Though no announcements were made on who would be fighting at the event a poster was released which features a number of familiar faces who are expected to feature.

The final of DREAM’s light-heavyweight mini-tournament between Gegard Mousasi and Tatsuya Mizuno appears to be locked in for the show.  Meanwhile the likes of Shinya Aoki, Minowaman, ‘Kid’ Yamamato, Sakuraba and Hideo Tokoro also feature on the poster.

It’s likely that Aoki’s fight will headline the card, though it’s unclear at this stage who his opponent will be.  The fighter had been calling for a rematch with Strikeforce’s Gilbert Melendez, but he is currently out injured.

Here’s some key notes derived from an interview with EA Sports by MiddleEasy.

-  As with other EA Sports titles will include the  ‘Game Face’ technology allowing you to upload your own likeness, and the usual ‘create a fighter’ options you’d expect.

-  Trainers that you’ll meet in the game include Bas Rutten, Randy Couture, Pat Miletich, Rickson Gracie amongst others.

-  Your trainer will help corner you and give advice during your fights.

-  You start the game with $0 and have to earn money by fighting in order to travel to different gyms and learn new skills.  You can also get invitations to go to gyms.

-  You have to learn a move in order to add it to your arsenal.

-  There are smaller promotions in the game, but your ultimate goal is to fight in one of the two big leagues.  Obviously Strikeforce is one of them, but the second is fictional.  EA Sports have titled it ‘Mystic’ and it’ll encompass fighters from the Japanese DREAM and Sengoku promotions.

-  The second tier will feature a fictitious Brazilian and UK leagues, while the third tier features a further two leagues.

You can also view new screenshots taken from the career mode here

EA Sports MMA hits stores on October 16th and is available to pre-order now at Amazon

After their press conference on Friday FEG also released a visual representation of their plans, indicating their desire to expand into all corners of the globe with a ‘world cup’ format similar to that seen in Soccer.

Naturally all this will take time. The $230 million being mentioned is set to be raised over a three year period, while their global expansion will start closer to home in Asia, with Europe also being targeted.

In addition to this Mike Kogan from the US branch of FEG has outlined to MMAJunkie their plans to turn DREAM towards the pay-per-view market.

Kogan notes that a primetime broadcast of DREAM pulls in an average of 11-12 million viewers via Toyko Broadcasting System (TBS).

“The (Japanese) audience was brought up watching it for free on TBS and Fuji,”
Kogan said. “Well, they’re not a paying public. The UFC has a hardcore fanbase that’s ready to lash out $50 for whatever the [expletive] they put on TV, with at least an average of 300,000 (pay-per-view) buys. So the UFC knows that they will receive at least $15 million dollars in revenue.

“Put that in perspective with Japanese MMA. Imagine if out of those 12 million people, half a million were ready to cough up $50 each time DREAM was on?”

It is believed that PUJI Capital will not be involved in the day to day operations of the business, but they will spearhead their fund raising efforts with an aim to raise in the region of $220 million, while also overseeing their moves into new markets in Europe and Asia.

“This is a declaration of war against the WWE and UFC. From Asia, we will take the world,” K-1 president Sadaharu Tanikawa stated at a press conference to announce the partnership.

Tanikawa did however then go on to concede that the U.S market was now out of their reach.

“We won’t stand a chance in the American market so we will spread to the rest of the world,” he said.”

On the surface this seems like positive news, though we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out in the longer term.  Personally I had fears as to whether DREAM in particular were going to make it through to the end of the year with the way things have been going lately.

There’s been rumors that FEG have been in real financial difficulties for some time now, so hopefully this investment drive can give the company more stability.  Declaring war on the UFC and WWE seems a little premature at this stage though.

(More Videos to come)

Shinya Aoki Vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

JZ Calvan Vs Katsunori Kikuno:

Gegard Mousasi Vs Jake O’Brien:

Melvin Manhoef Vs Tatsuyo Mizuno:

Michihiro Omigawa Vs Young Sam Jung

Mizuno was the underdog heading into his fight with Melvin Manhoef, but after surviving the early stand-up storm he turned the tide by flooring the kickboxer with strikes and then laying down some brutal ground and pound.

Manhoef looked done at this stage, but the referee let the action continue and Mizuno latched on a kimura to bring an end to the contest.

Next up was Mousasi who was looking to get back to winning ways after losing his Strikeforce light-heavyweight title and long unbeaten run to King Mo earlier in the year.

In the end it proved all too easy for him against Jake O’Brien who had weighed in well over the limit at 226lbs for the fight.  As the wrestler attempted a takedown in the opening stages Mousasi locked in a guillotine choke and forced the tap with just 31 seconds on the clock.

(Press F5 a required to refresh the page for the latest results)

Update: Watch full videos of the fights here

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Shinya Aoki defeats Tatsuya Kawajiri by submission (achilles lock) in Rd1

-  Just moments into the fight Aoki swoops for Kawajiri’s leg and takes him to the floor where he works a submission hold.  After Kawajiri battles in vain for over a minute he’s finally forced to tap to an achilles lock.

Aoki celebrates a win which will help ease some of the pain of his recent loss to Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce.  Aoki announces to the crowd that he’s getting married while Kawajiri has to be helped out of the ring with his foot clearly badly damaged.

Aoki also announces that he will rematch Melendez in the DREAM ring in September.

JZ” Calvan defeats Katsunori Kikuno by split decision

-  After a close first round which Kikuno appeared to get the better of JZ takes control in the second, taking down Kikuno, securing the mount and then seizing his back. He spends the rest of the fight trying, but ultimately falling short in his attempts to secure a rear-naked choke.

It’s enough to hand JZ the split decision win though and get him back to winning ways as he now heads to Strikeforce.

Gegard Mousasi defeats Jake O’Brien  by submission (guillotine choke) in Rd1

-  Mousasi makes short work of O’Brien, finishing him with a guillotine choke just 31 seconds into the bout to book his place in the light-heavyweight final against Mizuno.

Tatsuya Mizuno defeats Melvin Manhoef by submission (kimura) in Rd1

-  Manhoef starts off in typically hard hitting fashion and hurts Mizuno early.  As the round progresses Mizuno starts to get the upper hand though and  unexpectedly drops Manhoef at the corner of the ring during an exchange before raining down heavy blows.

Manhoef looks very close to being knocked out and perhaps only survives because his head is partially covered by the pad in the corner where he fell.  Mizuno then switches tactics and finishes the dazed fighter with a kimura to hand the Dutchman his third loss in a row (two in MMA, one in kickboxing) and progress to the final.

Michihiro Omigawa defeats Young Sam Jung by submission (guillotine choke) in Rd1

-  Dropped early in the opening round with punches, Jung shows heart to stay in the battle.  In the end Omigawa proves to be too much for him though, securing the mount and then forcing him to tap with a guillotine choke.

Mitsuhiro Ishida defeats Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata by unanimous decision

- DJ has no answer for Ishida’s wrestling, finding himself with his back pressed to the mat for much of the encounter.

Kazuhiro Nakamura defeats Karl Amoussou by unanimous decision

- Nakamura controls Amoussou on the ground for much of the bout to secure a decision victory.

‘O Brien was set to face Gegard Mousasi in the light-heavyweight tournament tomorrow but after weighing in well over the limit at 226lbs there’s since been some confusion over what will happen.

Ricco Rodriguez, who himself is currently without an opponent, suggested that he could step in as a late replacement, but as thing stand it appears that ‘O Brien will still compete.

Check out the weigh-ins video for the event below.

Update: Watch full videos of the fights here

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Gegard Mousasi:

Karl Amoussou:

Melvin Manhoef:

According to the 5ozofpain site DREAM have now abandoned that idea after failing to come up with a suitable opponent willing to take the fight with the former UFC heavyweight champion at such short notice.

Rodriguez is currently on a seven fight win streak after losing a significant amount of weight and has his eye on a return to the UFC.