Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at Dream 6?

Ever since he used Oren's Lotion to fight Kazushi Sakuraba on New Year's Eve 2006, Yoshihiro Akiyama has established himself as the biggest "Heel" in Japanese MMA. Every time he appears in public, the fans give him nothing less than vicious booing. Yes, for almost a year and half, this fourth-generation Korean, born and raised in Japan, has been under attack by the very angry Japanese fans who just won't give a break to a man who has "cheated" in competition. For them Akiyama is no different from those eight players from the Chicago White Sox in the 1919 World Series.

However the situation is completely the opposite in Korea. He is now bigger than ever in that country. Even Akiyama himself admits, "I am a Michael Jackson there."

Well, he is not exactly off the mark here because he just released his first CD, and his ballad is now in the top spot of the cell phone ringing tone ranking in all of Korea, then he was invited to the country's best music show and sang in front of 60,000 fans. In addition, Akiyama currently stars in three national TV commercials - automobile, beer, and milk - and on top of this, when Korea's major movie portal site "Max Movie" conducted a survey on "which athlete's life you would like to see as a movie?" Akiyama ranked first ahead of a very popular figure skater Yu-Na Kim. When you get more votes than a skater that everyone in the country calls the, "Nation's Little Sister" that is a big deal.

Suffix to say, he really isn't over-exaggerating, Akiyama is indeed Michael Jackson in that country.

In Japan, however, it seems like; the fans just like to see Akiyama getting punished. That's why Japanese fans went crazy when Kazuo Misaki soccer kicked his face for a KO win but in the contrary, the Korean fans screamed for an illegal kick (because both of Akiyama's hands were on the ground) and they even exploded when Misaki lectured Akiyama in the ring after the fight. Although for the Japanese fans Misaki's lecture was "you get what you deserve", for the Korean fans, it was just not necessary perhaps like rubbing salt into your scar, not good sportsmanship.

So, does this mean there is no place for Akiyama in Japan? Well, obviously that is not exactly the case. In fact, along with Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto and Masato TBC, he maybe the most valuable and bankable commodity FEG has in its possession. The fans hate Akiyama but this also means that the majority of fans want to see him fighting in the ring. Basically hoping to witness Akiyama getting his butt whipped or maybe just curious to see what is going to happen to him. A TV rating for this past Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final show held on July 21st was a clear proof that the fans want Akiyama. While the entire show maintained average rating of 10.0 %, Akiyama's fight against Katsuyori Shibata scored the highest flash rating at 12.7%. More than the DREAM lightweight GP semi-finals and final, the Japanese TV viewers were interested in Akiyama. And of course, in Korea, Akiyama - Shibata fight also scored the highest TV rating (17.6%) than any other fights in the show. (The entire program averaged 12.9%) Although he is labeled "dirty" Akiyama is now is the only fighter in DREAM, or even in all of the Japanese MMA, that has enormous appeal and popularity in two different countries.

At the post-fight press conference at Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final, Keiichi Sasahara, the Event Producer of DREAM, revealed to the reporters, Akiyama could be fighting in Dream 6: Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final in September and for his next opponent, he brought up a very popular middleweight Kiyoshi Tamura, a U-FILE Camp founder, as one of the possibilities, however, also mentioned a potential plan of Akiyama fighting against a bigger opponent in the open-weight bout.

Then the next day, at the press conference, Sasahara made it clear, "In a sense of being in a same weight class, the Tamura fight would be interesting but for Akiyama, I want to see him fighting a fighter from different weight class." Then even mentioned names like Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Fedor Emelianenko, and the man who defeated Akiyama in March 2005, Jerome Le Banner. Akiyama also attended this press conference and he seemed to be liking the idea of taking on a bigger guy, "In judo, one of the attractions is, 'Flexibility is stronger than stiffness.' A smaller man can beat a bigger opponent. That is the positioning I am going to be in."

We all know how popular Cro Cop is in Japan, which means for the Japanese fans he certainly qualified to become the man who would execute the punishment on Akiyama but for Korean fans this match is a true super fight. For Akiyama fans in that country Akiyama already defeated Denis Kang and Melvin Manhoef which can be considered as two top middleweight fighters in DREAM so why not taking on a bigger and popular fighter, just like how Kazushi Sakuraba did in his prime at the inaugural Dynamite! show took place on National Stadium back in the summer of 2002. Sure Alistair Overeem declared his challenge on Cro Cop in the Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final show but for the Japanese and Korean market, Cro Cop fighting Akiyama makes a hell of more sense than anything else.

Which means even if this super fight doesn't take place in the Dream 6: Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final show then, it seems like, for sure these two would meet on New Year's Eve.

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