The Mystery Surrounding DREAM.12

(Partially Scanned DREAM.12 Flyer)

The Mystery Surrounding DREAM.12

Due to DREAM.11 being pushed back from September 23 to October 6, DREAM will now be hosting two events in October, with only 19 days separating the two.  Here is some info via NightmareOfBattle on DREAM.12:

It was announced today that DREAM.12 on October 25th will take place at the Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka. DREAM EP Sasahara said that the card is currently being worked on but fighters from Osaka like Yoshiro Maeda are being considered. He also mentioned Kazushi Sakuraba as a potential participant.

DREAM is returning to the Osaka Hall since their monumental LW GP finale card held at DREAM.5, and I believe they are looking for a little bit of the magic to return for DREAM.12.  The second big announcement surrounding DREAM.12 was the DREAM/Strikeforce alliance and the possibility of seeing some DREAM/Strikeforce matchups in this event.  DREAM EP Sasahara flew to the states to meet with Strikeforce president Scott Coker to discuss Strikeforce fighters and Fedor.

Sasahara is leaving to America tomorrow and his goal is that he wants to announce the whole cooperation deal with Strikeforce and negotiate about fighters (Fedor included).

Sasahara revealed that the plan is for Strikeforce fighters to participate as soon as DREAM.12. They want to invite both fighters who haven’t fought in Japan before, and fighters who have had activity in the past and are still doing their best today. He thinks they will be champion class. They are also considering Alistair Overeem.

More after the jump...

 The last announcement that was made by Sasahara has more than intrigued MMA fans around the world, and that is his cryptic innuendos of some sort of Ring/Cage hybrid that has never been done in MMA before but it is not the first of its kind in Japan.

Sasahara says that he really wants to say something. He says that he is thinking about various [a word which could mean device, mechanism, half done, etc.]. Anyway, it’s a big surprise. He says that it’s a 70% chance that it will happen. He also said: “It’s not the first of its kind in Japan but…”.

Some sites give more detail than others which I find strange. According to sportsnavi Sasahara said that it is something that have been in Pro-Wrestling and the like before. For example something similar to establishing both a ring and cage. Expect something next week.

The DREAM.12 promo was released today, and as promised, more information about this Ring/Cage hybrid was available in the promo.

via nightmareofbattle.files.wordpress.com

Many fans were left wondering what it all means. When it mentions the UFC in the bottom figure above, it says "Its not in the UFC".  Other text in the video says "violence", "game held with the Emperor in attendance".  Sakuraba in the video (from the last event) says: "It's useless to escape"/"I must not escape".

Here is NOB's interpretation:

DREAM has put up a promo video of DREAM.12 on their YouTube channel and it contains the management discussing the “experiment” of DREAM.12 that was hinted at last week. It might be a change of the fighting surface.

However, in the video it says: “not in the UFC”, “violence”, etc. So could it be the introduction of soccer kicks and stomps in DREAM? But Sasahara said last week that it will be the first of its kind in MMA.

Sakuraba in the video (from the last event) says: “It’s useless to escape”/”I must not escape”. You can’t escape from a cage?

From the video, we can assume that a future matchup of Alvarez vs Kikuno may take place in DREAM.12. Also, the "violence" theme comes up a lot, which could mean a change in the rules perhaps? Vale Tudo Japan was rumored around a bit, and having old PRIDE rules may provide the same feel along with the new fight ring/cage.  The video promo also made it seem like what they were going to do for DREAM.12 would be too "violent" for tv.  We can also assume that Fedor will be in attendance for the show.

Finally, Strikeforce was set to have a HUGE show in October, and at the time I believed it would be a CBS show back when it was being rumored, but it looks like it could be a co-promotion with DREAM.  CBS seems to not have ruled that out yet.

Kelly Kahl, Senior Executive Vice President for CBS Primetime TV, said he "wouldn’t rule out" a Strikeforce show on CBS late this year. He said his network had no direct hand in the Emelianenko deal, but stood to gain from it with options the network held to broadcast Strikeforce events.

Scott Coker also mentioned that there could be a co-promotion with DREAM soon.

"In Strikeforce, we're committed to putting on the best fights that we can," Coker said. "They have a lot of great fighters in DREAM, and we'll be able to test the best fighters in Strikeforce against the best fighters in DREAM. Hopefully we'll be in Japan doing a co-promotion in relatively short time.

Strikeforce October Rumored Participants: Jacare, Jake Shields, Roger Gracie, Brett Rogers, Matt Lindland, Robbie Lawler, Fedor's debut.

DREAM.12 October Participants: Paulo Filho, Katsunori Kikuno, Yoshiro Maeda, Andrews Nakahara, Alistair Overeem, Murilo Rua, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kiyoshi Tamura, Eddie Alvarez, Mayhem Miller, Nick Diaz. Super Hulk Tournament: Gegard Mousasi vs Rameau Sokoudjou, Minowaman vs HMC.

Another key note here is that DREAM.11 will be televised on TBS on PRIMETIME in Japan. On the other hand, DREAM.12 will not be shown on TBS, which means there is always the option for this event to be televised on PPV in Japan and still have some sort of co-promotion with Strikeforce.   Many questions still hover around this event, and after the  release of their latest promo, more questions are now being asked than ever.