’s long-awaited second season kicks off this Thursday in Hollywood, Florida, featuring Roger Huerta‘s promotional debut against undefeated Cincinnati native Chad Hinton, and Joe Warren‘s debut against Eric Marriott. To promote the tournament series, Bellator has put together preview shows for each of their four weight classes, which originally aired on Fox Sports Network, but have also been made available on YouTube. The lightweight tourney preview covers such participants as Huerta, Toby Imada, Ferrid Kheder, and Mike Ricci, as well as the reigning champion Eddie Alvarez; part one is above, parts two and three are after the jump. To see the featherweight, welterweight, and middleweight episodes, go here.

(Overeem vs. Thompson. Props to DreamCageFights. And special props to Michael Schiavello for predicting that this fight wouldn’t last long. How the hell did he see that one coming?!?)

- Alistair Overeem def. James Thompson via submission (guillotine choke), 0:33 of round 1
- Eddie Alvarez def. Katsunori Kikuno via submission (arm-triangle choke), 3:42 of round 2 
- Marius Zaromskis def. Myeon Ho Bae via KO (head kick), 0:19 of round 1 
- Kazushi Sakuraba def. Zelg Galesic via submission (kneebar), 1:40 of round 1 
- Katsuyori Shibata def. Tokimitsu Ishizawa via TKO, 4:52 of round 1 
- Dong Sik Yoon def. Tarec Saffiedine via split decision 
- Yoshiro Maeda def. Chase Beebe via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:36 of round 1 
- Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Won Sik Park via TKO (eye injury), 5:00 of round 1
- Tomoya Miyashita def. Keisuke Fujiwara via unanimous decision

More fight videos after the jump…

(Props: youtube.com/BellatorMMA)

Bellator’s inaugural season came to a close on Friday night, with the finals of their middleweight and lightweight brackets. In the 185-pound title fight, Hector Lombard used his striking and ground-and-pound to open up some nasty cuts on the head of his opponent, Jared Hess; the fight was eventually stopped in the fourth round after Hess lost a few gallons of blood. Directly after, 155-pound favorite Eddie Alvarez completed his sweep of the lightweight tourney by knocking Toby Imada out of his jock with a big right hook early in the second round, then sinking in a rear-naked choke. Lombard and Alvarez collected $100,000 checks for their efforts.

In non-tournament action, Jorge Masvidal submitted Eric Reynolds via third-round rear-naked choke, Bodog/ShoXC vet Rosi Sexton submitted Valerie Coolbaugh via first-round armbar, and Stephanie Guimaraes became Bellator’s latest YouTube star with her 49-second knee-knockout of Yvonne Reis. The Guimaraes knockout is above; highlights from the Lombard/Hess and Alvarez/Imada fights are after the jump.

(Yeah, that’s an upside down triangle choke. Props: Watch Kalib Run.)

Maybe the most interesting story to come out of Bellator so far is Toby Imada’s upset of Jorge Masvidal in last night’s Bellator lightweight tournament semi-finals.  Masvidal was reportedly in control for most of the bout, but in the third round a failed takedown attempt led to an upside down triangle choke from Imada against a standing Masvidal.  Masvidal did his best to endure it, but ended up collapsing to the canvas unconscious.  Bellator promises us video of the submission soon, and this ought to be good.  Imada moves on to the finals to face Eddie Alvarez, who was also victorious last night.  Full results are after the jump.

(Wilson Reis vs. Henry Martinez)

If you’re one of the proud, multi-lingual subscribers of ESPN Deportes, this is old news to you, but the second weekly installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships went down Friday night (and was broadcast on Saturday), with former EliteXC 140-pound champ Wilson Reis extending his record to 7-0 with a decision win over Henry Martinez, and IFL/Ring of Combat vet Lyman Good scoring his eighth consecutive win after choking out Hector Urbina. Also on the card was Jorge Ortiz (aka "The Naked Man"), who scored a decision win over Aaron Romero. You can watch the entire broadcast (in English!) starting this Wednesday on Bellator.com. Full results are below…

TOURNAMENT BOUTS
Wilson Reis def. Henry Martinez via unanimous decision (bantamweights)
Eric Reynolds def. Thomas Schulte via TKO, 4:18 of round 1 (lightweights)
Lyman Good def. Hector Urbina via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:22 of round 2 (welterweights)
Omar de la Cruz def. Victor Meza via unanimous decision (welterweights)
Jorge Ortiz def. Aaron Romero via unanimous decision (welterweights)

NON-TOURNAMENT BOUTS
Jesse Juarez def. Mikey Gomez via TKO, 4:23 of round one (welterweights)
Matt Makowksi def. Aaron Tregear via unanimous decision (lightweights)
Jimmie Rivera def. Willie Gates via submission (triangle choke), 3:17 of round 3 (bantamweights)
Josh Laberge def. Chris Simmons via unanimous decision (lightweights)

Bellator’s staggered four-weight-class tournament system may seem confusing at first, but basically here’s what’s going to happen…

(Shoulda worn the invincibility tights, Eddie.)

Alessio Sakara, who most recently scored his first win as a middleweight by knocking out Joe Vedepo at UFC Fight Night 15 in September, has been forced to pull out of his Fight Night 17 match against UFC newcomer Jake Rosholt due to an unspecified injury. Replacing "Legionarius" will be Dan Miller, who is 2-0 in the UFC (with wins over Rob Kimmons and Matt Horwich) and 10-1 overall. Rosholt has won all five of his professional bouts by stoppage, and last appeared at WEC 36 in November where he defeated Nissen Osterneck via second-round TKO. The Miller/Rosholt bout is still slated for the undercard of the UFC Fight Night 17 lineup.

In other injury news, top-ten lightweight Eddie Alvarez will no longer be able to headline Extreme Challenge’s "War at the Shore" event on January 23rd in Atlantic City; Alvarez was scheduled to take on ZST/UFC vet Naoyuki Kotani. Unsurprisingly, ligaments in Alvarez’s knee are "looser than they should be" after being heel-hooked by Shinya Aoki at Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year’s Eve. We hate to say it, but it serves Eddie right; booking a fight less than 30 days after you’re scheduled to face Aoki is the kind of pride that goeth before the fall, so to speak. The Alvarez/Kotani fight will likely be scheduled for a later date, and Extreme Challenge is working on putting together a new headlining bout for the Atlantic City event. Alvarez is still under contract for one more fight with DREAM, and will enter Bellator Fighting Championships’ lightweight tournament in April, which will be broadcast weekly on ESPN Deportes.

Unrelated, but Important: Our current Fight! Magazine caption contest ends in about five hours. Get in your last entries ASAP!

(Now that I think about it, Kinnikuman would fit in perfectly with the TapouT crew.  Somebody get Punk-Ass to bring the bus around and pick him up.)

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you really want to bet on K-1 Dynamite 2008 tonight, which you probably won’t get to watch until tomorrow and which may or may not turn out to be a total shitstorm.  First, you’re a crazy son of a bitch, you know that?  Second, we got you covered.  Here are the best odds on the ‘net, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Joachim Hansen (+150) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (-105)
Kazushi Sakuraba (-125) vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (+120)
Eddie Alvarez (-105) vs. Shinya Aoki (+120)
Semmy Schilt (-531) vs. Siala Siliga (+450)
Hong Man Choi (+160) vs Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (-155)
Daisuke Nakamura (-110) vs. Hideo Tokoro (+135)
Alistair Overeem (+270) vs. Badr Hari (-250)

Thoughts…

(Shinya Aoki: Always prepared for a chilly afternoon.)

Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki were supposed to have their showdown in the finals of DREAM’s lightweight GP in July — instead, Alvarez was declared unfit to advance after getting his right eye messed up during his thrilling quarterfinal bomb-fest against Tatsuya Kawajiri, which allowed alternate Joachim Hansen to step in and whip the already-exhausted Aoki. Now the two top-five fighters may finally get a chance to test themselves against each other, as a fight between Alvarez and Aoki is in the works for "Fields Dynamite!! 2008" on New Year’s Eve.

Cross your fingers that it actually comes together. Simply put, Aoki vs. Alvarez would be the most important lightweight fight you’d find outside of the UFC, as well as one of the best grappler vs. striker showcases in any weight class, in any organization. Though Alvarez hasn’t competed since the DREAM tournament, Aoki snuck in a quick submission victory over Todd Moore at DREAM 6 in September; his loss to Hansen snapped a three-year-long undefeated streak that saw him go 12-0 with one no-contest.

Hansen is slated to appear in a headlining bout at Dynamite!! against JZ Calvancante, alongside bouts between Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura, and Mousasi vs. Musashi. According to MMA Weekly, other rumored participants include Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Masakazu Imanari, Nick Diaz, Hayato Sakurai, and Ikuhisa Minowa.

(When in Zagreb…)

Maybe now we know why Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has been reluctant to accept a rematch with Alistair Oveerem.  Sure, he’s got that knee injury, and Overeem is the man who made it his personal mission to destroy Cro Cop’s testicles in their last meeting, but to add to his troubles Cro Cop recently lost his favorite cocaine-addicted sparring partner to an armed robbery arrest.  That always happens at the worst times, doesn’t it?

According to a translation done by Robert at betwxx (via Brawl Sports), Mirko Borkovic (aw, cute, same first name!) was arrested in Zagreb as a “serial armed robber.”  He’s charged with robbing twenty-five “betting agencies,” making off with over 250,000 Croation Kuna, a little over $45,000 in U.S. dollars. 

Don’t worry though, it was just to finance his cocaine addiction, so it’s not like he’s a scumbag or anything.  Apparently he did some time for possession in 2003, and said he used the drug as a performance-enhancer to aid his kickboxing training.  My ex-girlfriend tried that same story.  Six months into the relationship I realized she didn’t even have a gym membership.  Or a job.  And then I noticed my wallet was missing.  But I digress.

Also snuck into the report is this little nugget about Cro Cop’s other associations these days:

Only a month earlier Cro Cop was forced to deny having sparred with Robert Matanic a local crime figure and suspect in the murder of Ivo Pukanica. In a interview with Nova TV, Cro Cop disassociated himself from Matanic claiming not to ever have met or sparred with Matanic.

In Cro Cop’s defense, roughly 80% of Croatians are involved in organized crime.  You spar with enough people, eventually one of them is going to be a suspected murderer.  Just kidding, Croatian readers.  Please don’t murder me.

In other news…

(Will act coquettishly adorable and sexy for food?)

While none of us may be positively heartbroken or even surprised to see Pro Elite shut down its operation, the thing to keep in mind is that the MMA marketplace just got smaller. That means fewer opportunities for fighters and, at least for most, meager paychecks in the near future. Former Icon Sport promoter Patrick Freitas reminded us of this fact with a post to the UG that read, in part:

I Just wanted to say that as everyone here is dancing on the Elitexc’s grave, I think its important to remember that a shitload of good fighters (and great people) just saw their contracts disappear into the ether.

That’s the truth. Whatever you think of Pro Elite’s demise and the reasons behind it, one thing we can all agree on is it isn’t the fault of the fighters they employed. But now that those fighters find themselves without an organization to call home, where do they go? The answer, of course, depends on who they are. Most will end up in local promotions. But what about the big fish?

Jake Shields: If the UFC could only pick up one of the newly unemployed EliteXC fighters, Shields should be that one. He was probably the most talented guy on their roster, and something tells me Zuffa could scoop him up relatively cheaply. If he comes in and makes an impact on the UFC’s welterweight division right away, great. If he doesn’t, the UFC can claim it as proof that their fighters are far and away the best in the industry.

Kimbo Slice: The EliteXC collapse couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Ferg. Coming off an embarrassing loss and with a half a million dollar price tag, he does not look like a good investment right now. We know the UFC isn’t interested. Affliction has enough heavyweights to do something with him, but he’ll have to take a major pay cut. Even then his shelf life is a question, as is his desire to continue on as a pro fighter. Don’t be surprised if we’ve seen the last of Kimbo’s MMA days.

(Eddie Alvarez celebrates after defeating Joachim Hansen at DREAM 3.)

With KJ Noons stripped of his lightweight strap, EliteXC is trying to establish a new ruler of its 160-pound class, and the front-runners should come as no surprise. As rising star Eddie Alvarez recently told MMA Weekly, “We’re about 90-something percent positive I’ll be fighting Nick Diaz for the EliteXC title at 160.” Bout agreements have yet to be signed, but Alvarez has reportedly inked a new six-fight contract with EliteXC, and is ready to return to the U.S. after an outstanding run as a 154-pounder in DREAM’s lightweight grand prix. “I like 160,” the 23-year-old Philadelphia native said. “I feel like at 160 I’m stronger, I’m faster, I’m not as depleted as I am at 155.”

While competing in Japan this year, Alvarez came out on the winning end of two fight-of-the-year candidates, a wild 15-minute battle with Joachim Hansen at DREAM 3 in May, and an absolute slugfest against Tatsuya Kawajiri in the grand prix semi-finals in July. Unfortunately, an eye injury prevented him from advancing to the finals, and Joachim Hansen was able to take his spot as an alternate and defeat Shinya Aoki to win the tournament. Though a second fight against Hellboy would truly determine who deserves to wear DREAM’s lightweight belt, Alvarez now says that DREAM is behind him

If it comes together, the fight between Alvarez and Nick Diaz would most likely go down at EliteXC’s November 8th event (name and location TBA), which will be broadcast on Showtime.

(The fight that set off a shit-storm of events.)

Even though they’ve stripped him of the title, the door is not yet closed on KJ Noons’ relationship with Elite XC. The company reportedly gave Noons a Monday deadline to determine whether, and under what circumstances, he’ll continue to work for them. After all this drama it’s hard to imagine that we’ll be seeing Noons back in the Elite XC cage unless he gets a significant pay raise. Even then, you have to wonder what they would do with their ex-lightweight champ.

He refused to fight Nick Diaz even though it’s the only bout for him with any real heat at the moment. His manager, Mark Dion, said previously that the fight Noons really wants is one with Eddie Alvarez. Trouble is, rumors are now circulating that it will be Diaz who faces Alvarez for the vacant Elite XC title. Now that’s got to sting if you’re Noons. Not only does Diaz get more money, he also gets the fight KJ wants and maybe even his belt. What’s next, his bike?

If that happens, Noons can wait out the Diaz-Alvarez bout, hoping that Alvarez wins and he’ll finally get his shot at him. Even then, there’s still the sticky issue of money to sort out. If Diaz pulls out the victory Noons will be almost forced into a rematch with him for the belt that was his to begin with.

After everything that’s happened, however, it seems more likely that Noons is looking for the door at this point. He still has two fights on his contract, though he could decide to focus on boxing for a while in the hopes that Elite XC will crumble and he’ll be free and clear to sign a new MMA deal when they do. That is, assuming there is an organization who will be willing to pay him what he thinks he’s worth even after he’s been out of the game for a while.

Sounds like refusing a much-hyped rematch on network TV maybe wasn’t the best career move after all. Weird.

(“Yeah man, so this is like, one of the *actual tires* that came off of Rampage’s truck. No shit. Got it off Craigslist.” Photo of The Grim by Esther Lin.)

Nick Diaz and Brett Rogers won’t be sitting on their hands waiting for their arch-rivals KJ Noons and Kimbo Slice to become available — MMA Junkie reports that both fighters have been scheduled to appear at EliteXC’s November 8th event, which will be broadcast on Showtime. Their opponents haven’t been announced yet, but EliteXC’s Jared Shaw confirmed that Joey Villasenor will also be part of the event; rumor has it that he could face Robbie Lawler for the middleweight title.

Speaking of the Showtime card, FiveOuncesofPain reports that EliteXC wants to add Eddie Alvarez to the lineup, and build up to a fight for the vacated lightweight title if him and Nick Diaz win their fights and KJ Noons continues to be a problem. Side note: Before Diaz competes again for EliteXC, he’ll head to Japan to battle Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at DREAM.6 (September 23rd; Saitama, Japan) for DREAM’s welterweight title. In other EliteXC news…

— A fight between Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos and Yoko Takahashi has been officially added to the undercard of Saturday Night Fights III on October 4th. If time permits, the match will be shown on the broadcast on a tape-delay basis. Cyborg vows to improve on her last performance by knocking Takahashi out three times in the first round.

— EliteXC’s heavyweight champ Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva has released a longer statement about his steroid bust. Some highlights:

(Alvarez vs. Kawajiri: Fight of the Night. Props to MMA-Core.)

Chaos rules when it comes to single-night tournaments, and today’s DREAM.5 show in Osaka was marked by an unexpected twist — lightweight grand prix alternate Joachim Hansen defeated crowd-favorite Shinya Aoki in the finals to become DREAM’s first lightweight champion, following an eye injury suffered by Eddie Alvarez in his semifinal match.

The first semifinal bout was dominated by Aoki, who threw his entire bag of submissions at Caol Uno, threatening Uno repeatedly with chokes, leglocks and armbars. Uno hung in like a champ, but the judges made the obvious choice when the clock ran out, and an exhausted Aoki advanced to the finals.

In the second semifinal, the Philadelphia-based Eddie Alvarez proved that he should be counted among the world’s best lightweights, getting the best of Tatsuya Kawajiri in a thrilling slugfest. Alvarez suffered a cut under his right eye early by Kawajiri’s nasty power punches, but Alvarez dropped Kawajiri with his own. After time was called for Alvarez’s eye to be checked out, the fight-restarted with Kawajiri taking control again, punching Alvarez to the mat and swarming him from the top. Alvarez eventually got to his feet, taking heavy damage in return. But Alvarez battled back, throwing his fists until Kawajiri succumbed. Unfortunately, it was later announced that Alvarez wouldn’t be able to continue to the finals because his eye was swollen shut.

The tournament’s alternate bout saw Joachim Hansen withstand an early assault by Indian fighter Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill; Hellboy quickly regained control and put away his outmatched opponent via armbar at the 2:33 mark. Hansen, who had lost to Alvarez at the lightweight GP quarterfinals in May, would now be replacing him in the finals.

Whoever’s in charge of video editing at Triumph United has incredible taste in music (though we would have probably chosen this jam for the soundtrack instead). If you’re not interested in seeing Kimbo Slice and Bas Rutten do some synchronized striking drills during a recent meet-and-greet at Elite MMA, we’d suggest skipping to the 1:54 mark to get your first taste of Kimbo workin’ it on the ground. Props to BloodyElbow. Also…

(James Irvin prepares for his UFC 85 fight against Rashad Evans at Fairtex Bangplee in Thailand. Props to MMAMania.)

(Jason Miller keeps ‘em laughing against Katsuyori Shibata.)

DREAM.3 went down today in Saitama, Japan, with two upsets pulled off in the lightweight grand prix, while Nick Diaz, Jason Miller, and Melvin Manhoef all scored first-round TKOs. The night’s biggest surprise was the defeat of top-ten lightweight Mitsuhiro Ishida at the hands of Caol Uno — who had received a bye into the GP’s quarterfinals — by way of rear-naked choke early in the second round. Eddie Alvarez also took an unexpected win, grinding down Joachim Hansen over 15 minutes en route to a unanimous decision. The card’s other marquee names didn’t disappoint, with K-1 vet Melvin Manhoef demolishing Dae Won Kim, and Nick Diaz getting the better of Katsuya Inoue in a slugfest. But Jason Miller did his best to steal the show, entering the ring in Zubaz-esque tights for his fight against the completely outmatched Katsuyori Shibata, and repeatedly posing for the camera. Full results are below, and videos are after the jump.

Lightweight GP Quarterfinals
Caol Uno def. Mitsuhiro Ishida via rear-naked choke, 1:39 of round 2
Eddie Alvarez def. Joachim Hansen via unanimous decision
Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Luiz “Buscape” Firmino via unanimous decision

Welterweight Feature
Nick Diaz def. Katsuya Inoue via TKO (towel thrown), 6:47 of round 1

Middleweight GP Round 1
Jason Miller def. Katsuyori Shibata via TKO, 6:07 of round 1

Middleweight GP Reserve Fight
Melvin Manhoef def. Kim Dae Won via TKO, 4:08 of round 1

Lightweight Features
Daisuke Nakamura def. Jung Bukyung, 1:15 of round 2
Takeshi Yamazaki def. Shoji Maruyama via unanimous decision

(Aoki’s magic tights couldn’t protect him from a fight-ending elbow strike. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

Dream’s debut event went down earlier today in Japan and showcased some soild action and an annoying “no contest.” To the surprise of no one, Cro Cop rocked Tatsuya Mizuno, ending the fight by a KO just 56 ticks into the match. Mizuno was drilled repeatedly by Cro Cop’s punches and couldn’t recover to survive the onslaught.

MMA Weekly has a choice quote from Cro Cop:

“A lot of fighters refuse to fight me these days, but he had courage and he accepted,” said Filipovic afterward from center ring. “For my next fight, I will need a stronger opponent, so anyone is welcome.”

Well, if you need a stronger opponent, anyone is not welcome. Let’s just get him a worthy adversary next time.

In the Lightweight Grand Prix fight many of us were eyeing, Gesias “J.Z.” Calvancante and Shinya Aoki’s fight was ruled a “no contest” which always blows. J.Z. caught Aoki with an elbow to the back – which is illegal – and the ref stopped the action. Aoki was given ample time to recover, but couldn’t continue. “J.Z.” reportedly did some weird arm-raising prayer routine in his corner while waiting for Aoki to bounce back. When the fight was called by the ringside doc, both fighters apologized to the fans.

In other notable fights, Mitsuhiro Ishida beat Jung Kyung by decision in a fight that had many complaining for lack of actual fighting. “Dida” Amade and mouthy Eddie Alvarez saw Alvarez overpower and pound away, giving the Philly native the win.

Tatsuya Kawajiri outagressed Kultar “The Black Mamba” Gill for a decision win, and Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa kneebarred Lee Gwan into a submission at 1:25 of the first. The tournament winners will fight in May to see who goes to the finials in July.

(Sorry bro, rock beats finger.)

Nightmare of Battle has the official fight order for Saturday’s highly-anticipated DREAM show. Notably, the fight between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki will headline the event, Cro Cop’s match with Tatsuya Mizuno will serve as a break between the first half of the lightweight tournament bouts and the second, and the opener will be Ikuhisa Minowa in an “open-weight” fight against a freak to be named tomorrow. Cutting it kind of close, huh? Anyway, the lineup goes like this:

Lightweight Tournament 1st Round (second group)
10. J.Z. Calvan vs. Shinya Aoki
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Black Mamba (Kultar Gill)
8. Andre Dida vs. Eddie Alvarez

Heavyweight Feature
7. Mirko CroCop vs. Tatsuya Mizuno

Lightweight Tournament 1st Round (first group)
6. Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Jung Bu Kyung
5. Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Artur Umakhanov
4. Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luis Buscape
3. Kotetsu Boku vs. Joachim Hansen

Welterweight Feature
2. Hayato Sakurai vs. Hidetaka Monma (correction: This fight isn’t part of the lightweight tournament, as we said yesterday. Props to reader “robnashville” for being smarter than us.)

Open Weight Fight
1. Minowaman vs. TBA

Christ, I’d give my left nipple to be at this show. Joachim Hansen could be a dark horse to win it all, though most likely the eventual winner will be the guy who survives Saturday’s main event. Calvancante’s utter domination of his past opponents make him the obvious front-runner, and he’s been working with Eddie Bravo to deal with Aoki’s rubber guard and straightjacket-like grappling. There are some interesting betting lines here, which list Ishida/Kyung-Jung as the biggest first-round mismatch (-1000/+550), Kawajiri as the favorite to win the entire tournament, and Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill as a laughable +3800 under-underdog to go all the way. Holler at a brotha’s comments section if you have any big predictions for the show…

(Alvarez vs. Derrick Noble in ’06.)

Although Eddie Alvarez signed a multi-fight deal with the EliteXC last month, he has also agreed to fight in DREAM’s Lightweight Grand Prix. 5oz. of Pain confirmed the deal this afternoon. The tournament will be in Japan on March 15th. Alvarez will fight Andre “Dida” Amade in the first round.

“The fight is 100 percent,” began Alvarez. “I just got a call from my manager, Monte Cox, everything is underway. Everything is approved and I will be heading over there (Japan) on the 10th to fight in the lightweight Grand Prix. I’m excited.”

“Monte (Cox) talked it over with EliteXC and EliteXC was happy to work with DREAM,” Alvarez responded when asked if special permission was needed to compete in a tournament that could require Alvarez to fight on three separate DREAM shows. “I’m sure they want to do business with them in the future so I’m sure they are more than happy to lend me over and let me do the fight.”

Alvarez also said he might be fighting in May for an EliteXC Atlantic City event, but nothing is set in stone. He will certainly be busy getting down to lightweight for the fight and mentioned he is doing three-a-days to make weight. The fighter is 12-1 overall and last fought on January 25th when he defeated Ross Ebanez via TKO in the second round of their battle at The ShoXC Elite Challenger Series. He’s an exciting fighter to watch and has only lost to Nick “The Goat” Thompson (April, 2007).

Andre “Dida” Amade is 6-2-1, losing his very first pro fight and his latest – a submission loss to Gesias Calvancante last September at K-1 HERO’s – Tournament Final. He has been with K-1 his last four fights. Amade is with Chute Box; Alvarez from Philly’s Fight Factory.

Gotta’ hand it to the guys at DREAM for putting together a solid card so far. More than I can say for another organization set to debut soon.

Last night’s ShoXC Elite Challenger Series event didn’t produce much to get the heart rate above it’s normal lounging mode. Eddie Alvarez and Paul “Semtex” Daley were the main attractions for the Atlantic City, New Jersey show. They took on Ross Ebanez and Sam Morgan, respectively.

Alvarez had a large number of his Philly peeps in attendance as he worked over Ebanez with well-rounded precision. After a false alarm by the ringside med team, Alvarez finished off his opponent in the second round. The win took Alvarez to 12-1, the lone blemish on his record put there courtesy of Nick “The Goat” Thompson. Ross Ebanez dropped to 16-6.

Paul Daley’s bout went a little differently as Sam Morgan took him down a couple of times early in the fight. However, “Semtex” got back to his feet and the tide started to turn – and fast. A monster right elbow from Daley KO’d Morgan to a 19-10 record. “Semtex” took his record to 17-6-2 and afterwards guaranteed he would beat Alvarez – if/when they fight.

Oh yeah, and two chicks fought – which is always cool. Tonya Evinger trained with Ken Shamrock for almost two months before Friday’s fight with Julie Kedzie, who she wrapped up in a rear-naked choke early in the first round for her sixth win in nine fights. No word if Ryan Shamrock sparred with her.

Complete results:

-Eddie Alvarez over Ross Ebanez via TKO on strikes – Rd 2 (2:32)
-Paul Daley over Sammy Morgan via elbow strike KO – Rd 1 (2:12)
-Bao Quach over Bobby McMaster via unanimous decision
-Tonya Evinger over Julie Kedzie via rear-naked choke submission – Rd 1 (1:43)
-Kala Kolohe Hose over Frederic Belleton via KO (punch) – Rd 1 (4:32)
-Charlie Brenneman over Drew Puzon via split decision
-Wilson Reis over Zach Makovsky via side choke submission – Rd 2 (1:15)
-James Jones over Mark Getto via kimura submission – Rd 1 (1:12)
-Brett Linebarger over Sergio Vinagre via punch KO – Rd 3 (2:29)
-Matt Makowski over Joe Schilling via rear-naked choke submission – Rd 1 (4:01)

(Eddie Alvarez)

Today over at CBS Sportsline, there’s an interview with former Bodog welterweight champ Eddie Alverez who got derailed after losing for the first time – via TKO to Nick “The Goat” Thompson last year at “Clash of the Nations”. Alverez (11-1) is now with EliteXC and has dropped down to the 160-lbs club. Probably better suited for him anyway, since he stands at 5’8″. The article reveals that Alvarez’s chick just popped out their second son, but he’s such a decent dude (the article’s tone, not ours) that he still took time to chat about his upcoming EliteXC fight with Ross “Da Boss” Ebanez (16-5) on January 25th.

Some highlights:

Q: You just recently signed a contract with EliteXC. You had been with Bodog but EliteXC live events president Gary Shaw alluded to the fact in the press release that announced your signing that you weren’t happy with Bodog. What were some of the reasons you were unhappy?

EA: I was completely happy with Bodog up until recently. I disagreed with the fact that they fired Miguel, Miguel Iturrate, their matchmaker. I thought he did a great job. He does have his downfalls but I think altogether he’s a guy who knows what he’s doing in the sport. They fired him and I think that was a bad move. That made me think twice about staying with them in the first place.

And then when I trained for a rematch (vs. Nick Thompson) for a couple of months and the rematch fell through — and I understand fights fall through, that happens with promotions — just as it is my obligation to train for fights and be prepared, I feel it’s the promotion’s obligation that if a fighter drops out then find me a backup fight.

There are people out there. There are people out there willing to fight for food; they don’t even give a s— about getting money, they’re willing to fight for exposure. And I was a little upset at the fact that I trained that long and I wasn’t given the proper compensation or even given a secondary fight after Nick dropped out.

Um, willing to fight for food? Perhaps you’d be more comfortable over at Bum Fights.