Kid Nate over at BloodyElbow.com wrote a small piece outlining the recent news from Sherdog.com's Jordan Breen regarding DREAM being dropped from their network primetime slot. While the view from his article is grim, I'd like to point out some of the things that weren't mentioned and may end up having some impact at least for those of us who love the stable of fighters that DREAM has managed to put together.

Am I refuting the fact that DREAM is over? No, not at all. In fact, losing their network primetime slot is a deadly blow for revenues when it comes to television advertising and as Breen mentioned in his article, PPV isn't big in Japan as it can be in the United States.

There is one point that Jordan Breen brought up that may score a small victory for hardcore fans for the time being. Pay-per-view only cards will be featured in full length instead of the fully edited versions of the cards that we've seen on the primetime network slot. Also, Daisuke Sato has returned to the promotion to hopefully pump up the pre-fight promotional material for DREAM. PRIDE entrances may have finally returned.

How can DREAM overcome a demise after losing a primetime TV slot and the attached advertising revenue? It'll be tough, but the quality of fights could potentially increase PPV buys slightly. One idea that hasn't been done yet is porting the event to an American fanbase. Although the buys would be low, which may be exactly why it will never happen, hardcore fans would likely buy the card. A more realistic scenario would be using HDNet in some way to increase viewership.

Coupling SkyPerfect with HDNet is far from getting them back on track, but the epic matchups in the middleweight tournament and the lightweight Grand Prix are just too good to leave behind. If DREAM truly does go down, WVR may end up picking up some of these fights or the American MMA market may once again start actively pursuing those fighters. I'd love to see the latter happen, but for now, many hardcore MMA fans could be crying in their beers in a few months time.

There is still hope for the GP Finals to make the primetime slot however, so hopefully it'll make a resurgence with some exciting fights in the upcoming events.

DREAM’s inaugural event didn’t bring home the bacon. In fact, Zach Arnold reported that DREAM only received an 8.9% rating on TBS in Japan, which translates to second to last in the ratings in that timeframe for that evening. In laymen’s terms, DREAM wasn’t successful, and the matchups didn’t draw in the Japanese fanbase at all. There is hope on the horizon for hardcore fans and for the casual Japanese fanbase with DREAM's second event.

DREAM 2 will feature a Middleweight Grand Prix opening round that has confirmed ten fighters with one being confirmed today. Kazushi Sakuraba, Masakatsu Funaki, Yoon Dong Sik, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Minowaman, Denis Kang, Shungo Oyama, Kin Taiei, Kiyoshi Tamura, and recently added Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. Hardcore fans will be interested in seeing Dong, Akiyama, and Kang in action as well as the abilities of Souza against upper level talent. The Japanese fanbase will likely be interested in Sakuraba, Funaki, and Tamura’s presence in the Grand Prix. It should bode well for their ratings potential and will hopefully cause a significant increase.

The rumor mill has been churning with regards to Sakuraba making statements that he will likely not compete in the tournament due to a scab on his leg that continues to bleed. He did mention that he would fight in April though, so we could see him in one of the superfights on the card.

Zelg Galesic is probably another Middleweight who will be signed on for the event, but there are still roughly 6 spots left to be filled. It’ll be interesting who they will pick up, but for the sake of speculation and wishful thinking, Matt Lindland should be allowed to head overseas. I’d love to see how he could possibly do against some of the talent in the MW GP.

As a hardcore fan, I’m sold on watching this event at the wee morning hours of a Saturday, but will it actually produce the ratings on TBS in Japan? World Victory Road just recently signed on with FujiTV, so the ratings war between both promotions looks to have begun. With the current lineup for the Middleweight tournament and possibly adding some more names to the mix with some up-and-coming talent, the MW GP could be a ratings boost for DREAM. Nonetheless, the hardcore fans will definitely be looking forward to this one, and HDNet is rumored to be close to a deal to bring it to U.S. fans as well.

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