My Picks Results: 7-2
Where I was right
- It wasn't easy, or completely definitive, but Bibiano Fernandes won the featherweight grand prix by quickly dispatched of the tournament's Cinderella story, Joe Warren, before fighting to a close, split decision with Hiroyuki Takaya. Many thought that Takaya had won the fight based on his sustained offensive pressure, but the fight may have swayed the way of Fernandes because of a trio of knockdowns and taking Takaya's back twice. Although he earned the decision, Fernandes showed that he does still have some gaping holes in his striking game. He keeps his hands relatively low and doesn't have very good head movement, which allowed him to be tagged with numerous combos by the clearly exhausted Takaya. If he can develop a striking game to compliment his world class jiu-jitsu skill set, Fernandes could stand atop the featherweight ranks for a long time.
- In the rubber match between Joachim Hansen and Shinya Aoki, with just 4 seconds remaining in the fight, Aoki latched on an armbar and forced "Hellboy" to tap. Aoki is an extraordinary grappler and showcased his ground wizardry throughout the fight. No slight to Hansen, who is a high level lightweight fighter and gave him all he could handle, but Aoki has the tools on the ground to make just about anyone tap. On the feet...eh, not so much. After claiming the DREAM lightweight title, he called out UFC champ B.J. Penn, as he has done many times in the past. Here's hoping this fight actually materializes somewhere other than in fans' wildest dreams.
- The Japanese love their national fighters, and DREAM is more than happy to hand pick cans for their heroes to beat on. At DREAM.11, Kazushi Sakuraba was given an ex-boxer in his first professional MMA fight as his personal grappling dummy, and Tatsuya Kawajiri was hand delivered a fighter with a career record of 2-3. Nothing like setting up mismatches to give the people what they paid for.
- In Super Hulk news, Bob Sapp sucks and was destroyed by a legitimate MMA fighter. Imagine that.
Where I was wrong
- In other Super Hulk news, Hong Man Choi is 7'2 and has no ability on the ground. Only in Japan could a middleweight pro-wrestler be matched up with, and finish, a former K-1 champ with a heel hook. Me and Japanese MMA have a unusual love-hate relationship. Sure, it's cool to see a fighter outweighed by about 100 pounds finish his opponent, but then again, why in the world was this match necessary in the first place. Whatever, the minute Gegard Mousasi dropped out of the tournament Sokoudjou started clearing room on his shelf for what I assume will be a comically oversized title belt. This is the Super Hulk tournament, I demand a belt that is as ridiculous as the concept for this entire tournament.
- Got the featherweight grand prix reserve bout wrong. Do I care? No.
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