(Stay tuned for FIGHT!’s Dream.14 gallery later today!)
Dream’s second experiment with “The White Cage” went down last night in Saitama and while the card didn’t have title implications in any division, FIGHT!’s Featherweight Rankings were shaken up quite a bit.
Nick Diaz def. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai by submission (armbar) in Round 1.
Ralek Gracie def. Kazushi Sakuraba by unanimous decision.
Hiroyuki Takaya def. Joachim Hansen by KO (punch) in Round 1.
Norifumi Yamamoto def. Federico Lopez by KO (punch) at 1:41 of Round 1.
Akiyo Nishiura def. Hideo Tokoro by TKO (punches) at 2:51 of Round 1.
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Takafumi Otsuka by split decision.
Kenji Osawa def. Yoshiro Maeda by split decision.
Ikuhisa Minowa def. Imani Lee by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:15 of Round 1.
At FIGHT! Magazine, we believe there is a need for a completely objective and unbiased ranking system for fighters to replace the myriad of subjective rankings that have become skewed, in many instances, by fighter popularity. In an effort to address this issue FIGHT! Magazine brings you its computerized rankings system which takes into account a fighters strength of opponent, strength of performance, and frequency of activity.
Nearly every fighter on the card was ranked heading into the fights but only a few bouts had any impact on the upper reaches of any division. In the main event, Nick Diaz’s stoppage win over Mach Sakurai affirmed their respective places in the Welterweight Rankings – Diaz holds steady at #4 while Sakurai stands pat at #32.
Kazushi Sakuraba slips from #24 to #43 in our Middleweight Rankings following his loss to unranked Ralek Gracie. In other middleweight action (sort of), Ikuhisa Minowa holds steady at #10 with his win over the unranked, 325-pound Imani Lee.
Our Featherweight Rankings saw the most action as Joachim Hansen suffered his second straight loss at featherweight and his third straight loss overall, pushing him out of the top ten, from #4 to #13 in our Featherweight rankings. The man who knocked “Hellboy” out, Hiroyuki Takaya, jumps from #17 to #6. Formerly top-ranked “Kid” Yamamoto gets back in the win column with his knockout of unranked Federico Lopez. Another unranked featherweight, Akiyo Nishiura, took on a top-20 fighter, defeating Hideo Tokoro, who falls from #19 to #37 with the loss.
Kenji Osawa held steady at #17 after his decision victory over Yoshiro Maeda, who slips from #19 to #22 in our Bantamweight Rankings. In the only lightweight fight of the night, #59 Kazuyuki Miyata dropped to #64 after losing to unranked Takafumi Otsuka.
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