After being booted from their primetime slot yesterday, I started thinking about some of the other details that surround the promotion as a whole. For a few months, I've been aggravated by the constant news that comes out of Japan regarding both the lightweight and middleweight tournaments. Rumored fighters are on the card, but nobody has been confirmed while other fighters are asked about the tournament and have no idea that they have been contacted to appear. Case in point: Frank Trigg.

Frank was announced by the promotion to be taking on Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom Ronaldo Jacare at the DREAM 2 Middleweight tournament coming up on the 29th of April. Unfortunately for fans, DREAM happens to run along the same lines as many of the bigger Japanese promotions have done in the past. DREAM announced the battle, but had yet to sign Trigg to a contract or have the fight even confirmed verbally from him. From listening to the show, it was explained that K-1 tried to get Trigg to fight, but they did not reach a deal by the deadline. Instead of immediately taking him off the card, Trigg's name was left there until today in which Ian Murphy has been announced.

Unlike the UFC, DREAM and other major Japanese promotions really need to get on the ball when it comes to announcing these fights. There is almost always a guarantee of a bigger name fight not happening due to the laziness of K-1. The UFC happens to confirm bouts months in advance, and confirms their cards weeks in advance.

Another potential stirring of the pot is Sakuraba's recent comments that Fightlinker has quoted on their site. To make a long interview short, Sakuraba doesn't like tournaments. In fact, the tournament is next week, and he has yet to decide if he wants to fight in it. To make matters more ridiculous, he states that he absolutely hates tournaments in the first place because he's always thinking about the next fight. Good reasoning, but why wait until nearly a week before the event? He is almost certainly going to pull out.

DREAM should probably work out these small details before the actual week of the fight, and it's very unprofessional. Of course, I've been hearing this for years from Japanese promotions, and it isn't new news to me.

DREAM’s Middleweight Grand Prix set to take place during the second event on April 29 has made some big updates to their card since I last visited it some weeks ago. The more name recognizable news from casual fans is the addition of Ronaldo Jacare vs. Frank “Twinkletoes” Trigg to the Grand Prix along with Magomed Sultanakhmadov vs. Zelg Galesic, and Yoon Dong “Dongbar” Sik vs. Shungo Oyama. Oh yeah… Minowaman is also in there taking on Kin Taiei. The word on the street is that Yoshihiro Akiyama and Daniel Acacio may make entrances into the Grand Prix as well to round out the field, and Marcelo Garcia is rumored to be at least fighting at the event in a non-GP bout.

Although DREAM had some poor ratings in their last show, this is definitely looking to be a great show for hardcore fans and should pick up in ratings from their last event. Jacare is a world-class grappling champion while Trigg is an older UFC/PRIDE veteran with a spark of life still left in his wrestling ability. Although fans coined the moniker “Rear Naked Trigg” to his name for his losses in the UFC, Trigg still remains a very good fighter for his age and his abilities. Jacare will be a very tough challenge, and it should be interesting to see if he can handle the dynamic grappling from Jacare. One disadvantage that Jacare won’t have is the fact that he has actually been fighting MMA for quite some time, unlike fellow champion grappler Marcelo Garcia who lost his first MMA bout.

Yoon Dong Sik finally makes a return to the ring after a small layoff after his win over Fabio Silva at the K-1 Olympia Hero’s event in October of last year. At 3-4, his record fools most fans into believing he isn’t a good fighter, but his first 4 bouts were against top tier competition. He now seems to be blasting through the middleweights in Japan, and we could finally see some big names up against his controlling judo and jiu-jitsu skills on the ground.

With the potential for seeing Tamura, Kang, Mousasi, Trigg, Jacare, Dong Sik Yoon, Galesic, and potentially Akiyama in the Grand Prix in bouts facing one another, this should make for a very entertaining DREAM event. Hopefully the super bouts will also begin to materialize soon.

DREAM announced that "JZ" Calvancanti will in fact rematch Shinya Aoki at DREAM.2 on April 29th from Saitama Arena in Saitama, Japan, and the winner will move on in the Lightweight Grand Prix against Katsuhiko Nagata. A no-contest was ruled in their last matchup at DREAM.1 with Calvancanti landing elbows to the neck and spine during an attempted takedown.

I don't think Aoki really stands much of a chance in the matchup. The little that we saw in the DREAM.1 bout was enough to give fans who were really hoping to put money or pick Aoki a chance to see what Aoki offers. He looked much smaller than Calvancante, wasn't able to get close to a takedown, and he still has a huge disadvantage against most fighters in the striking game. His only real chance is to get "JZ" to the floor, which seems like an impossibility.

Also on the DREAM.2 will be Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi. It should be a good battle between power strikers, but Mousasi has been facing lesser competition than Kang has in the past. Nonetheless, Mousasi has the power to flatline Kang like Akiyama accomplished back in October. Akiyama and Minowa are also rumored to be fighting on the card as well. Masakatsu Funaki will take on Kiyoshi Tamura, and Kazushi Sakuraba will fight Andrews Nakahara.

DREAM.3 Lightweight Second Round matchups

Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez

This is a superfight if I've ever seen one. Joachim absolutely crushed Kotetsu Boku in the preliminary round. Although it went to decision, Hansen was dominating on the ground and in the standup. Boku had some flurries, but Hansen clearly outclassed him. Hansen has an all-around great skillset with submissions and knee strikes. He has multiple ways to end the fight, and it should be a good matchup for Alvarez.

Alvarez has strong wrestling and great hands. He's got some devastating ground and pound that put Andre Dida out of the tournament, and he could turn it on again against Hansen. Hansen isn't exactly susceptible to the TKO though, in fact, he has never lost via TKO. The matchup has the makings of a war.

Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis "Buscape" Firmino

This oughta be a decent battle, but Kawajiri holds a win over Firmino at Bushido 8 back in 2005. I imagine it may go the same way with Kawajiri using his crushing ways to keep Firmino on his back for most of the fight. Firmino has some submission skills, but Kawajiri is too smart to get caught. His power will likely allow him to power out of most attempts.

Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno

Ishida has been on a tear as of late. His wrestling has been phenomenal lately, and he took a big win over Gilbert Melendez on New Year's Eve by taking the back at will for most of the first round. Uno will have his hands full.