Dream 9

Super Hulks, one of the fights of the year, upsets and disappointment. It was quite the roller coaster at Dream 9. This was the first time I have shot ringside at Yokohama Arena and it was really a lot of fun. The fans really got into it and I couldn’t see an empty seat in the place. Definitely a good sign for dream, the needed a boost. Hopefully the boost came from great matches rather than freak shows though. If FEG get the idea that Dream 9’s success came from the Super Hulk rubbish then I fear for their future. On the other hand, if they feel like it came from fights like Tokoro vs. Cullum, ‘Jiri vs. JZ and Kid vs. Warren then perhaps we have something to look forward to.

The main event was obviously disappointing. It was a great match on paper and it would have been good to see a belt finally relevant again in Dream. As it stands, none of their belts are really actively held which is sad. Jason “Mayhem” Miller got a little over zealous and unfortunately threw an illegal kick to the downed Jacare and cut his head wide open. Ryan Parsons was telling me that he constantly does that same move in training. Catch a kick and then as the opponent is falling he throws a kick to the body or head. He was just a little late with it this time and Jacare was already grounded.

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza about to eat shin. I got a photo of the kick landing too but it's obscured by Jacare's foot.

Jacare knew that he was bleeding everywhere and you could tell that he was trying to face away from referee Yuji Shimada so he wouldn't notice.

Obviously a nasty cut. Mayhem's leg wasn't so hot either.

After seeing Kid training prior to this fight, I had no doubt that he was an incredible athlete but I wasn’t the only one to show concern that Kid was over training. He actually said himself after the training session that he thought it may be a little much. I’m going from memory here but in the morning he was doing four 10 minute rounds of sparring and then four 10 minute rounds of pads and grappling. After that 30 minutes of body conditioning. In the afternoon - rinse and repeat. That’s from memory though so I might be a little off with that but I’m pretty sure that’s right. Either way, it’s totally insane and no huge surprise that he came in and didn’t fire. Warren is no joke obviously so ring rust combined with this was enough to give him everything he needed for the upset.

I'm giving up on being cool, Kid has it down. I'm just going to go to Akiba and buy manga instead.

Warren's game plan was perfect. Greco and punching. He had trouble getting Kid with his double leg but he won the fight with the clinch.

Kid showing BJ Penn like takedown defence. The ropes ended up getting him down here.

Warren yelled "I fucking trust you Matt!" at judge, Matt Hume throughout the fight. Matt was really getting annoyed because he didn't want to look biased (I don't believe he is). Warren was just really concerned that he was going to get robbed.

The only exciting part of the Imanari/Fernandes fight. A bad match up unfortunately.

Hiroyuki Takaya celebrating a big comeback TKO. I was a little disappointed for Maeda, I've been shooting him for a long time.

Hideo Tokoro is just an excitement machine. Every fight - start to finish is a highlight reel.

Abel Cullum was a mess by the end of the fight, could't keep up with the pace.

Tokoro with the standing rear naked choke. Awesome.

The match I was most looking forward too didn't really live up to my expectations. It was awesome, don't get me wrong but JZ didn't really fire. Hopefully it was just ring rust and he will be back soon.

Sokoudjou really lost it against Jan Nortje and just kept going and g oing after the stoppage. Ray Sefo and his crew got in the ring and were very close to losing it too. That would have been nasty. This photo got a bit of attention from the guys over at the excellent Fightlinker. Thanks!

The biggest story for most news outlets unfortunately was Jose Canseco.

Jose looking a little shocked but relived after leaving with his head intact.

Lot’s more of this stuff at Sherdog. Got a couple of quieter weeks coming up. I’ll see if I can get my Flickr and catalogue update I think.