Note: fights subject to change

Dream.4 Mixed Martial Arts

Dream.4 As the second round of the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix is set to take place at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohoma Japan there are a number of updates to the MMA matchups. Kazushi Sakuraba the Gracie Hunter was suppose to be fighting Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-2) who beat Masakatsu Funaki at DREAM 2 the Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Opening Round but he has since been injured. The fight Sakuraba versus Tamura would have been a legendary fight between two great Japanese MMA legends but now Sakuraba will face one of the most feared strikers in the middleweight division. Melvin Manhoef has replaced Kiyoshi Tamura due to injuries Tamura incurred in his 1st round match.

One of the most intriguing fights of the night will be an exhibition grappling match between Mirko Cro Cop vs. Ralek Gracie under Gracie rules. Does Crop Cop have the grappling experience to beat a BJJ black belt? Also the MMA community is a buzz for the fight between Jacaré and Mayhem Miller.

Check out Bookmaker and BetCRIS for the latest Dream.4 online betting lines

Offical Fight Card

Middleweight Grand Prix Bout: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
Middleweight Grand Prix Bout: Zelg Galesic vs. Taiei Kin
Middleweight Grand Prix Bout: Gegard Mousasi vs. Yoon Dong-sik
Middleweight Grand Prix Bout: Ronaldo de Souza vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Lightweight Grand Prix Bout: Shinya Aoki vs. Katsuhiko Nagata
Featherweight Bout: Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama
Special Grappling Match: Mirko Cro Cop vs. Ralek Gracie
Heavyweight bout: Lee Tae-Hyun vs. Alistair Overeem
Light heavyweight bout: Gadzhiev Alavutdin vs. Alexandre “Cacareco” Ferreira

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef

Kazushi Sakuraba To fight Sakuraba, Melvin Manhoef had to win a reserve mixed martial arts bout against Kim Dae-Won at DREAM 3 to earn his spot in the 2nd round. One thing about Manhoef is that he is very susceptible to submissions and his only key to victory is in the stand up. The online MMA betting odds have not been release at any of the online sports betting sportsbooks but I would assume that Melvin Manhoef would be the favorite in this fight.

As a MMA bettor I would lay my money on Kazushi Sakuraba. If Sakuraba is healthy, he is one of the best fighters in the world. Yes he is battle worn and he has not fought well against aggressive strikers but I feel he is still cagy enough to take Manhoef to the ground. Once this happens Sakuraba will be able to submit Manhoef. Sakuraba has beaten some of he best fighters in the world like Ricardo Arona, Ken Shamrock, Kevin Randleman, Quinton Jackson and of course the Gracie clan Royce, Ryan, Renzo, and Royler so he knows how to fight big named opponents. Also against powerful striker like Cro Cop, Wanderlai Silva, and Igor Vovchanchyn Sakuraba was in those fights and against bigger sized fighters.

Melvin Manhoef hasn’t fought any top level opponent like Sakuraba has and he is very weak on the ground. I would take Sakuraba in this fight to take Melvin Manhoef to the ground and submit him.

Zelg Galesic vs. Taiei Kin

Taiei Kin has already lost to Zelg Galesic in the past due to doctor stoppage at K-1 - OLYMPIA HERO'S 2007 in Korea and his MMA fighting experience is limited. As a kick boxer, Kin has a great record at 21 and 6 but he is still a novice to the world of MMA. Kin’s style is Karate and that has not faired so well in adapting to MMA. With a 3 and 2 record in MMA he has already lost to some tough opponents like Yoshihiro Akiyama and Zelg Galesic. Kin still needs to work his overall MMA game to compete; especially versus a tough opponent like Zelg Galesic.

Zelg Galesic is an excellent striker in Muay Thai and his striking abilities are more refined for the MMA game instead of a Karate fighter. When fighting, Karate fighters tend to lend back a little too much and rely on low percentage kicks like side kicks. Galesic will use his short powerful kicks to damage Kin’s legs and thighs. From there he will set up his punches and take Kin down for a ground and pound. Though Galesic is not a great grappler he has better skills on the ground and has the ability to submit Kin.

This will be a great striking match but Galesic striking has the ability to get to his opponent faster and in a shorter amount of time due to his Muay Thai training.

Look for Galesic to win this fight on the ground after peppering Kin in the stand up.

Gegard Mousasi vs. Yoon Dong-sik

Gegard Mousasi upset one of the pre tournament favorites with a surprising triangle choke victory over Denis Kang in the opening round. He will be fighting another proficient submission fighter in Yoon Dong-sik. Yoon Dong-sik’s career was off to a rough start with 4 straight loses but to really high caliber fighters like Murilo Bustamante, Quinton Jackson, Kazushi Sakuraba and Makoto Takimoto but since then he has 4 impressive victories over Shungo Oyama, Fabio Silva, Zelg Galesic and Melvin Manhoef.

Betting wise I like to pick Yoon Dong-sik in this fight as Mousasi ground game is still very suspect as he got lucky in his last fight as Kang made a big mistake in walking into a triangle. Kang controlled the whole fight with an easy takedown and submission attempt and I feel Yoon Dong-sik will expose Mousasi on the ground. Mousasi is a great striker and Yoon Dong-sik has already beaten two similar great strikers like Zelg Galesic and Melvin Manhoef. Striking wise Mousasi is about on par as Zelg Galesic and Melvin Manhoef and Yoon Dong-sik will be able to take Mousasi on the ground with his superior Judo game.

Gegard Mousasi is a great fighter but he only has one victory over a top level guy and Yoon Dong-sik will pose too much for him on the ground.

The online MMA betting odds should be close to even so bet on Yoon Dong-sik for a submission victory.

Ronaldo de Souza vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller

Jason "Mayhem" Miller The most anticipated fight of the night will be Jason "Mayhem" Miller versus one of the best Brazilian Jujitsu grapplers on the planet. Jacaré is still unproven in the world of mixed martial arts and he will be fighting a top level opponent. Mayhem Miller holds wins over tough competition such as Falaniko Vitale, Ronald Jhun, Egan Inoue, Denis Kang, and Robbie Lawler. Miller is a very well rounded fighter that can fight on the ground or in the stand up. Jason has also trained extensively with Randy Couture, Quinton Rampage Jackson and Marc Laimon. He will have the definite striking ability over Jacaré.

Right now I think Jacaré is still one or two years from fighting top level competition as he still needs to work on his stand up and wrestling game. Jacaré’s opening round fight versus a relative new comer Ian Murphy gave him some problems. Murphy took the fight on short notice and still gave Jacaré a hard time. Fighting Mayhem Miller might be too tough a task and I see Miller mixing up his game to throw off Jacaré. Miller has only been submitted once in his career and he went the distance with Georges St. Pierre.

Betting wise people love Jacaré and he might get a lot of action because he is such a great grappler but Miller is a better overall fighter that can strike and can wrestle and can grapple. Just look at some great grapplers that have not transitioned well into MMA yet like Dean Lister, Travis Lutter, and Marcelo Garcia.

Shinya Aoki vs. Katsuhiko Nagata

To move on in the lightweight grand prix Shinya Aoki has to beat Katsuhiko Nagata who is a very good wrestler who won the silver medal in 63-69 kg Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Right now Aoki is making a bid to become top pound for pound fighter in the world as he has disposed of a who’s who in mixed martial arts. The Tobikan Judan has beaten the best of the lightweight fighters in the world like Gesias Calvancante, Akira Kikuchi, and Joachim Hansen while Nagata is still a new comer with only 4 MMA fights.

Nagata has good wrestling skills but he has not been able to beat high level competition like Caol Uno and Yoshihiro Akiyama and Aoki is at the top of his game right now.

Shinya Aoki has far better grappling skills as he has fought in major tournaments like the ADCC and has fought everyone from Roger Gracie to Marcelo Garcia. He holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Yuki Nakai, as well as a black belt in judo. His rubber guard and dexterity is one of the best in MMA as he is able to transition from arm bar, triangle choke at any moment.

Look for Aoki to dominate Nagata with a barrage of submission attempts. Nagata won’t be able to defend forever and will succumb to a submission at some point in this fight. The betting lines will be huge in favor of Aoki but betting a large amount to win a little might be your online betting strategy. I would lay off this bet as the betting lines will be too great.

Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama

Hideo Tokoro is a great submission fighter that has notable wins over Royler Gracie and drew with Royce Gracie but the knock on him is that he has bad standup skills with loses to the “Black Mamba” Kultar Gill twice. He will be fighting Darren Uyenoyama who is a new comer to MMA with only 5 fights. He is a submission artist and all of his in wins have been by submission. Hideo Tokoro is a better grappler and this is a perfect fight for him to get back on the winning track as out of his 19 wins 13 have been by submission.

Hideo Tokoro is just more experienced and has fought better fighters. There is nothing Uyenoyama has grappling wise that will be able to throw off Tokoro. Uyenoyama doesn’t that the striking power to hurt Tokoro and his experience will prove the deciding factoring this fight. That and the fact that Uyenoyama has no striking ability to hurt Tokoro. Betting wise Tokoro should be a huge favorite but I would lay a lot on Tokoro for his experience. Even if the betting lines are -270 I would lay money on him still.

Take Tokoro with a submission victory.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Ralek Gracie

Ralek Gracie In a special grappling match between Mirko Cro Cop versus Ralek Gracie the rules are in favor of Ralek. They are fighting under Graice rules which favors the Gracie’s as they try to protect their fighter from not getting hurt or losing. If this was an MMA fight I would say Gracie would be picking up his teeth after 2 kicks from Mirko but since this is a grappling match Ralek will win this fight because the Gracie only fight when it is in their favor.

I don’t know if the online sportsbooks will have online betting odds but in this grappling match he has a huge advantage because he is a black belt in Jujitsu and is son of Rorion Gracie. His grappling game is very tight and Cro Cop is maybe only a purple belt level at best. Ralek will most likely pull guard in this fight and either try to sweep Cro Cop and shift his hips for an arm bar. I really don’t see Cro Cop winning this fight. The best he can do is to stay on top and base out and hoping he won’t get swept.

Ralek has been grappling all his life so what can you expect from Cro Cop. Not much. Since he was in diapers he has learned the art of grappling and no matter what Cro Cop has Ralek has seen a thousand times. Place a lot of money on Ralek should the lines come out. Since this is an exhibition match the online MMA lines might not come out but if they do bet it on Ralek and bet heavy.

Ralek wins do to unfair rules. Lets all hope Cro Cop gets a MMA match with him one day.

Lee Tae-Hyun vs. Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem should be the favorite by most online sportsbooks but this is the best dog pick to make of the night. Lee Tae-Hyun is a strong fighter and his fighting style is Ssireum which is a Korean wrestling style and is the traditional national sport of Korea. This means that Lee Tae-Hyun has great upper body strength. Though Lee Tae-Hyun’s MMA record is 1 and 1, he has been training with in Russia for several months with Red Devil MMA club and Fedor Emelianenko as well he has been training with Akira Shoji and Hidehiko Yoshida's at the Yoshida dojo. He has been working on his ground game and he has very great striking skills but no where near as good as Overeem’s.

Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem is a lethal striker and has great kickboxing and punches but he lacks a ground game. Lee Tae-Hyun will surprise many people with his ground and pound game. He has the ability to control Overeem on the ground with good base and solid wrestling control.

Take this bet and bet heavily on the underdog

Gadzhiev Alavutdin vs. Alexandre “Cacareco” Ferreira

Gadzhiev Alavutdin is a very heavy hitter with 3 of his last fights coming by KO in the first round. Alexandre “Cacareco” Ferreira is a Brazilian Top Team fighter with a well rounded game with 5 straight submission victories. Not only has he submitted his last 5 opponents but he has done so is various fashions (Guillotine Choke, Knee Bar, Kimura, Heel Hook, and Rear Naked Choke) which means his ground game is very tight. Out of his 16 victories, 15 have come by submission.

This will be classic striker versus ground fighter and in this fight the grappler will win out. Ferreira has great fundamentals and learning from guys at BTT means he is a great fighter on the ground. Coming from the Carlson Gracie side of BJJ his ground game is very aggressive which focuses on top control. Also training with Ricardo Arona, the Nogueira Brothers, and The Zen Machine Mario Sperry means he has the skills to compete with anyone on the ground.

Alavutdin doesn’t have the training partners that Cacareco has and even though he has great striking skills his ground game is limited.

Betting wise the online betting lines at most sportsbooks should be close with Ferreira a slight favorite. My rule for a striker versus grappler is always take the ground guy.

Look for Ferreira to submit Alavutdin once this goes to the ground.