DREAM 16 was held Saturday September 25, 2010 at the Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan. The entire fight card aired live in North America on HDNet in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday.
The main event featured the finals of the four-man Light Heavyweight Tournament. Gegard "The Dreamcatcher" Mousasi became the inaugural DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion with a rear-naked choke submission victory over Tatsuya Mizuno. Mousasi is the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion.
In the co-main event, BULLY BEATDOWN host Jason "Mayhem" Miller used an arm-triangle choke to submit one of his heroes, the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba. Both men had elaborate and entertaining ring entrances, but the fight was basically a squash match.
DREAM Lightweight Champion Shinya Aoki totally dominated Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio in a non-title fight. Four years ago, Aurelio upset then-PRIDE Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi in a non-title fight, but Aurelio had no such luck this time against Aoki. Aurelio was able to bloody up Aoki's face a bit, but mostly the fight consisted of Aoki controlling Aurelio on the ground.
Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa's 5-fight winning streak, all over heavyweights and super heavyweights, ended against heavyweight Japanese Olympic gold medalist Judoka Satoshi Ishii. The 2008 Olympian used what brung him to the dance, and smothered Minowaman using his Judo for a unanimous decision victory.
Hiroyuki "Streetfight Bancho" Takaya and Michihiro Omigawa, two resurgent Japanese featherweights, scored quick and impressive wins over Americans Chase "The Rage" Beebe and Cole "Apache Kid" Escovedo, respectively.
After losing 3 straight fights for the first time in his career, including losing his first 2 fights at 145-pounds, Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen rebounded with a submission victory over featherweight gatekeeper and former janitor Hideo Tokoro.
Kazuyuki "Little Hercules" Miyata continues to impress since moving down to featherweight, and is now on a 5-fight winning streak. Miyata outpointed Shooto stand-out "Lion" Takeshi Inoue for the unanimous decision victory.
The first 2 fights of the night were decided by split decisions. Mitsuhiro "Endless Fighter" Ishida fought "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura in a seemingly endless fight that offered very little in the way of actual fighting.
In the opening heavyweight bout, Minowaman's original opponent, James "The Colossus" Thompson, the man who almost beat Kimbo Slice on CBS but was KO'd by Butterbean in 43 seconds, dropped his third straight fight with a decision loss to Yusuke Kawaguchi. Since clobbering Don Frye into oblivion in one of the most violent fights ever at PRIDE 34 in 2007, Thompson has won just 1 of his last 10 fights.
DREAM 16
{Light Heavyweight Championship}
Gegard Mousasi (30-3) won by SUB over Tatsuya Mizuno (8-6)
[6:10] - Round 1 - rear-naked choke
Jason Miller (24-7) won by SUB over Kazushi Sakuraba (26-14)
[2:09] - Round 1 - arm-triangle choke
Shinya Aoki (25-5) won by UD over Marcus Aurelio (20-9)
[15:00] - 2 Rounds
Satoshi Ishii (2-1) won by UD over Ikuhisa Minowa (46-31)
[15:00] - 2 Rounds
Hiroyuki Takaya (14-8) won by KO over Chase Beebe (13-7)
[1:45] - Round 1 - punches
Michihiro Omigawa (12-8) won by SUB over Cole Escovedo (16-6)
[2:30] - Round 1 - inverted armbar
Joachim Hansen (20-10) won by SUB over Hideo Tokoro (26-23)
[2:48] - Round 1 - triangle choke
Kazuyuki Miyata (10-7) won by UD over Takeshi Inoue (18-5)
[15:00] - 2 Rounds
Mitsuhiro Ishida (20-6) won by SD over Akiyo Nishiura (11-6)
[15:00] - 2 Rounds
Yusuke Kawaguchi (12-2) won by SD over James Thompson (15-14)
[15:00] - 2 Rounds
Complete MMA win-loss records with total fight time in brackets.
UD = Unanimous | SD = Split Decision | SUB = Submission
MADMAN AWARDS
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT:
Gegard Mousasi vs.
Tatsuya Mizuno
KO OF THE NIGHT:
Hiroyuki Takaya over Chase Beebe
SUB OF THE NIGHT:
Jason Miller (arm-triangle choke) over Kazushi Sakuraba
QUICKEST WIN:
Hiroyuki Takaya over Chase Beebe in 105 seconds
BIGGEST UPSET:
Kazuyuki Miyata (+115) over Takeshi Inoue
BIGGEST WINNER:)
Gegard Mousasi
BIGGEST LOSER:(
Kazushi Sakuraba
UPDATED DREAM RECORDS
DREAM fights ONLY. Rankings according to
Madman Top 25 Fighter Rankings.
Shinya Aoki (11-2-1) #5 Ranked Lightweight
Gegard Mousasi (8-0) #13 Ranked Light Heavyweight
Ikuhisa Minowa (7-4)
Hiroyuki Takaya (5-2) #5 Ranked Featherweight
Mitsuhiro Ishida (4-1) #14 Ranked Featherweight
Joachim Hansen (4-4) #8 Ranked Featherweight
Hideo Tokoro (4-6)
Kazuyuki Miyata (3-1) #13 Ranked Featherweight
Kazushi Sakuraba (3-4)
Michihiro Omigawa (2-0) #6 Ranked Featherweight
Jason Miller (2-1-1)
Satoshi Ishii (1-0)
Yusuke Kawaguchi (1-0)
Tatsuya Mizuno (1-2)
Akiyo Nishiura (1-2)
Marcus Aurelio (0-1)
Takeshi Inoue (0-1)
James Thompson (0-2)
Chase Beebe (0-3)