Japanese MMA Weekend Recap (Sept 1-3)

DREAM made some big fight announcements for DREAM.16 at their press conference today while Pancrase held another exciting event. Headkicklegend.com is the only place where you can get this kind of an in-depth Japanese MMA weekend recap. DREAM news will be after the jump.

-Pancrase held it's eighth edition of it's "Passion Tour" on Sunday at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan.

Japanese journeyman, Yuji Sakuragi upset light heavyweight King of Pancrase and Sengoku veteran, Ryo Kawamura, with a first round TKO in the non-title main event. Sakuragi put Kawamura down with a right hook then proceeded to flurry on Kawamura for the ref stoppage. It's expected for the two to rematch for the King of Pancrase title sometime later this year.

In the co-feature, Manabu Inoue defended his bantamweight King of Pancrase title against Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi with a competitive majority decision victory. The three judges had it 29-28, 30-29, 29-29. "Akai" was deducted a point in round 2 for a strike to the back of the head and grabbing the ropes, that point cost "Akai" a draw on two scorecards.

Japanese women's MMA veteran, "Windy Tomomi" Sunaba, picked up her third straight victory this year. She took a unanimous decision victory over Fit NHB product, Monica Lovato. Although "Windy Tomomi" edged out both rounds (the fight was only a two round affair), the bout was described as a "fun, great fight" on Tony Loiseleur's Sherdog.com live chat during the event.

In the "holy s#*t" moment of the card, Mitsuhisa Sunabe knocked out Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara with a brutal slam in the third round of their flyweight title eliminator. Tahara tried to lock up an armbar; Sunabe then picked him up and hit a powerbomb-type of slam. Sunabe proceeded with a several more punches to the already unconscious Tahara before the ref mercifully stepped in. With the win, Sunabe earned a rubber match for the flyweight championship against reigning champion, Kiyotaka Shimizu.

Full "Pancrase: Passion Tour 8" results here.

-FEG held their press conference announcing three more fights for the September 25th DREAM.16 show and confirming one bout.

DREAM lightweight champion, Shinya Aoki, will return to action in a non-title fight against UFC veteran, Marcus Aurelio. The ATT product has gone 2-0 since leaving the UFC at UFC 102 in a losing effort to Evan Dunham.

Former Shooto lightweight champion, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue will make his DREAM debut on the card against surging, Kazuyuki Miyata. Inoue lost his Shooto world title back in May in a split decision effort against Hatsu Hioki. Miyata is undefeated at featherweight, including two wins in DREAM over Daiki Hata and Takafumi Otsuka, since dropping down to the weight class last year.

Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen looks to break a three fight losing streak as he takes on veteran, Hideo Tokoro, in a fight built for excitement.

DREAM also confirmed the previously reported bout between Kazushi Sakuraba and Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

Event producer, Keiichi Sasahara, talked about the rumored partnership with Sengoku Raiden Championships. He said that negotiations have stalled out and plans for a "DREAM vs. SRC" event have stopped.