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Marius Zaromskis pre-fight interview.
The fight is two days away. What is going through your mind
now?
I was a little tired yesterday but I’m feeling good today. It’s hot
though…
What are your impressions of “Mach”?
I think he’s a complete fighter.
What point will you look out for?
To tightly keep my concentration. I have to concentrate and
fight.
You have to fight two times in one day to win the GP, do you
have any previous experience of this?
A long time ago, around 10 years ago, I have fought more than one
fight in one day. But at that time no one did any special training
to handle more than one fight in a day.
What is most important for winning the GP?
For me one fight is important. There isn’t really anything that is
particularly important.
You entered with a costume last time, how about this time?
I wonder if I’ll wear a chain around my neck (laugh). (this
probably isn’t correctly translated but he basically doesn’t give a
clear cut answer and teases about it a little)
Have you studied Mach’s fights on video?
Of course. #10: YouTube DREAM Channel
Opened
Check it out here. Manhoef’s, Taylor’s, Saffiedine’s, and High’s
pre-fight interviews are in English. I will translate some of the
other ones and include them in future updates. #9: DREAM EP Sasahara: Aoki Top Contender Even In Loss
When talking to the Japanese press today, Vitor “Shaolin”
Ribeiro said: “If I win against Aoki and then Kawajiri, isn’t a
fight with Hansen necessary?”
When DREAM EP Sasahara heard this, he
said: “Even if Aoki loses this time, I think the top contender for
Hansen’s belt is Aoki. Shaolin has only fought once in DREAM, after beating Aoki will he only get the right to
talk.” #8: Breakdown: Kikuno Vs. Dida
I think this fight is one of the toughest fights to predict on
the card. When Kikuno fought Jang Yong Kim he got hit with Kim’s
hooks quite cleanly in some of their exchanges. If those were
Dida’s hooks it could have been a bad night for Kikuno.
Kikuno has powerful punches and kicks. His kicks to the body
(the crescent kick) could be one of the keys to victory for him. A
few strikes to the body by Buakaw slowed Dida down considerably,
and Kikuno’s kicks are fast (especially his high kicks) and have
good power. In almost all of his recent fights you can see his
opponents being dropped or being in pain from his crescent kick.
Kikuno drops his hands quite low when he kicks though.
Dida also has very powerful strikes. He used to throw almost
only chute boxe style hooks and uppercuts. However, when looking at
his latest fights in K-1 one can see that he throws more straight
punches. Something which I think he should continue doing against
Kikuno.
I think an important part of the fight is how Dida strikes.
Kikuno is quite good at evading punches and then clinch up with his
opponent. Kikuno’s whole takedown game is basically to trip people
while clinching with them. So if Dida lunges forward with his chute
boxe hooks I can see Kikuno clinching and taking him down all fight
long.
While on top Kikuno has decent punches. He doesn’t really try to
pass or go for submissions though. Dida is decent at tying up his
opponent on the ground (he should have better defense now
considering who he is training with) so I don’t think much will
happen in terms of finishing the fight while there.
I can definitely see Dida hurting and maybe even stopping Kikuno
with punches early. I haven’t seen Dida losing to anyone standing
up in MMA. He forced both Calvan and Alvarez
to take him down. I don’t think Kikuno’s stance (especially the
extreme version of it he showed against Matsumoto) will work
against all types of opponents.
However, I think Kikuno will be able to clinch and trip Dida
when he gets overaggressive. The rest of the time Kikuno will slow
him down with low kicks and crescent kicks to the body. A fatigued
Dida will not have his hand raised after 15 minutes when the
DEEP Lightweight champion takes the unanimous
decision. #7: Sik Vs. Taylor & Fight Order Announced
The all but official Yoon Dong Sik vs. Jesse Taylor fight is now
official for DREAM.10. The fight order for
the event has also been released.
DREAM.10
Date: July 20th, 2009
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan
DREAM Welterweight GP Final:
8. Sakurai/Zaromskis vs. Galvao/High
Lightweight Fight:
7. Shinya Aoki vs. Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro
Middleweight Fights:
6. Yoon Dong Sik vs. Jesse Taylor
5. Melvin Manhoef vs. Paulo Filho
Lightweight Fight:
4. Andre Dida vs. Katsunori Kikuno
DREAM Welterweight GP Semifinals:
3. Andre Galvao vs. Jason High
2. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis
DREAM Welterweight GP Reserve Fight:
1. Seichi Ikemoto vs. Tarec Saffiedine #6: Pre-DREAM.10
Multimedia
Sherdog Radio: Jason High Interview
Sherdog: Paulo Filho Training Pictures
Tatame: Andre Galvao Speaks
Tatame: Dida Prepares With BJJ
Graciemag: Paulo Filho Is Ready #5: Manhoef In Good Shape
Manhoef Is Ready – GBRing.com
Manhoef Is Ready – GBRing.com
Manhoef has arrived in Japan and talked with the press today. He
said that he’s in good shape and that he has already finished
cutting to the weight limit. He says that this time he has been
able to prepare for the fight for 7-8 weeks since the fight was
announced early (hopefully some Japanese orgs can start doing this
for most of their fights). 100% victory. #4: Kakutou Ouji –
DREAM.10
DREAM.10 segment of the latest Kakutou
Ouji episode. Part 1, 2. #3: One More Fight
One more fight is planned to be announced for DREAM.10, making it a total of 8 fights. DREAM Event Producer Sasahara said that the final
announced fight will be either in the Middleweight or Heavyweight
division. #2: Reserve Fight Set
The Welterweight GP reserve fight was announced today.
DEEP champion Seichi Ikemoto will return to
take on undefeated Tarec Saffiedine. #1: One Arm Is Enough For
“Mach”
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, who will look to capture the DREAM Welterweight GP title and become the first ever
DREAM Welterweight champion on the 20th, told
reporters in his open training session today that one arm is good
enough for him if he fights a K-1 fighter in an MMA rules match. He even demonstrated on his sparring
partner.