DREAM vs. Sengoku
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Seems DREAM 4 was a clear winner in the poll I had, I stopped it early as it was a bit one sided. But lets look further into this.
Sengoku announced the signing of some very interesting fighters at Sengoku III. This should make the future more interesting. Which organization do you think will be the leading the way going forward?
If we look at it, I think they both look very interesting. DREAM still have the finals in both their tournaments left, Sengoku will have their lightweight tournament and the new signings. I am sure DREAM will counter with the signing of some big name fighters this Sunday. What do you think? DREAM vs. Sengoku.
Oh, by the way... If you are in the States and wanted to watch DREAM 4rather than Sengoku III, you're in luck!
HDNet is showing DREAM 4 live!
DREAM on HDNet: http://hdnetfights.com/mmaonhdnet.php
8 comments:
DREAM fighters will run through the Sengoku fighters, aside from Gomi....because he's beaten pretty much every LW competitor in DREAM aside from Aoki, and Alavarez. I'm stoked to see the progression of both these organizations, but I ultimately think DREAM with prevail.
again, sengoku isn't going to work if they can't sign big japanese talent and continue to sign relatively unknown americans. the smaller shows already have sengoku trumped in building up talent by far.
I have to go with DREAM at this point. Sengoku lacks real star power with the exception of Barnett, Yoshida, and Gomi for the most part. More of the fighters that were involved with PRIDE seem to be gravitating more towards DREAM and that can only mean good for the organization and the Japanese MMA scene. We can't forget about the partnership DREAM also has with ProElite, giving them opportunity to use a lot of popular names on their cards.
deathbyhighkick: Yeah, just like Hansen ran through Mitsuoka. I think Kitaoka could run through most of the fighters in the DREAM GP.
h paul: They just signed Yokota. Why is this important? They have signed a good amount of fighters from Grabaka (Misaki, Yokota, Kikuta, Sasaki), which is one of the top teams in Japan right now. It shows that they have a very good relationship with them. A lot of talent will probably come from that team in the future.
I am surprised that people are voting so clearly in favor of DREAM... I would have thought the signings would have given them a boost. I guess it says a lot about the developement of MMA, it is no longer enough to specialize.
fire fist - there's also a good relationship between grabaka and DREAM too. don't forget all the K-1 fighters are in DREAM. As far as I can see right now, Sengoku, with the exception of a few notable fighters, is more like a Shooto on a larger stage, a place for up and coming fighters to test their merit.
Not many credible fights for Gomi or Yoshida.
h paul: Kikuta wasn't very happy with Tanigawa after NYE. What fighter besides Takeshi Yamazaki has fought in DREAM from Grabaka?
Not many credible fights for Yoshida? Who does DREAM have? Sengoku's HW division is 100 levels above DREAM's HW division right now.
There are credible fights for Gomi also. Kikuta, Mitsuoka, Damm etc. Maybe you don't know them because they didn't fight in Bushido.
There is no question that Dream is on the verge of fully cementing themselves as the rightful successor to Pride. The Japanese fans and media already view them, and not Sengoku, as the top kakutogi promotion in Japan. Tanigawa did a brilliant thing by bringing in not only DSE people like Sasahara and Daisuke Sato, but also talent like Kei Grant, Lenne Hardt, Yuji Shimada, plus a plethora of other former DSE employees (like Matt Hume) that people identify with the Pride brand.
Sengoku has so many short-term and long-term problems that I don’t see how they remain a viable “major” promotion for long. Firstly, they don’t have a television deal, Dream does. Secondly, their roster has 5 viable draws: Yoshida, Fujita, Gomi, Barnett, and Misaki. Of those guys, Yoshida and Fujita are on their last legs and will only draw if you give them a popular opponent, like Barnett. Gomi is still a top draw, but you also have no credible, established rivals to put in front of him. Guys like Kitaoka and Mitsuoka are good fighters, but very few people outside of the Korakuen hardcores know who they are. Barnett is a real nice gaikokujin to have, but again, very few credible opponents for him exist, and he has other obligations now in the U.S. with Affliction too. Lastly, Misaki was always a mid-carder at best until he fought Akiyama, and that fight unquestionably resuscitated Misaki’s career. Even then, he’s not like other stars like Sakuraba or KID that you can put in with no-namers and get people to pay to watch.
Now, let’s take a look at the Dream roster as is. You’ve got the two top draws in Japan with Yamamoto KID and Akiyama, plus Sakuraba, Mirko, Aoki, Uno, Mach, Kawajiri, Hansen, Tokoro, Tamura, Ishida, Minowa, Funaki, Kharitonov, JZ, plus all of the K-1 guys like Schilt, Choi, LeBanner, Hunt and they’ll also likely have access to Fedor. They also have more depth than Sengoku with other established fighters like Yoon, Overeem, Diaz, Mousasi, Kang. That’s not even taking into account new stars they are building like Alvarez and Jacare (who have been getting lots of love in MMA magazines that are a great avenue to create buzz and excitement for promotions and fighters).
Setting aside the fact that Dream’s audiences have grown with each show (Sengoku’s haven’t), and the fact that they are not afraid to take their event out of Tokyo (Dream 5 is in Osaka and they’ll likely hold a Seoul show with Akiyama, Yoon, Choi, Kang, at some point too) , just read the type of coverage each promotion gets after one of their shows. Dream 3 had way more coverage than Sengoku 2 in Gonkaku, Kamipro, etc. If you’re in Tokyo, walk down next week to Fitness Shop or Tokyo Dome City Bookstore in Suidobashi and compare the type of coverage Dream 4 and Sengoku 3 get.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying Dream is definitively going to become what Pride was. In fact, I think the boom we saw in Japan from 2003-2006 won’t be seen again. But, Dream is easily the best organized to come closest to what Pride was.
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