Dream 8 Cartel

[Machinemen]

Jacare, Hunt, Benkei, Ishida, Minowaman, Aoki, and Mach.

[NWOWolfpack]

Welterweight GP Participants:

Shinya Aoki
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai
Seichi Ikemoto/Hidetaka Monma

Unknown Fight:

Minowaman vs. TBA

Possible GP Participants:
Andre Galvao

Possible Participants:
Ronaldo Jacare
Gegard Mousasi

[broncofan]

can't wait to see Jacare and Mousasi back in action

[ArmyofDarkness]

THE DREAM LIVES

[keithlewis]

Confirmed WWGP Participants:

Hayato Sakurai
Shinya Aoki
Seichi Ikemoto

Rumored WWGP Participants:

Keita Nakamura
Andre Galvao
John Alessio
Marcelo Garcia

FWGP First Round Match:

Hideo Tokoro vs. Daiki Hata

Confirmed Participants:

Ikuhisa Minowa

Rumored Participants:

Mark Hunt
Zelg Galesic
Ronaldo Souza
Alistair Overeem
Sergei Kharitonov

[broncofan]

that poster kicks ass and this event has to be better than 7.

[keithlewis]

[NWOWolfpack]

Aoki vs. Sakurai Set for Dream Grand Prix

Number one ranked lightweight and WAMMA lightweight champion Shinya Aoki is set to face off against former top-ten ranked Hayato “Mach” Sakurai in the opening round of Dream's upcoming welterweight Grand Prix on April 5.

The last time these two faced off Sakurai came out on top in a unanimous decision in Shooto in August 2005.

Aoki (20-3, 1 NC) is on a three-fight win streak, including his most recent bout at welterweight against David Gardner at Dream 7. Aoki recently reached the finals of Dream's lightweight tournament by defeating two-time HERO's lightweight tournament champion Gesias “JZ” Cavalcanti, Katsuhiko Nagata, and Caol Uno; but ultimately lost to Joachim Hansen.

Aoki is no stranger to fighting at welterweight though, and even owns two wins over former top ten world welterweight Akira Kikuchi – successfully earning and defending the Shooto title in each bout. Aoki holds career wins over Clay French, Joachim Hansen, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, and George Sotiropolous.

Sakurai (34-8-2) has struggled recently to fight at the lightweight limits, but finds himself at home in Dream's upcoming tournament. “Mach” enters the fight riding two consecutive wins over Kuniyoshi Hironaka and Katsuyori Shibata.

Sakurai has an extensive resume to his credit, with wins over former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver, Caol Uno, Hidetaka Monma, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Joachim Hansen, Mac Danzig, Dave Menne, Frank Trigg, and Luiz Azeredo.

The rest of the welterweight tournament match-ups are still unknown, but participants include John Alessio, Andre Galvao, Seichi Ikemoto, Yuya Shirai, and submission grappling world champion Marcelo Garcia.

Dream 8 will also feature a first round Featherweight Grand Prix bout between Hideo Tokoro and Daiki “DJ” Hata. In non-tournament bouts Zelg Galesic faces Andrews Nakahara and Ikuhisa Minowa takes on Katsuyori Shibata. Dream 8 is scheduled to appear on HDNet.

PDG MMA NEWS