Note: fights subject to change

Dream.7 Mixed Martial Arts Featherweight Opening Round

The DREAM.7: Feather Weight Grandprix 2009 1st Round mixed martial arts event is set for March 8, 2009. This event will feature the opening round fights. The Grand Prix is scheduled to be competed at the 63 kilograms (139 lb) weight limit. Some of the best featherweight fighters in the world are competing to be crown the DREAM featherweight champion.

It is to bad that the Zuffa owner WEC will not release their fighters to fight as Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, Jens Pulver, Jeff Curran, Leonard Garcia and Miguel Torres all could have made the tournament much more exciting.

Tournament favorite Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto was given a first-round bye by FEG so he can recover from an ankle injury he received in 2008.

Below are the opening MMA handicapping previews for all first round fights

Masakazu Imanari vs.  Atsushi Yamamoto

The best first round matchup of the first round has Masakazu Imanari versus Atsushi Yamamoto. MMA betting wise both fighters should come into this fight about even.


Atsushi Yamamoto is on a roll right now with his win over top level fighter Hideo Tokoro. Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari has fought top level competition and has wins over Jean Silva, Yoshiro Maeda, Mike Brown, and Jorge Gurgel.


Imanari is a very good grappler with 11 out of 15 wins coming by way of submission. Yamamoto on the other hand has not fought the top level fighters and he is not a finisher and in Yamamoto 12 win 9 have come by decision. Masakazu Imanari’s pressure and ground game will overwhelm Yamamoto. His grappling game is not a sharp as Imanari and 3 out of his 5 loses have been by submission.

Masakazu Imanari wins by submission

Hiroyuki Takaya vs.  Jong Won Kim

Jong Won Kim is still pretty new to mixed martial arts and he will be fighting on the main stage for the first time in his career. Hiroyuki Takaya has a lot of loses in his career but look at who he has lost to. He has lost to Leonard Garcia , Andre Amade, JZ Cavalcante, Genki Sudo, and Gilbert Melendez.


Takaya should have no problem with Jong Won Kim and because he has a number of loses sp sportsbook oddsmakers might give favorable lines to Takaya.

Hiroyuki Takaya has very good stand up power and he should be able to knock out Jong Won Kim

Yoshiro Maeda vs.  Micah Miller

Micah Miller will be a god fighter one day but he is fighting a tough Yoshiro Maeda who at 26-6-2 has fought some of the best fighters in the world. Both fighters are very heavy handed and has 14 KO’s to his credit while Micah Miller has good hands but is not as fast as Maeda.


Micah Miller is more of a submission fighter and since he has started training at American Top Team he has become more well rounded fighter training with top quality fighters. Sports betting wise Yoshiro Maeda should come into this fight as the betting favorite I see an upset as Micah Miller. Miller trains with some of the best fighters at ATT and he will be well prepared coming into this fight.


At only 22 years old Miller will be a very good fighter and his well rounded skills will come out against the older smaller fighter. He will come to this fight as the bigger fighter and will be able to take Maeda down and submit him.

Look for an upset for the 10 and 2 fighter over the veteran fighter.

Chase Beebe vs.  Joe Warren

Chase Beebe will come into the fight with more experience and should be a huge betting favorite against world class wrestler Joe Warren. Chase Beebe is 12 and 3 and has very good submissions while Warren is still learning the MMA game.


This will be Warren’s first MMA fight and he will not have the grappling defense to hurt Beebe who has 10 submissions in his 12 wins.

Warren will be stronger in this fight but being his first MMA fight against a proven experienced fighter will be too much. Look for Chase Beebe to submit him.

Takafumi Otsuka vs.  Bibiano Fernandes

Bibiano Fernandes is only 3 and 2 but his two loses came from Norifumi Yamamoto and Urijah Faber. His two loses came from the two top fighter sin the world at this weight class. Bibiano Fernandes won the MUNDIALS twice, was a 3 time Brazilian champion and 4 time State of Amazonas champion. His jiu-jitsu skills are some of the best in MMA at 135. He has worked hard on his striking and has been training with 3 time world boxing champion Tony Pep to hone his skills.

He will be fighting Takafumi Otsukaq who does not have the knock out power to hurt Bibiano and is no where near the caliber a grappler that Fernandes is. Fernandes will be able to submit Otsuka with ease and looks like a fore runner to win the whole tournament.

Akiyo Nishiura vs.  Abel Cullum

Abel Cullum is very good ground fighter and should come into this fight as a slight betting favorite. Abel Cullum should be the bigger fighter and will use his size to control Akiyo Nishiura whose most fights go to decision, is not an over powering striker or grappler. Abel Cullum only recent lose was to highly touted fighter Wilson Reis, and before that he was on an 11 fight winning streak.

Akiyo Nishiura won’t have any answers for Cullum who is a well rounded fighter and can beat Nishiura in the stand up or on the ground.

Sport betting wise I would lay a lot of money on a Cullum victory.

Welterweight Match: Shinya Aoki vs.  David Gardner

Shinya Aoki should have no problem with David Gardner. He will clinch jump guard and use his rubber guard to submit David Gardner. Aoki is one of hte best grapplers in the world and Gardner is still learnign hte game of mixed martial arts.


Betting lines for this fight will be huge so no pint even betting on this fight. They should open up at -600 and no sports bettor in their right ming wodl ever lay 600 bucks on one fight when there are muhc better bets to make.

Aoki wins by knock out, just kidding submission, he couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag.

Lightweight Match: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs.  Daisuke Nakamura

The Endless Fighter is just that. Mitsuhiro Ishida is a top fighter and he has fought someof best fighter in his mixed martial arts career with wins over Gilbert Melendez, Kotetsu Boku  and Marcus Aurelio. He has also fought top fighters like Caol Uno , Takanori Gomi, and Vitor Ribeiro.


Daisuke Nakamurais also a good fighter but the constant pressue by Ishida will be hard for Nakamura. Ishida is not  a finisher but he si always moving forward and attacking and this fighter should go to decision like most of his other fights. He will win another decision victory due to his attacks.

The betting lines for this fight should be close so laying a lot on Ishida is the best bet.

 Lightweight Match: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs.  Ross Ebanez

What can you say about Tatsuya Kawajiri. The Crusher is the most exciting fight in the Japanese and his fight with Eddie Alvarez  at the Dream 5 - Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final was the best fight of the year. He went toe to toe with hard hitting lightweight and almost knocked him out. Kawajiri has fought and beaten some of the top guys in the world like Luiz Firmino , Kultar Gill, Luiz Azeredo, Chris Brennan, Joachim Hansen, Crazy horse Bennett, and Vitor Ribeiro.

Kawajiri is very heavy handed and he has incredible strength from his wrestling. Ross "The Boss" Ebanez is a good fighter but no where near the caliber that Kawajiri is. This BJ Penn fighter will not be able to fend off Kawajiri’s pressure attack and he does not have the power to hurt Kawajiri in the standup. Kawajiri ground and pound is aggressive and Ebanez does not have the grappling skills to submit him.

Look for Kawajiri to stop Ebanez with strikes. Sport betting wise the online betting lines will be so large that it will not be worth betting on Kawajiri which may open up at -450. Stay away from betting this fight and enjoy a masterful fight by Kawajiri instead and you will know why they call him the Crusher.

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