Dream 12: Alvarez, Zaromskis, Overeem and Sakuraba pick up wins (+ slideshow)

October 28, 10:16 PMMixed Martial Arts ExaminerEddie Graveline

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Eddie Alvarez survived some early threats to win yet again (photo: Sherdog.com)

Lost in the pre-fight excitement around UFC 104, as well as the subsequent post-fight controversies, was the fact that Dream held another awesome event in Japan that featured some of the top fighters in the world, not to mention and exciting new change in their promotion. 

The big news that Dream was pushing with this event was the fact that they were ditching the traditional boxing style ring in favor of a 6-sided cage. The new Dream cage isn't like the ones we see here in America, though. For one thing, it's solid white. The biggest functional difference is in the material used for the fencing. Unlike the chain-link used in most cages, the Dream cage walls are made of a mesh that is used in fishing nets in Japan. 

After the cage was unveiled in dramatic fashion, the fighting commenced. One of the most anticipated match-ups never happened. Former WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho was supposed to make an appearance, but basically disappeared in the week before the fight. Dream officials could not reach him through any means of communication. It was reported that his mother finally called a few days before the event to say that Filho was unable to secure a visa from Brazil to Japan. This isn't the first time that Filho has exhibited troubling behavior and speculation around the MMA scene is that he's not in a good place right now. 

Kazushi Sakuraba is always a hit in Japan and he fought a tough striker in Zelg Galesic. Sakuraba took him down early and immediately went for a toe hold. That left him open to strikes, though, and Galesic unleashed somewhere between 40 and 50 unanswered shots (I re-played it and tried to count all of them) to Sakuraba's head. I actually thought the fight could have been stopped, but this was a Japanese superstar with Japanese ref and all I'm saying is that it's not uncommon to see fighters get a lot more leash than normal in those situations. Sakuraba finally realized he was going to get knocked out if he didn't let go of Galesic's foot, so he switched to a knee bar and quickly forced a tap out. 

Dream Welterweight Champion, Marius Zaromskis, made his first appearance since winning the tournament and belt a couple of months ago. He faced a Korean fighter named Myeon Ho Bae. Zaromskis opened the fight with a flying knee, but ate a stiff right hand as he was coming in. it looked like he might have gotten rocked, but he came right back with a spectacular left head kick that knocked Bae straight out. It took roughly 18 seconds for him to put the entire arena in a frenzy. At this point, all I want for Christmas is for "The Whitemare" to become part of the Strikeforce/Dream exchange program and fighter here in the U.S. soon. 

Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez was also on the card, facing Katsunori Kikuno. Although he was the favorite, Alvarez had a tough go in the first round. Kikuno got double underhooks with Alvarez's head trapped underneath. After a couple of exhausting minutes in that hold, Alvarez escaped but was visibly fatigued. He came back hard in the second round, though, had some good moments on his feet, went to the mat and got side control, then sunk an arm triangle that forced Kikuno to tap. The result was what everyone expected, but it was a tougher day at the office than anyone had predicted. 

The event wrapped up with a heavyweight tussle between Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem and James Thompson (the guy who's ear was blown up by Kimbo Slice). This one wasn't expected to last long and it didn't. Thompson came out very aggressively, rushing toward Overeem. After a rather spectacular flying knee attempt, Overeem decided to take what Thompson was giving him. He grabbed his head and won the fight with a standing guillotine choke just past the 30 second mark.