DREAMedit this page

From EDGE MMA, the Mixed Martial Arts Wiki

DREAM is a Mixed martial arts organization promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group and co-produced with the former PRIDE executives from Dream Stage Entertainment. It is the sister promotion of K-1 kick boxing. DREAM replaced FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight series, HERO'S. The series retains many of the stylistic flourishes and personnel from PRIDE FC broadcasts, including fight introducer Lenne Hardt. In America, the promotion is aired on Mark Cuban's HDNet.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Pride FC's buyout and Yarennoka! 1.2 HERO's dissolution and DREAM's emergence 1.3 Partnership with HDNet 1.4 Partnership with EliteXC 2 Rules 2.1 Weight classes 2.2 Round length 2.3 Judging 2.4 Fouls and violations 2.5 Tournament substitutions 3 Notable Fighters 3.1 Featherweights 3.2 Lightweights 3.3 Welterweights 3.4 Middleweights 3.5 Light heavyweights 3.6 Heavyweight 3.7 Super Heavyweights 4 Events

[edit] History

[edit] Pride FC's buyout and Yarennoka!

After the Zuffa buyout of PRIDE FC, the former Dream Stage Entertainment executives put on a collaborative New Year's Eve mixed martial arts show with Shooto, M-1 Global, and the Fighting and Entertainment Group, called Yarennoka!. This show was intended to be a farewell show of PRIDE. However, due to its success and further petitioning by Japanese MMA fans, the FEG and the former DSE staff decided to combine their efforts and form a new Japanese promotion.

[edit] HERO's dissolution and DREAM's emergence

Their new promotion was confirmed on February 13, 2008 along with HERO's dissolution. All of HERO's' fighters were confirmed (such as HERO's champions Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Yoshihiro Akiyama and JZ Calvan) to be part of the new promotion along with the additions of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, Shinya Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba, Mitsuhiro Ishida, and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai.. Another notable announcement was DREAM's partnership with M-1 Global, who confirmed that they would allow the last Heavyweight Champion of PRIDE FC (and the winner of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix), Fedor Emelianenko, to fight in their events (although Emelianenko's future with the company became unclear after Fedor later parted way with M-1 Global). Emelianenko was present at the DREAM press conference to promote the alliance between the two shows.

[edit] Partnership with HDNet

On May 2 2008 DREAM aired for the first time in the United States with a repeat of DREAM.1 on HDNet. A repeat of DREAM.2 was aired the following day, while DREAM.3 was aired live on May 11. All future DREAM events will be airing on HDNet as a part of the network's HDNet Fights series.

[edit] Partnership with EliteXC

On May 10 2008 DREAM announced a working partnership with US promotion EliteXC. The two groups intend to share fighters (Eddie Alvarez and Nick Diaz have both already participated in DREAM events) and eventually co-promote shows.

[edit] Rules

[edit] Weight classes

DREAM has 6 weight classes. Unlike HERO's, each weight class will have a champion with a defendable title.^[1]

• 67kg/145lb - Featherweight
• 70kg/154lb - Lightweight
• 76kg/168lb - Welterweight
• 84kg/185lb - Middleweight
• 93kg/205lb - Light Heavyweight
• +93.1kg/+205lb - Heavyweight

[edit] Round length

• 10 Minute First Round
• 5 Minute Second Round

[edit] Judging

• Fights will be judged in their entirety by three judges, not on a round by round 10-point must basis (more common to North American promotions).
• A winner will always be declared, draws are not possible.

[edit] Fouls and violations

• Stomps and soccer kicks to the head of a grounded opponent are not allowed (unless both fighters are on the ground), but they are allowed to the rest of the body.
• Elbows to the head are not allowed (neither in standing or ground position).
• If there is a 15 kg or more weight difference between the fighters, knees to the head of a grounded opponent are not allowed.
• Ground position in DREAM means a three point position (both feet and one hand). If a fighter has, for example, both knees and one hand on the floor facing the mat, then no kicks to the head are allowed.

[edit] Tournament substitutions

• In case of a "No Contest" or injury, the fighter who can continue will go through to the next round, if neither fighter is able to continue the promoter will choose a fighter to go through.

[edit] Notable Fighters

[edit] Featherweights

• Chase Beebe
• Joe Warren
• Abel Cullum
• Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto
• Hideo Tokoro
• Masakazu Imanari
• Yoshiro Maeda
• Babiano Fernandes (The current DREAM featherweight champion)

[edit] Lightweights

• Eddie Alvarez
• Joachim Hansen
• Shinya Aoki (The current DREAM lightweight champion)
• Mitsuhiro Ishida
• Katsuhiko Nagata
• Katsunori Kikuno
• Katsunori Kikuno
• Tatsuya Kawajiri
• Gesias Calvancante
• Vitor Ribeiro
• Andre Amade
• Luiz Firmino

[edit] Welterweights

• Jason High
• Marius Zaromskis (The current DREAM welterweight champion)
• Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
• André Galvão
• Jesse Taylor

[edit] Middleweights

• Melvin Manhoef
• Paulo Filho
• Kiyoshi Tamura
• Kazushi Sakuraba
• Zelg Galesic
• Jason Miller
• Andrews Nakahara
• Dong Sik Yoon
• Minowaman

[edit] Light heavyweights

• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
• Gegard Mousasi (The current DREAM middleweight champions and current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion)

[edit] Heavyweight

• Alistair Overeem
• Sergei Kharitonov
• Jeff Monson
• Ralek Gracie

[edit] Super Heavyweights

• Mark Hunt
• Hong Man Choi
• Bob Sapp

[edit] Events

Event	Date	Location	Venue	Attendance
DREAM.1 Light Weight Grand Prix 2008 First Round	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr March 15, 2008	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	19,120
DREAM.2 Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 First Round	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr April 29, 2008	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	21,397
DREAM.3 Light Weight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr May 11, 2008	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	21,789
DREAM.4 Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr June 15, 2008	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan	Yokohama Arena	14,037
DREAM.5 Light Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr July 21, 2008	Osaka, Japan	Osaka-jo Hall	11,986
DREAM.6 Middle Weight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr September 23, 2008	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	20,929
FieLDS Dynamite!! 2008	02008-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr December 31, 2008	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	25,634
DREAM.7 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 First Round	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr March 8, 2009	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	19,528
DREAM.8 Welter Weight Grand Prix 2009 First Round	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr April 5, 2009	Nagoya, Japan	Nippon Gaishi Hall	9,129
DREAM.9 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 Second Round	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr May 26, 2009	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan	Yokohama Arena	15,009
DREAM.10 Welter Weight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr July 20, 2009	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	11,970
DREAM.11 Feather Weight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr October 6, 2009	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan	Yokohama Arena	14,039
DREAM.12 Cage of the Rising Sun	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr October 25, 2009	Osaka, Japan	Osaka-jo Hall	10,112
Dynamite!! 2009	02009-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr December 31, 2009	Saitama, Japan	Saitama Super Arena

Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found