DREAM 11 Preview: Featherweight Grand Prix Finals

In our second preview leading up to DREAM 11, we'll take a look at the DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix Tournament's final bracket of match-ups. In Grand Prix fashion, the semi-finals and final will take place on the card with four-time Mundials champion black belt Bibiano Fernandes taking on powerhouse Greco-Roman wrestler Joe Warren and heavy-hitting WEC and K-1 HERO's veteran Hiroyuki Takaya battling fellow K-1 HERO's submission fighter Hideo Tokoro. Kazuyuki Miyata will face Daiki Hata in a featherweight tournament reserve match-up on the card as well.

Many American fans are probably a bit unfamiliar with the list of names featured in the tournament, but believe me when I say that there are some solid match-ups. American Joe Warren has the potential to go on a run that will make him explode onto the featherweight scene from unknown to champion in only four professional fights. If you're a true fan of the WEC here in the United States, the DREAM featherweight final should feed your hunger for fast-paced action.

In the first match in the tournament's semifinals, Bibiano Fernandes (5-2) will look to knock off MMA newcomer Joe Warren (2-0) in a classic wrestler vs. grappler showdown. Fernandes is a world-renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with four Mundials and Brazilian championships and three Pan Ams championships. In true Japanese fashion, he was snagged up for his laundry list of credentials and pushed into a match-up with Japan's highly popular Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto back in September of 2007. With only two fights under his belt in MMA, Yamamoto defeated the more inexperienced striker in Bibiano by decision. In only seven fights, Bibiano has only lost to two of the best featherweights in the world in Yamamoto and Urijah Faber.

Warren has his own set of impressive credentials. Although he isn't a Brazlian jiu-jitsu wiz like his opponent, Warren is a 2005 Pan American gold medalist, 2006 World Championships gold medalist, and a 2007 World Cup gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at 60kg. He was considered to be a favorite at the Beijing Olympics, but was put on a two-year suspension from wrestling due to testing positive for marijuana. Despite the setback, Warren is considered to be one of the best wrestlers to enter the sport. Impressively, his wrestling was able to upset Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto in the second round of this Featherweight Grand Prix tournament

Stylistically, this is a bit of a different fight for Warren than his previous two opponents in Yamamoto and Beebe. Beebe didn't present anything more than solid wrestling, and Yamamoto offered great striking while showing an exposed ground game that was unable to stop Warren's aggression from the top. Bibiano has managed to gain some striking ability, and he's technically much better in his defense and strikes than he was two years ago. He'll also offer a lot of danger from his back, although he has yet to impressively show off his BJJ pedigree in the ring as he only has a couple of wins via submission.

Warren offers a surprising striking game and strong takedowns. The Yamamoto fight proved that Warren can go to the wrestling game easily when he gets into some danger, and his conditioning was impressive enough to crush opponents over the course of a lengthy fight.

It's a tough call as I'm still rather skeptical as to whether Warren can run through the tournament field. He has a fairly uneven striking game, but he managed to crush Chase Beebe with some devastating knees. He didn't show a spectacularly dynamic striking game like a "Kid" Yamamoto, but he's a punishing force with relentless takedown ability. His bread and butter should be the top game coupled with submission avoidance, and I wonder if Bibiano truly has the strength to outgrapple the champion wrestler. It should be a solid fight you won't want to miss. I'd take Warren via a decision as he might actually be able to put strong punches on Fernandes and use his wrestling as a back-up skill if he happens to get caught.

The other semifinal match-up has a much wider gap in talent versus the Bibiano vs. Warren battle. Hiroyuki Takaya (9-6-1) will bring his kickboxing background to the ring against former janitor and submission specialist Hideo Tokoro (21-14-1). Tokoro is coming off a win over Abel Cullum after losing to Daiki Hata in the opening round of the Grand Prix, but Hata was unable to continue due to an eye injury he sustained. Tokoro dropped a decision to Atsushi Yamamoto in the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix Final before the loss to Hata. Takaya enters the bout with a wins over Yoshiro Maeda and Jong Won Kim in the Featherweight Grand Prix after an unsuccessful bid at relevance in the WEC with losses to Cub Swanson and Leonard Garcia.

Takaya's kickboxing background will likely be the story in this battle as he has shown heavy-handedness with six out of his nine wins coming by way of TKO/KO. In his first two battles in the Grand Prix, he was able to successfully stop both Maeda and Kim. While Tokoro has the submission ability to put Takaya into some danger, Takaya has managed to only be submitted once in his career, a loss to Japanese grappling legend Genki Sudo. Takaya should be able to use his able submission defense and punching to power effectively against Tokoro in this match-up, setting himself up for a showdown with either Bibiano or Warren. Don't be suprised, however, if Tokoro pulls off the upset as he has a go-for-broke attitude when it comes to his submission game.

If Warren happens to knock off Bibiano, he should find himself in a situation to win the Grand Prix. If his submission defense is solid enough to get through Bibiano, he'll be able to handle Tokoro. The real question is whether he can stop Takaya's offensive weapons. Takaya's takedown defense may be good enough to stop the grappler in Tokoro, but Warren's powerful takedowns and conditioning will give Takaya huge problems in that fight. Unless Takaya can somehow bait him into a slugfest, Warren wins this tournament in a Warren vs. Takaya final.

DREAM 11 will air on HDNet at 7 AM EST on Tuesday morning, with all of the televised fights taking place on a tape delay. Tune in with your morning breakfast.