DREAM.5

(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.

("Wii Fit not as easy as looks.")

DREAM.5 is only three days away — not the most convenient time for the lineup to fall apart. First, the bad news: Featherweight star Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (pictured above) has injured his right knee in training and won’t fight at Monday's show; the injury might put him on ice for six months. Even worse, a feature in the forthcoming issue of the Japanese tabloid Shukan Gendai alleges that Yamamoto is a regular user of marijuana. (Apparently, that's looked down on over there; we Americans revere marijuana for its glaucoma-easing and gogoplata-inspiring properties.) Yamamoto last fought at K-1 Premium 2007 Dynamite!! (12/31/07), where he smoked Rani Yahya via TKO.

Featherweight Hideo Tokoro is also in danger of dropping from the card, as he was rear-ended while driving on Wednesday, and suffered a back injury could take a week to heal completely. Strangely enough, FightOpinion reports that Tokoro's scheduled bout against Takeshi Yamazaki was being promoted as an "ikemen" (hot guy) match. And if that's what it takes to sell fights in Japan, I think I'm going to arrange a superfight between Hard Gay and Bruno.

(The Super Samoan could make his DREAM debut this month.)

DREAM officials recently held a press conference announcing more matches for their fifth event (July 21st; Osaka, Japan). Along with the highly anticipated conclusion of their lightweight grand prix, a reserve match between Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen and Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill will take place in case one of the winning semi-finalists is unable to continue to the final round; Hansen defeated Kotetsu Boku in the GP's opening round in March before dropping a decision to Eddie Alvarez in the quarterfinals, while Gill was bounced out of the first round by Tatsuya Kawajiri. Highly regarded middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama will compete for the first time since his illegal soccer-kick KO of Kazuo Misaki at Yarennoka! last New Year's Eve, taking on professional punching bag Katsuyori Shibata (2-4), who has dropped recent matches to Jason Miller and Kazushi Sakuraba.

DREAM.5 may also see the return of PRIDE/K-1 legend Mark Hunt, who was announced as a participant, though his opponent hasn't been named yet. Hunt hasn't competed in an MMA match since PRIDE Shockwave 2006 (12/31/06), when he was submitted by Fedor Emelianenko via kimura. And of course Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto will be in a featured featherweight bout against 7-0 Sacramento native Joseph Benavidez. The full lineup is after the jump...