Dave Meltzer speaks on the MMA perils in the land of the rising sun:

The leading promotion, Dream, which has network coverage of its shows, has struggled in the ratings and has struggled to create new stars since the heyday. A torn ACL suffered by Kid Yamamoto, the country’s most popular MMA fighter, couldn’t have come at a worse time. Current hardcore favorite Shinya Aoki, one of the world’s best pound-for-pound grapplers, could not carry the ratings on the July 21 show, and his two tournament matches ended up outdrawn by a one-sided of hated judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama against former pro wrestling star Katsuyori Shibata.

Dream’s back isn’t up against the wall like Elite XC, but it faces a similar situation to the company for the next show on September 23. Under the gun to draw ratings, the company is attempting to put together middleweight Akiyama against heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop, the country’s most popular foreign fighter.

While for the most part I like Japanese MMA…as there have been some absolute classics in Japan.  The DREAM LW GP was dope.  There are certain aspects of it that I just simply can’t stand..such as the following:

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