DREAM

You know you're somebody in the world of mixed martial arts when A/V genius Genghis Con makes you the subject of one of his mesmerizing videos.  That's why we're still waiting for that highlight reel featuring clips of us sitting at our computers to the tune of obscure Japanese pop bands (and we won't wait forever, Genghis), but in the meantime we can entertain ourselves with some of the Con's most recent work on new Strikeforce signee Marius "The Raging Demon" Zaromskis.  It's everything we've come to expect from our favorite video editing machine.  The video game-esque music is the perfect compliment to Zaromskis' ridiculous string of head kick KO's, and nothing tells you that the guy has a Street Fighter II-like overconfidence in himself quite like the attempted backflip attack at the 2:37 mark.

Not that we can't understand the reasoning behind it, but we're still a little disappointed in the change of nickname for Zaromskis.  Sure, "The Whitemare" is the kind of thing that might not play in the U.S., but at least it's unique.  "Raging Demon" sounds like a skateboard company started by a group of guys who dropped out of community college.  The very least Strikeforce could do is to give him a nickname that is as quirky and uncommon as his last one, even if he ends up hating it as much as Gegard Mousasi despises his.   

(Overeem, pictured here shortly after eating the 2003 version of himself.)

After winning his second meaningless fight via standing guillotine choke in as many weekends, Alistair Overeem voiced his desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko in April of 2010.  Beyond just the specificity of that request, what’s interesting is that he followed up by saying that if he had his choice he’d rather do the fight in Dream than in Strikeforce.  Not surprisingly, Dream’s Keiichi Sasahara would prefer that too, saying, “I’ll do what I can to make that happen in the near future.”

Wouldn’t that just be a kick in the pills for Scott Coker and his crew?  They go to all this trouble to sign and then promote Fedor through their CBS connections, and they spend over two years waiting for Overeem to come back and defend his heavyweight title, and then Strikeforce’s new partner threatens to swoop in and steal the fight. 

(Now that's what a commitment to deadpan looks like. Props: Kamipro.com)

Dream’s great experiment inside a cage is now less than a week away, and though they’re inching closer they still haven’t finalized the complete lineup.  The most recent addition is Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba taking on Croatian striker Zelg Galesic.  Galesic was originally slated to face Melvin Manhoef who, like a couple other participants who appeared on the promotional poster, has since pulled out.  Instead, Sakuraba will go directly from fighting a pro boxer with no idea that leg kicks actually hurt, to fighting a guy who has what it takes to give him another Manhoef-style beating like the one that probably should have heralded the end of his career.  So basically, if there’s anything you’ve been wanting to say to Sakuraba, you better go ahead and say it now while you still have the chance.

Meanwhile, Alistair Overeem will head to Japan fresh off his assault on Tony Sylvester at Ultimate Glory 11 this weekend, and still there’s no word on who he’ll be facing when he steps in the white cage on Sunday.  Since the odds of Dream booking a top-ten heavyweight on less than a week’s notice aren’t all that great, it’s probably safe to say that Overeem will be getting his second squash match in as many weekends.  Maybe the reason he’s avoiding the U.S. isn’t fear of drug tests.  Maybe he just likes beating up on guys who are nowhere near his skill-level and getting paid for it.  Not having to pee in a cup at the end of the night, that’s just a bonus.

The current line-up for Dream.12, courtesy of Nightmare of Battle, is looking like this:

('This guy's totally rich or something, right? Right?')

Wouldn’t you know it, the same day we dance on Tim Sylvia’s MMA grave, his name pops up in the news again, this time to say he may have either a very legitimate or very ridiculous fight in the works.  According to Sylvia’s manager, Monte Cox, Big Tim is in talks to head to Japan for a New Year’s Eve fight and Cox says he’s “pretty confident that he is going to fight there.”

What they don’t know is whether he’ll fight for Dream or Sengoku, but apparently Dream contractees Alistair Overeem and Hong Man Choi have both been discussed as possible opponents.  That means that he might get a real fight against the Strikeforce heavyweight champion (who, again, is avoiding fighting in the U.S. like he’s got some kind of Roman Polanski-esque legal troubles over here), or he’ll do the typical NYE freak show fight against Choi.  Those are two very different potential futures for Sylvia.  You’d hope that he would rather go the serious route if given the choice, but as we’ve seen in the past, Sylvia is not above taking a bout that makes no sense at all.

What do you say, would you rather see Sylvia in an absurd fight against Hong Man Choi, just to keep the New Year’s Eve tradition intact, or does Sylvia-Overeem really get your heart pumping?  Side question: if he does fight HMC, what are the odds that he joins Jose Canseco and Bobby Ologun on the “Techno Goliath’s” list of MMA victims?  Just saying, this is the guy who couldn’t close the deal with a hard-drinking strip club bartender on Blind Date,  so you better believe he knows how to screw up a sure thing.

(Props: MMA Share)

We'll say this much for Dream, they may not always put on the most competitive or, for lack of a better word, serious fights, but at least you always know what you're going to get from them.  For instance, you're going to get Kazushi Sakuraba tooling a washed-up pro boxer while Michael Schiavello utters baffling one-liners like, "Trying to predict what Sakuraba's going to do next is harder than finding a pubic hair at a Jonas Brothers concert." 

Thanks, Michael.  It's been far too long since I thought about the hairless genitals of pre-pubescent girls, and what better time to return to that disturbing image than during an MMA bout?  But hey, creeping you out with prepared material that he's scribbled on hotel stationery is all in an evening's work for "The Voice." 

After the jump, more videos from last night's festivities, including all the Super Hulk freakness you can stomach, the semi-final matches of the featherweight Grand Prix, plus others.  More coming soon.  Full results from Dream.11 are all the way at the bottom.  Consider yourself warned.