Fronted by Kid Nate.

One benefits of moving from Eastern Time to Pacific Time is being able to stay up and watch wacky Japanese MMA without being burned too bad the next day.  Watching fights live just has that added feeling of excitement (and you don't have to worry about spoiling yourself).  With that said, on to my thoughts.

• I really can't stand Shinya Aoki.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching Aoki utilize his BJJ, but everything about him otherwise just seems so disingenuous.  From the drawn out walk to the ring to his "emotions" following fights, he just seems to be putting on an act.  I've rooted against him in every match of this GP, and will continue to do so in the finals.
  
  Sick mounted gogo though.
  
• Hideo Tokoro and Darren Uyenoyama easily took the Fight of the Night, and added another hat into the ring for Fight of the Year.  Every time this fight started to slow down, something would happen to bring up the pace again.  A fight that exemplifies every aspect of MMA.
  
• I'm much more interested in Alistair Overeem/Mirko Cro Cop than I am Jerome LeBanner/Mirko Cro Cop.
  
• How Taiei Kin continued smiling after destroying his elbow is beyond me.  Zelg Galesic looked more upset than Kin did.
  
• Gegard Mousasi looked fantastic for 14 out of 15 minutes in his fight with Dong Sik Yoon.  Mousasi dominated the first round standing, until taking Yoon down and getting caught in a Dongbar.  Once Yoon broke Mousasi's grip, Gegard did a very good job at defending and getting back to top position.
  
  Round 2 involved 5 minutes of Mousasi on Yoon's back.  It bugged me that Mousasi seemed to land shot after shot to the back of Yoon's head almost the entire round without much warning from the referee.
  
• Mayhem blew the fight with Jacare.  If Jason had been able to keep the fight standing, he had a very good shot of winning the fight.  That being said, he did a very good job neutralizing Souza's grappling advantage, and swept him from mount TWICE.  Jacare looked solid overall, if a bit gassed towards the end of the fight.
  
• I don't think Sakuraba is going to die in the ring, but he should just fight Tamura and retire.  Unless the guy is strapped for cash, there's no reason for him to continue fighting.
  
• Both tournament finals have very solid foursomes.  The LWGP matchups have been set and you can shuffle the MWGP and get solid fights there too.  If I had my choice, I'd like to see Manhoef/Jacare and Mousasi/Galesic.
  
• According to Sherdog.com, Yoshihiro Akiyama is confirmed for Dream 5.