Dream Middleweight Tournament Taking Shape

The second outing of mixed martial arts promotion DREAM will feature the opening round of a 16 man middleweight tournament. Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round is scheduled for the Saitama Super Arena on the 29th of April. The promotion has officially announced four more bouts as the card starts to really take shape.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion and submission wizard Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza will face off against former ICON Sport middleweight champion Frank "Twinkle Toes" Trigg. This match up is an intriguing clash of styles. Trigg who on two occasions fought for the UFC welterweight title is a strong wrestler with good submission defence and strong strikes. Jacare on the other hand has a world class submission game with a limited striking repertoire. The edge in experience goes to Trigg who has usually fared well against submission stylists, Jacare however is a different level of submission stylist.

Yoon Dong Sik an accomplished Judoka will take on Shungo Oyama. Dong Sik took a bronze medal in the world judo championships. Japanese fan favourite Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa is scheduled to face Korean Taiei Kin. Exciting striker and former Cage Rage middleweight champion Zelg Galesic will begin his run at tournament gold by facing off against Magomed Sultanakhmedov.

This card will also feature the highly anticipated rematch between American top team standout Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti and the tricky Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu stylist Shinya Aoki. The first match ended in a no contest at the first Dream event Dream 1: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round. It was ruled a no contest following illegal downward elbow strikes from Calvancante. The match was part of the first round of the Lightweight Grand Prix.

As previously announced Japanese superstar and arguably one of the most popular mixed martial artists of all time Kazushi Sakuraba will take on little known Andrews Nakahara in a match that Sak will be heavily favoured to win.

In another intriguing match up former pro wrestler and co founder of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki will square of with the always tough Kiyoshi Tamura. Funaki a living legend in Japan has struggled for years with injuries that have taken their toll following a long career on the Pancrase circuit. Tamura a former student of legendary Pro Wrestler Akira Maeda is always game with strong kicks and solid all round game. Tamura has scored some solid wins in MMA with his record only being blighted by match ups where he faced much larger opponents.

Dream is promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group who are better known as the owners of K-1. The show replaces their previous MMA incarnation Hero’s. The show is co-produced by former PRIDE executives from Dream Stage Entertainment giving it a very much Pride like feel. The show hopes to improve the Japanese MMA market which is in somewhat of a slump following the sale of Pride to the Zuffa group. With solid cards like this one, excellent production values and the return of the tournament format one can only imagine that the future looks bright for Dream.