Tony
03-04-2009, 09:56
http://mmajunkie.com/dyn/images/fighters/shinya-aoki-2.jpg
Just three days before DREAM hosts its eighth fight card, the bout order for the event has been released.
A rematch of an August 2005 clash between perennial Japanese stars Shinya Aoki (20-3) and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (34-8-2) will serve as the evening's main event.
DREAM.8 takes place April 5 at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan. The event airs in North America on HDNet on April 10, a five-day tape delay.
DREAM's eight-man welterweight tournament will feature prominently on the evening, as the final four contests of the evening will all feature first-round matchups in the grand prix.
Those four bouts are preceded by the final first-round tournament bout in DREAM's featherweight grand prix, as Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata (10-5-3) meets Hideo Tokoro (21-15-1).
Six other first-round bouts took place at March's DREAM.7, while Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-1) earned an opening round bye.
DREAM.8 also features appearances by Sergei Kharitonov (16-3), Jeff Monson (28-8), Murilo "Ninja" Rua (16-9-1) and Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro (19-2).
The final bout order includes:
Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai*
Jason High vs. Yuya Shirai*
Seichi Ikemoto vs. Marius Zaromskis*
John Alessio vs. Andre Galvao*
Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata vs. Hideo Tokoro+
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jeff Monson
Murilo "Ninja" Rua vs. Yoon Dong Sik
Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro
Andrews Nakahara vs. Shungo Oyama
Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa vs. Katsuyori Shibata
* - Welterweight grand prix opening-round bout
+ - First-round featherweight grand prix bout (other tourney bouts took place at DREAM.7)
For the latest on DREAM.8 (http://mmajunkie.com/event/613/dream-8.mma), stay tuned to the MMA Rumors (http://mmajunkie.com/Events.aspx?rumors) section of MMAjunkie.com.
Just three days before DREAM hosts its eighth fight card, the bout order for the event has been released.
A rematch of an August 2005 clash between perennial Japanese stars Shinya Aoki (20-3) and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (34-8-2) will serve as the evening's main event.
DREAM.8 takes place April 5 at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan. The event airs in North America on HDNet on April 10, a five-day tape delay.
DREAM's eight-man welterweight tournament will feature prominently on the evening, as the final four contests of the evening will all feature first-round matchups in the grand prix.
Those four bouts are preceded by the final first-round tournament bout in DREAM's featherweight grand prix, as Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata (10-5-3) meets Hideo Tokoro (21-15-1).
Six other first-round bouts took place at March's DREAM.7, while Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-1) earned an opening round bye.
DREAM.8 also features appearances by Sergei Kharitonov (16-3), Jeff Monson (28-8), Murilo "Ninja" Rua (16-9-1) and Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro (19-2).
The final bout order includes:
Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai*
Jason High vs. Yuya Shirai*
Seichi Ikemoto vs. Marius Zaromskis*
John Alessio vs. Andre Galvao*
Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata vs. Hideo Tokoro+
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jeff Monson
Murilo "Ninja" Rua vs. Yoon Dong Sik
Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro
Andrews Nakahara vs. Shungo Oyama
Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa vs. Katsuyori Shibata
* - Welterweight grand prix opening-round bout
+ - First-round featherweight grand prix bout (other tourney bouts took place at DREAM.7)
For the latest on DREAM.8 (http://mmajunkie.com/event/613/dream-8.mma), stay tuned to the MMA Rumors (http://mmajunkie.com/Events.aspx?rumors) section of MMAjunkie.com.