With the ratings-grabbing monstrosities out of the way then, the next fight was a mouth watering prospect. Two of the very top lightweights around would do battle in JZ Calvancante and Tatsuya Kawajiri. To many people’s surprise, Kawajiri was able to completely out muscle JZ here on route to a clear cut decision victory. Superior wrestling and a fast developing stand-up proficiency kept “The Crusher” ahead pretty much throughout the fight. The normally ferocious JZ came across a little tame in this fight by his standards, and his second loss in a row has him battle for a top 10 spot in his division now. Kawajiri cements his position near the top of the pile, and tons of interesting fights await him, such as Shinya Aoki and rematches with Joachim Hansen and Eddie Alvarez.

Never having been a Hideo Tokoro fan before, I was blown away by his masterful display of MMA skills, eventually subbing Abel Cullum by rear naked choke at the start of the second round. Cullum simply couldn’t handle the pace of the onslaught of striking and sub attempts by the former janitor. Cullum just met a man on fire tonight, but did enough to earn a call back to the DREAM ring. Tokoro is back on track after mixed results recently. On this form he’s a handful for the other guys in the semi-finals.

One of the tournament favorites, Yoshiro Maeda suffered a dubious TKO stoppage at the hands of Hiroyuki Takaya. After controlling the majority of the first round, Maeda ate a couple of right hands which dropped him. As he scrambled to grab a leg, he took a few more punches, which was enough to prompt the referee into a slightly premature stoppage. Just a blip really on the impressive career record of Maeda, in a night when many favorites fell, and Takaya will have his work cut out in the next round.

Masakazu Imanari lost a lot of fans with another poor performance in his decision loss to Bibiano Fernandes. Unable to quickly snag Fernandes with a submission, Imanari reverted to unjustified showboating and guard flopping in what turned out to be an awful match. He really needs to re-think rounding out his entire MMA game, because no-one wants to see him keep doing this. A frustrated Fernandes moves on to the semis and must be fancied to take the whole tournament now.

Everyone knew that, with only one fight under his belt in MMA, wrestler Joe Warren was Kid-Fodder in his fight with Norifumi Yamamoto. Everyone but Warren himself that is. Warren repeatedly took Kid Yamamoto (an outstanding wrestler himself) down and dropped punches with frightening stamina. Kid looked a novice on his back, managing only a few weak submission attempts and showing a complete lack of willing to take any risk and get up. On the feet was a different story though, as Kid landed several of his vaunted big punches on the rookie and peppered his ribs with big kicks, staggering him a few times. Warren had some success with knees and punches in the clinch, but Yamamoto delivered far more damage overall, which makes the decision for Warren over the Japanese icon even more perplexing. The positive from this decision is that maybe now Yamamoto will put his ego aside and take MMA seriously again. It’s hard to know whether to blame 18 months of ring rust or an outdated skill set for this loss, but Yamamoto’s perennial spot in the pound for pound rankings must be at risk after this showing. Joe Warren is one tough dude, with otherworldly cardio, a great chin and an appetite for improvement. Don’t be surprised if he’s good enough to win this tournament come the next round. The sky is truly the limit for him.