Takeya Mizugaki vs. Kenji Osawa at Shooto in 2006: A Prelude to Dream 17?

Takeya Mizugaki vs Kenji Osawa (via JpZa420)

I won't lie. I'm more interested in Dream 17 than I am in UFC 130. No, I don't worship at the alter of Hayao Miyazaki. I've never romanticized Japanese culture, and I've never been one to grieve the loss of Pride as if it were the worst thing to happen to MMA. I like the sport more than the characters that run it. The world of mixed martial arts grants the possibility of what Anthony Pettis did at WEC 53, or Lyoto Machida at UFC 129, and so the theatre of combat alone is enough to align my allegiance not with promotions, but with the athletes in the cage (and ring). UFC 130 is a good card by Strikeforce standards, but thanks to injuries, we've been left with a bare bones card with no stakes, and matchups that don't lend themselves to dynamic action. I could be wrong about that obviously.

My point isn't to complain about the card. UFC 130 is about necessary matchmaking, and to that end, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby have done what they could. What's missing, however, and one thing Pride was so good at, were matchups where only the 'soul' is at stake. I hate to speak in such a whimsical abstraction, and I'm kind of embarrassed such a sentence even crossed my mind, but I think that's accurate. Here I think it's fitting to compare the cards because where fighters at UFC 130 will be focused on what could be lost, those competing at Dream will be focused on only what can be gained: the competitors exist in a world that has literally shifted, and so an official loss, I think, has less meaning so long as whatever performance they can manage is inspired.

This is all a lot of armchair psychology, and schmaltzy assumptions, but it's the cultural vibe that informed so much of what made Japanese MMA so interesting (not better, but interesting). Looking back at Mizugaki's slugfest with Kenji Osawa, one of the BW competitors in the tournament portion, the aforementioned phenomenon is kind of highlighted. It's an amazing, brutal fight, and contains some of the most frenetic action I've ever seen contained within 5 minutes of stand up action. What's so brilliant about it is the unspoken agreement Mizugaki and Osawa come to terms with. They're not Chris Lytle and Matt Serra going through the motions of earning bonuses giving fans what they think they want: instead they're two fighters who have drawn blood on one another's domain, and so the battle is all in who gets to be the owner. There would be a tough guy stupidity to it all (and indeed there is in most cases), but Mizugaki had already proven he could win in the area of combat he'd end up losing in. Mizugaki wasn't gambling. He was fighting.

There's potential for a lot of this on May 29th. I'll preview the full card later, but you're kidding yourself if you think Yoshiro Maeda and Hideo Tokoro will phone it in, or that Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto isn't dynamic. Caol Uno, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Joachim Hansen, 'Wicky' Akiyo, Kenji Osawa, Katsunori Kikuno...these are all fighters that may not be the best, but they share a philosophy that makes for compelling action.