Dream (mixed martial arts)

Dream (mixed martial arts)
Dream (styled DREAM in capitals) was a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization promoted by former PRIDE FC executives and K-1 promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group.
Dream replaced FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight series, Hero's. It retained many of the stylistic flourishes and personnel from Pride FC broadcasts, including fight introducer Lenne Hardt.
They promoted over 20 shows highlighting Japanese and international talent, establishing or enhancing the careers of fighters such as Shinya Aoki, Gesias Cavalcante, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Ronaldo Jacaré, Eddie Alvarez, Jason Miller, Kazushi Sakuraba, Gegard Mousasi and Alistair Overeem.
History
Formation
After Zuffa acquired Pride, former Dream Stage Entertainment executives put on a collaborative New Year's Eve mixed martial arts event with Shooto, M-1 Global, and the Fighting and Entertainment Group, called Yarennoka!. While the event was intended to be a farewell show for Pride, its success and further petitioning by Japanese MMA fans prompted the FEG and the DSE staff to combine their efforts and form a new promotion.
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 (and the winner of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix), Fedor Emelianenko, to fight in their events. Emelianenko was present at the Dream press conference to promote the alliance between the two shows.
Partnerships
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. The promotion's later events would air as a part of the network's HDNet Fights series.
On May 10, 2008, Dream announced the working partnership with US promotion EliteXC. The two groups intended to share fighters and eventually co-promote shows. However, with EliteXC went bankrupt before the alliance could materialize.
On August 5, 2009, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced that the two promotions had signed a formal alliance, in-which the two organizations will exchange fighters.
On, November 23, 2011, sources close to ONE Championship announced a new alliance with Dream to copromote shows and participate in fighter exchange.
On January 17, 2012 ProElite announced a partnership with Dream to copromote shows and exchange fighters.
Cease of business operations
On May 16, 2012, Sadaharu Tanikawa officially declared the bankruptcy of FEG. The promotion began to be managed by its proper parental company Real Entertainment Co. Ltd. and as of June 3, 2012, Dream has effectively gone out of business.
The promotion's final show, "Dream.18: Special NYE 2012", was announced for December 31, 2012, under the financial backing of kickboxing promotion Glory Sports International. The event promoted mixed martial arts and kickboxing bouts at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, carrying on the tradition of fight events every New Year's Eve.
Rules
Weight classes
Dream had 7 weight classes. Unlike Hero's, each weight class had a champion with a defendable title.
Bantamweight –
Featherweight –
Lightweight –
Welterweight –
Middleweight –
Light Heavyweight –
Heavyweight – no upper limit
Round length
There were three 5-minute rounds.
Judging
Fights were to be judged in their entirety by three judges, not on a round-by-round ten-point-must basis (more common to North American promotions).
A winner was always to be declared, as draws were not possible.
Attire
Dream allowed fighters latitude in their choice of attire, but open finger gloves, a mouthguard and a protective cup were mandatory. Fighters were allowed to use tape on parts of their body or to wear a gi top, gi pants, wrestling shoes, kneepads, elbow pads, or ankle supports at their own discretion, though each had to be checked by the referee before the fight.
Fouls and violations
Stomps and soccer kicks to the head of a grounded opponent were not allowed (unless both fighters were on the ground), but they were allowed to the rest of the body.
Elbows to the head were prohibited.
If there was a or more weight difference between the fighters, knees to the head of a grounded opponent were not allowed.
A grounded opponent was defined as one in a three-point position. If a fighter had, for example, both knees and one hand on the floor facing the mat, then no kicks to the head were allowed.
Strikes to the back of the head were not allowed.
Tournament substitutions
In case of a "no contest" or injury, the fighter able to continue would go through to the next round; if neither fighter was able to continue, the promoter would choose a replacement fighter to go through.
Final champions
Tournament finalists
Notable fighters
Bantamweight
Antonio Banuelos
Yoshiro Maeda
Hideo Tokoro
Kenji Osawa
Masakazu Imanari
Keisuke Fujiwara
Atsushi Yamamoto
Bibiano Fernandes (Dream Bantamweight Champion)
Rodolfo Marques
Featherweight
Joachim Hansen
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Hiroyuki Takaya (Dream Featherweight Champion)
Daiki Hata
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Akiyo Nishiura
Takeshi Inoue
Kazuhisa Watanabe
Kazuyuki Miyata
Caol Uno
Lightweight
Rich Clementi
Shane Nelson
Drew Fickett
Rob McCullough
Andre Amade
Willamy Freire
Gesias Calvancante
Vítor Ribeiro
Marcus Aurélio
Shinya Aoki (Dream Lightweight Champion)
Daisuke Nakamura
Koutetsu Boku
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Katsunori Kikuno
Katsuhiko Nagata
Satoru Kitaoka
Welterweight
Marius Zaromskis (Dream Welterweight Champion)
Jason High
Tarec Saffiedine
Andrews Nakahara
Jung Bu-Kyung
Andy Ologun
Yan Cabral
Kazushi Sakuraba
Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Ryo Chonan
Hayato Sakurai
Yuya Shirai
Middleweight
Karl Amoussou
Zelg Galesic
Gerald Harris
Dong Sik Yoon
Shungo Oyama
Taiei Kin
Kiyoshi Tamura
Kazuhiro Nakamura
Light Heavyweight
Gegard Mousasi (Dream Light Heavyweight Champion)
Melvin Manhoef
Ralek Gracie
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
Tatsuya Mizuno
Hiroshi Izumi
Trevor Prangley
Heavyweight
Mark Hunt
Jérôme Le Banner
Fedor Emelianenko
Bob Sapp
Todd Duffee
Jeff Monson
Siala-Mou "Mighty Mo" Siliga
James Thompson
Hong Man Choi
Katsuyori Shibata
Satoshi Ishii
Ikuhisa Minowa
Alistair Overeem
Mirko Cro Cop
Events
In America, the promotion was aired on HDNet.
Event locations
Total event number: 24
These cities have hosted the following numbers of Dream events as of Dream 18:
Japan (24)
Saitama – 15
Yokohama – 4
Nagoya – 2
Osaka – 2
Tokyo - 1
References
External links
2008 establishments in Japan
Organizations established in 2008
Mixed martial arts organizations
Mixed martial arts events lists
2012 disestablishments in Japan
Organizations disestablished in 2012
ja:DREAM (格闘技イベント)