Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato Sakurai set to open DREAM 8 welterweight GP

by Stefan Manojlovic on Mar 13, 2009 7:25 PM EDT

Japanese mainstay Hayato Sakurai (34-8-2) and lightweight superstar Shinya Aoki (19-3) are reportedly set to throw down in the opening round of the promotion’s upcoming Welterweight Grand Prix commencing at DREAM 8 on April 5 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, according to MMAWeekly.

Aoki, the first-ever World Alliance Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) lightweight champion, is coming off a tidy submission victory over David Gardner in the first round of their battle at DREAM 7 on March 8.

He was actually on a collision course with "Mach" at last year’s Lightweight Grand Prix, until Eddie Alvarez got hurt and Aoki ran into finals alternate Joachim Hansen.

"Hellboy" would go on to upset the heavily-favored Aoki and bring home the belt.

The "Tobikan Judan" would rebound from that loss — just the third of his career — and submit Todd Moore via neck crank at DREAM 6 in September before finally getting a crack at Alvarez by year’s end -- and winning via tapout.

Now the very dangerous submission fighter will pack on a few pounds and face Sakurai in a quest for welterweight supremacy.

Mach holds a unanimous decision win over Aoki from their days in Shooto and has gone up against some of the most talented fights in the sport, from lightweight all the way up to middleweight.

In addition to Aoki, he’s competed against UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, Jake Shields, Joachim Hansen, Takanori Gomi, Frank Trigg, Jens Pulver and Caol Uno among countless others.

He’s coming off a gimme fight at ‘FieLDS Dynamite!!’ last December where he thoroughly beat down professional wrestler Katsuyori Shibata, ending it via TKO in the opening round. Having him meet Aoki in the opening round may not carry the same drama as a match in the finals would, but at least this guarantees they get to face one another.

As for Shibata, it appears he was not put off by the loss to Sakurai and will make a return at DREAM 8 against the popular Ikuhisa Minowa -- who has fought every name under the sun (albeit to inconsistent results).

Also in action will be Croatian sensation Zelg Galesic who will duke it out with Andrews Nakahara. Featuring only eight fighters across two events, the 2009 Grand Prix will conclude on July 20 at DREAM 10.

Here is the current line-up for DREAM 8:

Welterweight Grand Prix Opening Round
Shinya Aoki (20-3) vs. Hayato Sakurai (34-8-2)

Non-Grand Prix bouts
Ikuhisa Minowa (41-29-8) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-6-1)
Zelg Galesic (9-4) vs. Andrews Nakahara (1-1)

Stay tuned for more updates to Dream 8 as they become available.

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Comments

yay Penn jr , lame .. stay in your class and defend or go clean out the UFC ..

by Dayzah on Mar 14, 2009 4:13 AM EDT reply actions

I dont think DREAM wanted to match up Mach Sakurai vs. Aoki in the 1st round. Problem is that DREAM 7 produced nightmare ratings for DREAM, so i think they needed to spice this event up, so they made this match up for the opening round. I am sure that if Dream had it there way that this would be the fight they want to see in the finals.

This is an amazing match up. Its going to be very hard for Aoki to beat Mach. My favorite part of mach’s game is that he is a mean ol Bastard/ I hear he is one of the meanest mofo’s in the sport..

I would have to lean towards Mach

by john on Mar 14, 2009 8:30 AM EDT reply actions

in there defense, they sold out the super arena (which is around 20k people). Yea, I know aoki would love to erase this loss then avenge his loss against hell boy. should be a good fight.
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also, in other news, Cro Cop signed a 3 fight extension and has agreed to fight overeem in k-1 rules, a qualifier in mma to fight fedor in nye (rumored to be against sergey) and a fight at nye with fedor if he wins.

by Bill Maher on Mar 14, 2009 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions

selling out Saitam isn’t enough. THey need to get good ratings on TV. I am dream biggest fan, hopefully they can stay afloat.

by john on Mar 14, 2009 9:05 AM EDT up reply actions

I am still surprised they’re letting Mach fight after he got caught on camera banging those two broads. Also the DREAM 7 ratings were terrible because of the timeslot it got. It was basically on midnight sunday when people have to go to sleep because they have work in a few hours. That’s why they showed the aoki fight first.

by NameNotRequired on Mar 14, 2009 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions

I’m a huge fan of Dream…they’re the closest thing to Pride. They have the same feel to their shows as Pride did which is why I love watching the events. I know they wanted a big bang to the tournament by matching these two studs up in the first round but I don’t think that was a smart approach. They should have built up that fight. Either way…I love the Dream tournaments…the 2 they had last year were awesome. The Alvarez/Hansen fight was one of the best fights I’ve ever seen.

I have a hard time picking against Aoki cause even against awesome strikers and grapplers…he seems to make them look like a dummy while he’s doing a jitz demonstration for the crowd. His fight against Uno…he tried every single possible submission that I’ve ever seen and a few I’ve never heard of…it was crazy.

by Buster Bluth on Mar 14, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Does anyone know if the UFC has pursued Aoki? I would love to see him fight in the UFC.

by Stryker on Mar 14, 2009 9:25 AM EDT reply actions

he said he doesn’t want to. Also, Overeem, Cro Cop and Kid have all signed contract extensions. I know alot of people pass around rumors about them, but they are all still with FEG.

by Bill Maher on Mar 14, 2009 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions

I thought I saw a Dana White blog saying he was gonna get Kid Yamamoto very soon.

by Dayzah on Mar 14, 2009 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions

didn’t he say that about alot of people that are not signed to Zuffa?

by Bill Maher on Mar 14, 2009 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Not sure, but I have read a long interview with Aoki and he shows a lot of respect to the UFC. Eventually he does want to fight in the USA, but right now he feels that Japanese mma needs him.

by john on Mar 14, 2009 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions

I think I remember a story on this site not too long ago with him saying that he wants to fight over here eventually but not yet.

by Crowls on Mar 14, 2009 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah so he could help keep mma main sterm in japan.

by AK47 on Mar 14, 2009 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions

go aoki

by AK47 on Mar 14, 2009 11:08 AM EDT reply actions

WAR SAKURAI

he may not be as amazing as he was but hes still a damn good fighter

by Jared on Mar 14, 2009 11:20 AM EDT reply actions

Aoki by sub

by Lester the Pimp on Mar 14, 2009 11:51 AM EDT reply actions

Sakurai via decision, though something tells me Aoki can be a force at welterweight like he is at lightweight, so I dunno. I’m looking forward to the Galesic fight as well, he looked pretty good in the MW tournament last year before getting stopped by Jacare (who I hope is fighting on this card, he’s on the poster at least). Tokoro vs Taiki, a FW grand prix bout is also on this card.

by Belisarius on Mar 14, 2009 12:11 PM EDT reply actions

Hell yeah, can’t see why everybody isnt very stoked for this.

by The Anomaly on Mar 14, 2009 3:23 PM EDT reply actions

well JOHN if you Google Aoki on UFC and Dana you would find a video online where Aoki says DANA , UFC U GUYS BOUGHT THE PRIDE BUT THE BEST FIGHTERS AND THE BEST ORGANIZATION ARE STILL HERE IN PRIDE AND I WILL ALWAYS FIGHT HERE IN JAPAN. or something along those lines.

by boysdesi on Mar 15, 2009 1:40 AM EDT reply actions