The On Deck Circle

This Week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle “Nortron” Norton.

• The first round of Dream’s Lightweight Grand Prix was contested this week at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,000. The night showcased the exciting nature of Japanese mixed martial arts in Dream’s most talented weight class. Mirko “Cro Cop” also made his return to the Japanese ring with a dominating first round knockout of Tatsuya Mizuno. Dream 1 went off with only one major hitch, a No-Contest decision in the main event of the evening between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki. “J.Z. Calvan” elbowed Aoki twice to the back of the neck, causing numbness in Aoki’s arm. After ringside doctors called an end to the fight, Aoki gave a tearful speech apologizing to the fans.

*Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias Calvancante (No Contest – Illegal blow)
*Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kultar Gill (Unanimous Decision)
*Eddie Alvarez def. Andre Amade (TKO – 6:47, Round 1)
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic def. Tatsuya Mizuno (TKO – 0:56, Round 1)
*Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Jung Bu Kyung (Unanimous Decision)
*Katsuhiko Nagata def. Artur Oumakhanov (Unanimous Decision)
*Luiz Firmino def. Kazuyuki Miyata (Submission, Rear Naked Choke – 7:37, Round 1)
*Joachim Hansen def. Koutetsu Boku (Unanimous Decision)
Hayato Sakurai def. Hidetaka Monma (TKO – 4:12, Round 1)
Ikuhisa Minowa def. Lee Gwan (Submission, Kneebar – 1:25, Round 1)
*- Denotes Lightweight GP Tournament Bout• Dream also announced the first official participants for its Middleweight Grand Prix: Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Masakatsu Funaki, Dong-Sik Yoon, Taiei Kin, Shungo Oyama and Ikuhisa Minowa. Dennis Kang and Tiyoshi Tamura have also been rumored as fighters but have not been confirmed as of yet. In a small sidebar, I believe this tournament would be a huge opportunity for the UFC to lease out Rich Franklin. The competition is not overly stiff, Franklin has no shot at beating Anderson Silva, and it would give Dana White and the UFC huge bragging rights (which they absolutely love).

• The floodgates seem to have been opened for mixed martial arts TV deals in the past two weeks. Since Elite XC signed an agreement with CBS, Strikeforce has signed an agreement with NBC and it is rumored that HDNet is in conversations with Dream for a similar deal. The UFC has stated that it is happy with their distribution situation via Pay-Per-View and Spike TV and that they will only sign a deal that makes sense to them (Dana White speak for “I do what I want!”).

• Rumors have been rampant in the past week over Anderson Silva’s request to box Roy Jones Jr. Silva and his management have stated that they wish to silence the boxing critics who question the skill and technique of mixed martial artists. Silva’s manager, Ed Soares stated, “It’s not just talk, we really would like to put that fight together.” Jones, who is currently out of the country, stated that he is “flattered and excited” by Silva’s request but fans will have to wait for a definite answer when Jones returns to the States.

• Paulo Filho was forced to withdraw from his March 26th title defense against Chael Sonnen, having checked himself into a drug rehabilitation center. The WEC middleweight champ has battled depression throughout his career but this is the first time he has been forced to withdraw from a fight. Sonnen has stated that he is still very interested in fighting on March 26th but an opponent has yet to be named.

• Hawaiian favorite Kala Kolohe Hose knocked out an unprepared Phil Baroni to win the Icon Sports middleweight championship on Saturday night. Baroni was close to finishing the fight in the first round when he knocked Hose down and followed up with vicious ground and pound but Hose was able to survive. Baroni appeared to have expended all his energy and could barely fight for the remainder of the bout. Hose battered his opponent until finally finishing Baroni in fifth round via strikes.

• In free agent news, Kazuo Misaki signed a non-exclusive, two-fight contract with Strikeforce and Heavyweight King of Pancrase Asseurio Silva vacated his title and signed with Canadian promotion Hardcore Championship Fighting. However, most importantly of all, my homie, BJJ black belt, Nova Uniao fighter, Jose Aldo has signed a 5-fight deal with WEC.

This Week in MMA is a weekly feature submitted by Kyle “Nortron” Norton.