MMA Combat - DREAM 17 - Aoki vs. McCullough, Results

MMA Combat - DREAM 17 - Aoki vs. McCullough, Results

Saturday, September 24, 2011, DREAM Fight Championships went live from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan for DREAM 17 - Aoki vs. McCullough featuring a lightweight main-event pitting DREAM 155lbs champion Shinya Aoki (29-5-0) against former WEC lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough (19-8-0). Also competing on the card is one-time Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Tatsuya Kawajiri in his debut at 145lbs as he battled PRIDE FC veteran Joachim Hansen; while legendary Japanese stars Caol Uno and Kazushi Sakuraba fought Takeshi Inoue and Yan Cabral respectively.

The main-event of the evening went exactly as the "Tobikan Judan" would have scripted it; a pair of takedowns would see the submission specialist achieve the full mount twice. Looking for a top-side triangle after the first, McCullough was able to scramble out from underneath his Japanese counter-part, but a second takedown was all Aoki required as he peppered McCullough with palm strikes from above before the American gave his back to perhaps the best finisher in the game from that position. Aoki immediately secured a neck-crank and outside tapping, the former WEC lightweight champion had no escape available to him. The official end came at 4:57 of the first round.

Other results from DREAM 17 can be found below:

1 Ikuhisa Minowa def. Baru Harn via Submission (Scarf Hold Armlock) rd1 4:39
2 Rodolfo Marques def. Diniz Yusup Saadulaev via Decision (Unanimous) rd3 5:00
3 Masakazu Imanari def. Abel Cullum via Submission (Armbar) rd3 0:46
4 Bibiano Fernandes def. Takafumi Otsuka via Technical Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) rd1 0:41
5 Antonio Banuelos def. Hideo Tokoro via Decision (Split) rd3 5:00
6 Gerald Harris def. Kazuhiro Nakamura via Decision (Split) rd3 5:00
7 Satoru Kitaoka def. Willamy Freire via Decision (Split) rd3 5:00
8 Yan Cabral def. Kazushi Sakuraba via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) rd2 2:42
9 Takeshi Inoue def. Caol Uno via KO (Head Kick) rd1 4:18
10 Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Joachim Hansen via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) rd3 2:30
11 Shinya Aoki def. Rob McCullough via Submission (Neck Crank) rd1 4:57


Follow us on twitter @mmacombatDOTcom
facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/update_secur...63733427002469
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmacomba...m?feature=mhum
Blogger: http://mmacombatdotcom.blogspot.com/
And on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mmacombatdotcom

MMA Combat - DREAM 17 Adds Aoki vs. McCullough, Kitaoka vs. Freire

MMA Combat - DREAM 17 Adds Aoki vs. McCullough, Kitaoka vs. Freire

DREAM officials announced Friday that lightweight champion, Shinya Aoki (28-5-0) will officially defend his promotion title at DREAM 17 when he locks horns with former WEC lightweight champion, "Razor" Rob McCullough (19-7-0), September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Aoki is riding a five-fight winning streak heading into the contest and most recently defeated UFC veteran Rich Clementi via neck-crank in May of this year. McCullough bounced back from his WEC exit with consecutive wins in 2010, but was TKO'd in his Bellator FC debut by Team Nogueira representative Patricky Freire this past March.

Additionally, leg-lock specialist Satoru Kitaoka (28-10-9) will square off with Nova Uniao product Willamy Freire (19-4-0) in a lightweight bout. Kitaoka has won three straight fights since suffering back-to-back losses for the first time in an eleven-year career. The former Sengoku lightweight champ owns 15 wins by way of submission and is renowned for his crushing strength. Former Shooto champion, Willamy Freire, won eleven consecutive bouts from September 2007 to May 2010, but had his momentum halted this past January in his UFC debut where he was defeated by Waylon Lowe via unanimous decision at UFC - Fight for the Troops 2.

Dream 17 will also feature the quarterfinal match-ups for the promotion's World Bantamweight Grand Prix which still has four remaining slots to fill with former DREAM champ Bibiano Fernandez, as well as Japanese talents Kenji Osawa, Masakazu Imanari and 2011 Japan Bantamweight GP winner, Hideo Tokoro already confirmed for the bracket.

Follow us on twitter @mmacombatDOTcom
facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/update_secur...63733427002469
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmacomba...m?feature=mhum
Blogger: http://mmacombatdotcom.blogspot.com/
And on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mmacombatdotcom