Royce Gracie, who opened the world’s eyes by winning three of the UFC’s first four tournaments, was recently interviewed by MMAFighting where he revealed his loss for former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes still haunts him.

“That’s the only one. I want to be able to show up to the fight. (Before), I didn’t show up,” said Gracie of a potential rematch.

While their bout at UFC 60 was far from competitive, Gracie explained he wasn’t fully on his game when they originally fought in 2006 though didn’t provide any great detail on why that was the case. However, if he is unable to procure a second shot at Hughes it won’t prevent the submission specialist from moving on with his life.

“If it happens, good. If it doesn’t happen, good.”

The 44-year old Gracie hasn’t fought in more than four years when he outpointed old rival Kazushi Sakuraba to score a controversial decision at “K-1 HERO’s Dynamite!! USA”. If he never steps into the cage again he will retire with a 14-2-3 record including twelve wins by way of tap-out.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

In conjunction with the date’s significance, as many of you know, Five Ounces of Pain is giving away a Blu-ray copy of “Ultimate Gracie” a week before it’s available in stores, and the time has finally come to reveal who will be taking home the documentary on Gracie’s life in addition to copies of his most memorable match-ups (including his scrap with “Saku”).

Before getting into the details we at Five Ounces want to thank you all for entering. The winner was selected randomly and fortunately so for the staff here, as it would have been extremely difficult to pick a “best of” had the contest been structured in such a way.

Without further adieu, your winner is…William Doggett! Mr. Doggett’s submission was blindly picked from the lot and can be found below a handful of other stand-outs from among the group who we felt deserved to see light.

Again, thanks to all who entered “The 5 OZ Submission: Ultimate Gracie” and rest assured we here at Five Ounces look forward to bringing more giveaways like this one to the site throughout 2011 and beyond.

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“Royce Gracie is MMA…There wouldn’t be a UFC if it wasn’t for his family’s entrepreneurial spirit. UFC Hall of Famer…UFC’s first Tourney Winner… His family’s techniques are a staple in modern MMA and he is one of the most influential and recognizable figures from the early days of MMA. He is quite possibly your favorite fighters’ favorite fighter. Even if it’s just as a special guest or in the corner of a fellow Brazilian I hope to see Royce Gracie at UFC 134 BRAZIL!” – Rece Rock

“Royce Gracie is the THE reason for the popular explosion of MMA. While jiu jitsu wasn’t his invention, successfully showcasing it with honor against much larger opponents impacted MMA like Sam Colt’s revolver in the Wild West. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu inspired average-bodied fans to dream of being “Giant Killers” and made fighters dangerous and defensive in new and exciting ways. Royce Gracie brought intrigue and suspense to MMA, and changed the environment from brawling bloodsport to technical athletic competition appreciated by the masses.” – Mark

“An often overlooked aspect of Royce’s sensational career is his win over Dan Severn in the finals of UFC 4. If you recall, Severn displayed some awesome wrestling power in his fight with an admittedly grossly outweighed Anthony Macias. To be sure, those 5-point suplexes would have won Severn any match under freestyle wrestling rules and surely impressed everyone watching. However, Royce’s match proved — for the first time I can remember — that pure wrestling cannot finish fights, and after spending 15 minutes in his guard Royce threw his legs up, locked in the triangle, and forced a reluctant tap. That tap was a warning shot to all those in the wrestling community with MMA aspirations and cast off any doubt that dominating positional control from wrestling, without more, can still be overcome by expert BJJ.” – William D.

In commemoration of Gracie’s memorable showing we at Five Ounces of Pain are giving away a brand spanking new Blu-ray copy of the UFC’s “Ultimate Gracie” to readers more than a week before it is officially released to the public on May 10. MMA fans entering will have an opportunity to relive many of Gracie’s greatest moments in incredible quality, including his aforementioned bout with Sakuraba, as well as learn more about the man who helped lay the technical groundwork for countless individuals including many of those competing on Saturday night at the Rogers Center.

To win “Ultimate Gracie” all you need to do is write a few sentences (no more than a paragraph) on some aspect of the pioneering Brazilian – a fight of his standing out to you from the others, influence he might have had on love of MMA, or any other number of memories related to Gracie’s storied career – and send it to “gracie_giveaway@yahoo.com” from a reliable email address.

Then, this upcoming Sunday (5/1) Five Ounces will select a random submission and run it along with others in a column on Monday paying tribute to Gracie’s legacy. Entrants should make sure to include a moniker they are comfortable with having posted publicly even if it is a “screen name”. Additional questions should also be sent to the drawing’s email address and will be handled in as timely a manner as possible.

For the mere price of a 3-5 sentence admission you can walk away with access to Gracie and a catalog of his combative offerings. You could be a click away from having six hours of content including most of his match-ups and takes on Gracie from UFC 129 main carders St. Pierre and Lyoto Machida, in addition to a number of their peers, on what he means to them, as well as insight from himself and his family on his path towards greatness including the infamous Gracie Challenges and early UFC events. Tap out a few lines on your keyboard, send them in, and be part of the Five Ounces’ Submission!

PHOTO CREDIT – ZUFFA

White clarified the UFC’s position on Gracie, who has been actively lobbying for a fight at the August 27 event and said talks were ongoing between the sides, in a brief exchange with MMAFighting.

The final man standing at UFC 1 in 1993, Gracie hasn’t been seen in the MMA ring since a lackluster decision win over Kazushi Sakuraba in 2007 and subsequent positive test for steroid use shortly thereafter. The controversial win brought Gracie’s record to 2-1-2 since his 2000 classic with Sakuraba in PRIDE with a draw to Hideo Tokoro and TKO loss to Matt Hughes in the two outings prior to the appearance at “Dynamite!! USA”.

Assuming Gracie does indeed remain retired the man whose last name is synonymous with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will maintain an overall record of 14-2-3 with twelve submission wins including success against Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and a number of other fighters considered to be the forefathers of the sport in its current form.

Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!

Twas the morn before Christmas and all through the site, not a creature was stirring except two dudes who write. Welcome to Grappling with Issues, Five Ounces’ regular weekly feature highlight insight and opinion from myself and Adam Tool. However, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t feel precluded from dishing out your own thoughts on each matter in the comments section at the bottom of the column.

Also, from the GWI crew, make sure to have a safe and wonderful Holiday weekend regardless of whether or not you’re celebrating!

What would you like Santa Dana to leave under your tree this Christmas?

Tool: I know what I don’t want to see in the UFC, and that’s peace on Earth and goodwill towards men. If I had to pick one thing I want from the UFC that would be an entire year free of stinky main events on pay-per-view events. Between UFC 108, UFC 109, and UFC 119 we had three full priced events with sub-par headlining fights. Throw in a couple of less-than-impressive featured bouts for the European shows and you’ve got a year dotted with forgettable fights at the top of the card. Fortunately this is a problem that the company has taken steps to fix, as the addition of two more divisions means more meaningful match-ups in the main events.

Conlan: An openness to co-promoting fights in 2011 in hopes of furthering the growth of Mixed Martial Arts as a whole. Granted, I understand it’s not a realistic wish, but then again we’re talking about Santa here so I’m going to roll with it anyways. Though the bulk of the sport’s finest athletes already reside in the UFC there are a number of world-class competitors currently drawing paychecks from organizations like Strikeforce, Bellator, DREAM, and Sengoku. I’m confident most, if not all, of them would gladly accept the additional exposure created by occasional association with the UFC, just as I’m certain Zuffa executives don’t see the need to risk their employees’ marketability while providing a rub for a rival’s fighter in return.

However, for White to worry about losing his stronghold on the industry because of talent-sharing is like MLB being concerned that the rare instance when a Japanese baseball team wins during an exhibition series MIGHT turn the support of Detroit towards the Hanshin Tigers rather than their home squad. If Gilbert Melendez were to beat Edgar, it would give Strikeforce a temporary boost until the UFC signed “El Nino” away from them as they did Jake Shields. In the long run, letting the best in the world fight each other regardless of what banner they’re flying helps out MMA as a whole, and in return benefits the UFC because a rise in popularity equates to money at the box office and in merchadising. With a bit of ego-checking Santa Dana could easily work towards facilitating a fair deal allowing for cross-promotion, and thus that’s the White Christmas I’m dreaming of this year.

After witnessing Anthony Pettis’ brilliance last week at WEC 53, how do you feel he’ll fare against the UFC lightweight champ regardless of who holds the belt (Edgar/Maynard)?

Tool: I’m still not ready to take Pettis for the win but his performance last week made the upcoming unification bout a lot more intriguing. We already knew that Pettis had some stellar takedown defense along with an active guard, but there were plenty of question marks surrounding his cardio. Pettis showed that he can go hard for 25 minutes and he even managed to have his best round of the fight in the fifth frame. All of these skills, combined with his impressive arsenal of strikes, should serve him well regardless of who his next opponent is. I’m still not sure if he’ll be able to out-strike Edgar, and he’ll probably have a tough time dealing with Maynard’s power, but I certainly like his chances more than I did before WEC 53.

Conlan: Suffice to say I feel a lot more confident in his success against either than I did before last week. Though I don’t know if Pettis’ wrestling can hold up to the takedowns and ground-control of Edgar or Maynard, I do believe he’s quick enough to make it difficult for them to grind out a victory without at least absorbing some decent damage in return. His boxing may not be as tight whoever emerges lightweight champ on January 1, but “Showtime” has a wider variety of strikes in his arsenal (obviously) and can attack from more angles. Either way, whereas I felt he didn’t have much of a chance prior to WEC 53, Pettis’ showing against Ben Henderson was enough to convince me he can’t be taken lightly again until proven otherwise.

With Royce Gracie mentioning his interest in a final return to the Octagon when the UFC ventures back to Brazil, do you think Zuffa should entertain the thought and if so who would you put him in the cage against?

Tool: It’s hard to say. By the time UFC: Rio rolls around it will have been over four years since Gracie last competed in MMA. The fact that he tested positive for performance enhancers after that fight has little bearing on any potential comeback as Gracie has more than enough goodwill with the fans to have it be any sort of an issue. If he feels physically capable of competing then I say let him do it, especially since it will likely be the last chance he gets to perform inside the octagon.

As for who his opponent should be, that’s certainly a tough one. There’s no reason to put him against an up-and-coming star as he already did the torch passing fight with Matt Hughes. At the same time there aren’t too many people hanging around the UFC these days who have the same kind of name value as Gracie. For kicks and giggles I say match up Gracie with none other than Demian Maia. Gracie brought Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the forefront of the sport and Maia carries that torch today. While I’m sure it would essentially be a BJJ bout masquerading as an MMA fight, I can’t help but feel that this is the best possible choice if you’re going to bring Royce back in 2011.

Conlan: I don’t think Gracie has any business competing in a sanctioned MMA bout on a UFC card, so rather than seeing him further tarnish his legacy in the ring I’d prefer to see a special grappling match put together featuring either Maia or B.J. Penn. Similar to Tool, I would love to see how things unfolded on the ground against a top-level submission artist, but I don’t think Gracie can strike with any “Top 15” fighter in a weight-class relative to wherever he wants to compete at and I don’t think a bout against someone who is relatively nameless does the event any good. Renzo Gracie has also expressed interest in the show so that could be fun too based on their relationship as cousins.

Are there any bantamweights in the UFC that you think could beat Dominick Cruz?

Conlan: Yes, without a doubt in my mind someone like Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres, or Brian Bowles – even Joseph Benavidez – could walk away champion after an in-ring encounter with Cruz. As impressive as “The Dominator” was against Scott Jorgensen he’s not quite the overwhelming force associated with title-wearing promotional peers like Georges St. Pierre, Jose Aldo, or Anderson Silva. In eight WEC appearances, seven of which were wins, Cruz has zero finishes with the only non-decision involving Bowles’ broken hand. The fact he hasn’t knocked out or submitted an opponent since March 2008 isn’t an indictment of Cruz’s talent, because there’s no arguing he’s got it in droves, but the statistic can certainly be seen as a measuring stick in terms of how “dominating” (or unbeatable) he actually is. After all, Benavidez was only a point away from taking the belt home when the two of them fought at WEC 50.

Tool: I understand his inclusion on that list, but I have a hard time giving Benavidez much of a chance to beat Cruz if he’s been unsuccessful in two previous attempts. Faber stands out as the most likely answer given the fact that he’s beaten Cruz once and I’m sure he’ll be the favorite if/when the two meet up again. I’d like to give Bowles a shot again although he’s yet to make his return from the aforementioned hand injury so who knows what his standing is in the division he briefly ruled.

Of the names mentioned I think Torres offers the biggest challenge to Cruz. Nobody is going to match Cruz in speed but I believe Torres can overwhelm the new UFC Bantamweight Champion with power. Torres’ lanky frame is deceptive because he doesn’t look like he should hurt guys, but I’d put Torres’ punching power as second only to Bowles in the UFC bantamweight division. Since Torres is bound to get a crack at the belt sooner I’ll take him as the fighter most likely to dethrone Cruz.

Lightweights Donald Cerrone, Kamal Shalorus, and Shane Roller all scored big victories at WEC 53. Which of these three fighters do you think will be the most successful in the UFC’s lightweight division?

Conlan: This decision is as easy for me as Josh Koscheck’s was to wear sunglasses the day after UFC 124. Cerrone is the most-marketable, and well-rounded, of the group and has the type of fearlessness in the ring that could raise his fan-favorite status to a whole new level with exposure in the Octagon. When I think of potentially exciting match-ups created by the addition of WEC’s lightweights neither Roller or Shalorus spring to mind, yet my salivary glands start up at the notion of Cerrone fighting Nate Diaz, George Sotiropoulos, or any number of the UFC’s talented 155ers. Though it’s easier to see Roller and Shalorus compiling a slightly better record than Cerrone based simply on their wrestling, I’m looking at “success” as being in an overall sense rather than simply wins/losses (longevity, drawing power, etc.), and in that regard I’ve got to go “Cowboy” all the way.

Tool: Cerrone has the advantage of being the most popular fighter on that list, but in terms of his skillset I’m not sure if he’s going to be able to make it very far up the ranks of the UFC’s lightweight ladder. Cole Miller will be a good test as to where Cerrone is sitting right now, and I fully endorse that match-making if it comes to pass. I enjoy watching “Cowboy” fight as much as anybody else but I’m not sure yet if he can really hang inside the octagon.

My pick for this one would be Roller. While in the WEC his only two losses came to the two guys that just met in the last ever WEC fight. He’s got that wrestling background coupled with an ever-expanding submission game, and with another year or two of seasoning he could very well be a strong force in the UFC. This is an age of wrestlers and Roller brings some of the strongest amateur credentials of anyone under a Zuffa contract. He’s got some holes in the striking game but there aren’t too many wrestlers who don’t, and with only three years of professional fighting experience he’s got plenty of room to grow.

Now that it’s officially gone, what was your favorite moment in WEC history?

Conlan: This is probably an opportune time for a joke about Britney Palmer but instead I’ll do my best to maintain professionalism and focus purely on MMA-related offerings from WEC over the past few years. In truth, it’s hard to choose a single moment from such a large library of worthy contenders, especially in the wake of Anthony Pettis’ cage-assisted kick, so rather than picking a fight or finish I’m going to go with WEC 34 as a whole.

The 2008 event marked WEC’s debut in Sacramento with Faber in tow and was successful on a number of levels. More than 12,000 people showed up to watch a headlining fight featuring 145-pounders, not to mention a non-UFC card using lighter weight-classes in general, and walked away satisfied based on the action unfolding in front of them. Faber’s battle with contender Jens Pulver was tremendously entertaining, as was the preceding scrap between Torres and Takeya Mizugaki. Cerrone and Mike Brown also saw action, not to mention future/current champs Cruz and Aldo. A landmark event peppered with world-class talent played out to a packed arena says a lot about the quality of WEC as a whole, and as such WEC 34 is my choice for the stand-out moment in its history.

Tool: If we’re picking favorite WEC events I’d have to go with the WEC 48 Aldo vs. Faber event from earlier this year. Some of the best fights of the year were on that card and I’m having trouble remembering a single bad thing about the event. Of course the WEC was in the business of putting on fantastic cards on the reg, so your results may vary.

My favorite moment during my time with the WEC would probably have to be the now infamous Interim WEC Lightweight Championship bout between Cerrone and Henderson. What made that bout so memorable was the fact that it was a relatively weak headliner on paper, yet it turned out to be one of the best main events of all time. It’s also a bout that could only have happened in the WEC, as those two would never have had a chance to go five rounds with each other if they had been signed to the UFC.

Gracie may not presently match the divisional greatness of promotional champs Anderson Silva, Jose Also, or Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but there’s no questioning the influence he (and his family) have had on the UFC let alone Mixed Martial Arts as a whole. And, though the 44-year old Brazilian hasn’t fought since June 2007, it appears the Octagon’s return to Rio may be enough to bring him out of retirement for one last bout if the company will have him back.

According to a conversation between Gracie and Tatame, the original UFC champion is “negotiating” a possible fight in August at the event.

“(MMA) is the sport that’s been growing more within the martial arts. It’s the symbol of the sport to the world. The first is soccer, but people like martial arts, Boxing, Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling… It’s what people like. It’s on our blood,” said submission-savvy icon.

Gracie holds an overall record of 14-3-3 with twelve of his wins coming by way of tap-out. He has only fought a single time in the UFC since introducing the viewing public to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu fifteen years ago, a TKO loss to Matt Hughes in May 2006. The stumble marked the first and only time Gracie has been finished inside the ring during his career with the pair of other defeats coming by way of corner-stoppage.

UFC President Dana White revealed the news during a special Q&A session this past Tuesday at the Sports USA Bar in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

White made the revelation in response to a question from a fan who inquired whether Gracie will ever fight in the UFC again. Gracie last competed for the promotion at UFC 60 in May of 2006, losing to Matt Hughes via TKO at 4:39 of round 1.

White indicated that he doesn’t want to see Gracie fight for the promotion again at this stage of his career but indicated that the UFC Hall of Famer is still affiliated with the company. In addition to appearing in the video game, White stated that the UFC is going to produce a documentary about Gracie that will air on Spike TV.

In the past 12 hours I’ve received a lot of e-mails, IMs, and phone calls that pretty much go like this: “Did you watch DREAM!? Man, how great was that?”

Great!? Wow, since when did the standard for greatness sink so low?

DREAM.3 wasn’t a bad way to kill nearly five hours on a Sunday afternoon. But aside from a fight of the year candidate between Eddie Alvarez and Joachim Hansen, what was so great about it? DREAM might have similar look to PRIDE; use a lot of its unique elements such as the Grand Prix format; and utilize a lot of the same fighters, but it’s not PRIDE. Not by a longshot.

I realize I am in the minority when I say that I was hardly impressed by DREAM.3, but then again, I stopped drinking the PRIDE kool-aid the day Zuffa bought the company from Dream Stage Entertainment. I think it’s high-time people start judging DREAM on the merits of DREAM and not on the past accomplishments of PRIDE.

And when you look at DREAM as a stand alone product, you begin to see it for what it really is:

a watered down version of PRIDE. DREAM.3 was a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with the promotion. I just have so many issues with the show I just watched that I don’t know where to begin. But let’s start with the production. Sorry folks, the stage setup we saw was not of PRIDE quality. The stage concept for DREAM.3 looked like NASA was doing construction on a satellite. The rampway was especially awkward, as it looked like a detour entrance area for the fighters to walk through because the normal ramp was out of order.

And don’t get me started on matchmaking. Yes, I know PRIDE provided its fair share of mis-matches over the years, but it was done with the intent to build stars. If they put an up and coming guy with someone that couldn’t hang with him, the sacrificial lamb at least a respectable fighter at one point in his career. Instead of giving of a bunch of has-beens, DREAM is feeding us a steady diet of never-will-bes.

I understand they are trying to make Jason “Mayhem” Miller into a big star in Japan, and understandably so. But could the talent differential be narrowed to the equivalent of pro vs. college as opposed to pro vs. high school? Is that too much to ask? And people are surprised that the ratings for the first two DREAM cards were low!? I mean, c’mon, Caol Uno vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida as your main event? I am not even certain if Ishida vs. Uno would have been good enough to headline a Bushido card. Which begs the question, why do so many people mark out to Ishida? When Josh Koscheck first started out everyone killed the guy because he relied too much on his wrestling yet Ishida gets a free pass? I respect Ishida as a fighter. He’s a tremendous wrestler. But he’s a little too one-dimensional right now for my tastes.

Another beef for me was HDNet’s production. Let me preface this by saying Kenny Rice is a good man and an accomplished announcer. I also have enjoyed his work on most of the MMA telecasts I’ve seen on HDNet. But he was not on his game for DREAM.3. I thought he did a much better job for Yarrenoka! when he touched down in Japan only a few hours before the show started. This time around, it was pretty obvious that he and Bas Rutten were in the U.S. doing a voiceover of the feed in a production studio. But what I don’t understand is that Rice was well-rested and ready this time around, yet sounded like he was in major need of a Red Bull.

My biggest issue was the call during the Alvarez vs. Hansen match. To me, that was without question a match of the year candidate. But Rice called it with the same kind of energy you’d expect for an opening match. The first round of the fight was the best round of the whole tournament that I’ve seen thus far but you wouldn’t know that by listening to the telecast. There was almost no storytelling. Alvarez scored two knockdowns in the first round. That’s a huge deficit in the scoring right there. Why didn’t they push Hansen’s need to finish Alvarez in order to have any chance to win that fight? There were just so many dramatic moments in that fight and incredible exchanges on the feet and the ground that were pooh-poohed.

DREAM is looking to build new stars yet there was relatively little buildup of the fighters. I heard very little on the background of the fighters and who they were and what was at stake. Unless I missed it, there was no discussion about how Alvarez was formerly a welterweight who dropped down after suffering the first loss of his pro career to Nick Thompson and about how he’s on the cusp of becoming a top ten lightweight. There was also no discussion about how Hansen was a staple of PRIDE’s Bushido shows and how he’s one of the toughest fighters in all of MMA. Did they even address the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles scenario that Nick Diaz experienced regarding his fight and being on the card?

I realize HDNet just recently got the rights to DREAM, but I still really felt they sounded overly unprepared. The pacing of the show was brutal. HDNet can’t be blamed for that but they can be blamed for a lack of content to compensate during the lulls. The intermission was especially embarrassing. How many times can you show the same tournament brackets? Why not try and sell “Inside MMA” to the viewing audience and go back to the studio for a special edition of the show where they have a moderator with a roundtable format featuring some fighters and or writers giving their thoughts on the matches that took place thus far? Then, they can also offer predictions for the remaining fights along with their breakdown. And can anything be done to cut down on the awkwardness that is experienced every time they had to cut away from FEG’s feed between fights?

The reality is that many of the HDNet telecasts I’ve seen are lacking in content and context.

Unfortunately, when they tried to add both content and context with the Mayhem Miller vignette that aired in the beginning of the show, they swung and missed. The segment jumped all over the place and I swear that the voiceover guy read the last paragraph three times in a row with some slight variations. Speaking of the voiceover guy, was it just me or was his voice a little much given the nature of the piece?

Look, I am grateful and appreciative of all the MMA action that HDNet is bringing to the table and I know they don’t have an unlimited budget, but I would like to see them try to up their game a little bit. That said, HDNet can only be blamed for so much. Much of the problems with DREAM.3 were because of DREAM, whether people want to admit that or not. Unlike some people who mark out to DREAM, I actually used to watch PRIDE. I enjoyed PRIDE. As an MMA fan, I grew up with PRIDE. But DREAM sir, you are no PRIDE.

Today, according to Sherdog, DREAM announced that Aoki will continue on in the tournament but that his second round bout against Katsuhiko Nagata will not take place at DREAM 3 with the other lightweight matchups and will instead take place on June 15.

Aoki apologized to his fans and promised to deliver an exciting bout on June 15:

“I’m sorry that I won’t be able to fight on May 11, but I can promise that I will be back with a vengeance June 15,” Aoki said. “I will be 100 percent motivated when I step into the ring and I will make good for cancelling the May fight.”

TBS is now scheduled to air the forthcoming April 29 Dream card on a week’s tape delay in heavily edited one-hour installments. The broadcasts will air both in afternoon and after-midnight timeslots. However, future Dream events will air live on SkyPerfecTV pay-per-view.

The announcement is in no way a death knell for the revamped promotion. Pay-per-view is not a lucrative medium in Japan, though, as it is in North America. Being forced out of primetime does heavily slash advertising revenues for FEG, which will limit the ability for the promotion’s growth in the foreseeable future.

I won’t pretend to be an expert on the behind-the-scenes of Japanese promotions and television situations but I’m pretty sure we can all agree this isn’t good. Especially considering the fact the next card is now only a little over three days away. We’ll just hope the lost ad revenue doesn’t rough up the quality of cards or future of the promotion.

Russell is reporting that Kang’s opponent will be Armenian striking specialist Gegard Mousasi.

Kang has not fought since suffering an upset loss to Yoshihiro Akiyama last October during a K-1 HERO’s card in South Korea.

Mousasi has a lifetime MMA record of 20-2-1, according to Sherdog.com. He has won his last seven consecutive fights with notable victories over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and Hector Lombard.

DREAM 2 is set to take place in Saitama, Japan at the Saitama Super Arena and will feature a rematch between Gesias “JZ Calvan” Calvancante and Shinya Aoki stemming from their no contest during the first round of the lightweight Grand Prix. Additional middleweight Grand Prix matchups include Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara and Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura.

DREAM officially announced the second round matchups for their lightweight tournament at DREAM 3 as well as a rematch between Gesias “JZ” Calvancante and Shinya Aoki to take place at DREAM 2 just two weeks prior to DREAM 3. The first fight between the two was ruled a no contest after JZ allegedly landed illegal elbows to the back of Aoki’s head/neck area. Upon review of the replay the elbows look completely legal to me, but what do I know. Anyways, instead of DQ’ing Calvancante, they ruled it a no contest and here we are with a rematch, something I think we all wanted to see.

The winner of that fight will take on Katsuhiko Nagata, the Olympic silver medalist at DREAM 3. There are also some other great matchups for the second round of the tournament and they are as follows:

DREAM 3 @ Saitama Super Arena

May 11. 2008

Lightweight Grand Prix Second Round:

• Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis Buscape
• Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez
• Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno
• Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Winner of Aoki/Calvancante

I am especially excited about the Hansen vs. Alvarez fight as well as Ishida vs. Uno. It will also be interesting to see if Kawajiri returns to form after what I would call a poor showing at DREAM 1.

It’s a 3 minute vid, the action gets going at about the one minute mark.

Full DREAM fight results here.

The deal, which could come into effect as soon as next week, will be for six Dream events with their first event, which took place earlier today, being shown on a delayed broadcast.

Sherdog was informed of the pending deal by FEGUSA director, Mike Kogan who stated that future broadcasts, beginning with the April 29th card will be broadcast “near live”. Kogan had the following to say about the impending deal:

“FEG has been working with HDNet in bringing the Dream 2008 Light and Middleweight GP events to North America,” Kogan told Sherdog.com. “And while the deal is not officially signed yet, it is very close to being finalized with most of the important elements already agreed upon.”

Read more Dream content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com

SATURDAY: DREAM 1 at 3 p.m. (local time in Japan)

This weekend marks the debut of DREAM, a collaborative effort between K-1 HERO’s and former staff members of PRIDE.

The debut event will feature the first round of the new promotion’s lightweight Grand Prix and there are some awesome bouts lined up. The full card is as follows:

• Fight 1 (non-tournament): MINOWAMAN vs. Kwan Bun Lee
• Fight 2 (non-tournament): Hayato Sakurai vs. Hidetaka Monma
• Fight 3 (tournament): Joachim Hansen vs. Koutetsu Boku
• Fight 4 (tournament): Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luis Buscape
• Fight 5 (tournament): Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Artur Umakhanov
• Fight 6 (tournament): Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Bukyung Jung
• Fight 7 (non-tournament): Mirko Cro Cop vs. Tatsuya Mizuno
• Fight 8 (tournament): Andre “Dida” Amade vs. Eddie Alvarez
• Fight 9 (tournament): Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill
• Fight 10 (tournament): Gesias “JZ Calvan” Calvancante vs. Shinya Aoki

The event will not be televised in North America but if you search hard enough you will find an illegal stream online.

SATURDAY: Xtreme Fighting League on HDNet at 10:30 p.m. ET

The Xtreme Fighting League will air on HDNet on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET live from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The featured fighters on the card will be three of the four members from Team Takedown. Jake Rosholt, Johny Hendricks, and Shane Roller will all be in action in separate bouts.

I’ve said it before, but I consider Rosholt to be the best unsigned fighter in MMA right now to have never fought for a national promotion. Two years from now he’ll easily be a top ten middleweight.

CLICK HERE more info.

SATURDAY: ICON Sport streamed on ProElite.com at 11 p.m. ET

Kala Kolohe will finally get his shot to bring home the ICON Sport middleweight title. While he won’t get a chance to win it from Robbie Lawler, he will be competing for the vacated title against Phil Baroni. I’m not sure Kolohe has much of a ground game but Baroni has made it clear this week that his goal is to knock Kolohe out standing. We’ll see because this will be a slugfest and I believe Kolohe actually has the advantage when it comes to punching power. Baroni is the more recognizable name, but I consider Kolohe the favorite.

CLICK HERE for the full fight card and for more information on how to view the free stream.

Update: The latest word is that the ICON stream will also be available on The Fight Network.

A number of opponents have been rumored as potential opponents for Filipovic including, “Mighty Mo” Siala Siliga, Dong Sik Yoon, and most recently Yoshihiro Nakao.

Mizuno has a 4-2 record with his latest performance being a first round submission victory over Dave Frendin in Australia last month.

Read more Dream contenton FiveOuncesOfPain.com

“A little over an hour ago I was contacted by DREAM officials,” NOKAUT quoted Cro Cop as saying on the website MMA-ID.com. “They informed me that my opponent on March 15 will be Yoshihiro Nakao from Japan. It was very important for me to fight as soon as possible and I’m happy that DREAM was able to find the opponent for me.”

“I want to win the grand prix,” Kang said. “Now they’ve got Akiyama, [Melvin] Manhoef, [Zelg] Galesic, [Kazushi] Sakuraba, Dong Sik Yoon … and I heard that Matt Lindland is going to be signing with them. There are a lot of good fighters I want to fight right there.”

Kang is set to make his debut for DREAM on April 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan when the promotion kicks off its middleweight Grand Prix event. He goes on to add that the subsequent rounds of the tournament are tentatively scheduled for June and September.

The former PRIDE middleweight appears to be happy that K-1 HERO’s has been dissolved in favor of the new promotion:

“I don’t know what K-1’s problem was,” Kang said. “They’re a big company. It’s not like they don’t know what they’re doing. I don’t know if they were doing too much with running Hero’s and regular K-1 [shows], but it seemed to me like they were very disorganized.”

The name of the new promotion is expected to be “Dream,” although no mention of the promotion’s name is mentioned in Meltzer’s report.

It is believed that “Dream” will feature the former staff of PRIDE running live event production with the K-1 staff handling television production and many key business deals.

As a result of the new promotion, K-1 HERO’s is being discontinued.

The first show for the promotion is scheduled for March 15 at the Saitama Super Arena and will feature the first rounds of lightweight and middleweight tournaments intended to crown champions in both weight classes. A single bout to decide the new heavyweight champion is expected to take place as well.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG