By Scott Heritage

In the absence of a UFC card this week, the biggest MMA even of the weekend was undoubtedly Dream 15, which saw the returns of both Gegard Mousasi and Shinya Aoki, as well as featuring the always entertaining Melvin Manhoef.

In the main event, Aoki made short work of the usually durable Tatsuya Kawajiri, securing a take down and Achilles lock in the first minute. Kawajiri managed to hold on for a further minute, but was eventually forced to tap. He then declared his intention to have a rematch with Gilbert Melendez in the near future, who beat him in a rather one sided affair at StrikeForce-Nashville. Given that Melendez has better wrestling and striking though, unless Aoki undergoes a rapid metamorphosis a second fight won’t be much different from the first.

Against fighters he can’t quickly take down Aoki looks decidedly human, and generally his grappling doesn’t seem to match up that well against top American collegiate style wrestling.

Gegard Mousasi rebounded from losing his StrikeForce light heavyweight title further down the card, beating former UFC fighter Jake O’Brien in just 31 seconds. Basically O’Brien shot in for a take down and was immediately caught in a guillotine. It didn’t answer any of the questions surrounding Mousasi’s ground game off his back, but it is another victory in the win column, which is about as much as can be said about it.

Melvin Manhoef was once again submitted after coming out swinging, much the same as he is whenever he faces someone not willing to stand and trade with him. As great a striker as he is, he is equally poor on the ground, and until he is willing to fix that hole in his game he will always be merely an interesting fighter rather than a great one. This time his conqueror was Tatsuya Mizuno, who is talented enough, but the kind of fighter an athlete of Manhoef’s caliber should be beating without too much trouble.

Gesias Cavalcante also made a successful return after back to back losses and injuries had dulled an otherwise promising career. His opponent was DEEP champion Katsunori Kikuno, who is far from an easy opponent after a long layoff and bad run of form. If he can get back to the form he enjoyed early on in his career, Cavalcante might eventually make for an interesting opponent against StrikeForce belt holder Gilbert Melendez, and is expected to sign with the promotion in the near future.

Australian outfit Impact FC held the first of their series of planned events down under over the weekend, and by all accounts the event went off without a hitch.

In the main event, Josh Barnett unsurprisingly stopped Geronimo ‘Mondragon’ dos Santos, and dominated proceedings from the opening bell. Mondragon complained after the fight that it was stopped early, and while there is a case to be made for that, he never looked like mounting a comeback, and wasn’t offering that much resistance when the referee stepped in. Where Barnett goes immediately from here isn’t certain, given that he probably won’t ever be licensed to fight in the United States again after multiple failed drug tests. With his connections in Japan though, and possibly more Australian appearances to come, he should have enough to keep him busy, if not always taking on the best competition.

Karo Parisyan made a successful return to MMA on the card as well, submitting late replacement Ben Mortimer in the second round. The former UFC welterweight has been away from the cage for 18 months following problems with pain killer addiction and later severe anxiety, having pulled out of two scheduled appearances in the UFC and subsequently being fired. Despite worries leading up to the fight though, Parisyan put a Judo clinic on his over matched foe, and was unlucky not to secure the submission in the first round.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou was another victorious favorite, finishing Joachin Ferreira with punched in just over a minute. The self proclaimed ‘African Assassin’ has had an up and down career thus far, having perhaps been thrust to the top of the MMA world too early after back to back upsets in Pride FC. Still only 26 though, he has time to improve on some of the weaker elements of his game, and has a good team around him in Team Quest, who are known for peaking late.

Jeff Monson ground out another of his customary decision wins against Ubiratan Marinho Lima. In the first round he seemed to struggle with the height advantage of the 6,4 Brazilian, although having been taken down in the second, Lima seemed to tire quickly, and Monson took over from there. Rumors of a drop down to 205lbs continue to surround Monson, although he seems content at heavyweight for the time being.

Former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton continued his downward slide back towards a .500 record with a decision loss to Australia based American Brian Ebersole, who outworked an out of shape looking Newton throughout. It seems something of a mystery as to why Newton continues to fight at all these days, given that he doesn’t appear to be training the right way and he doesn’t need to fight to earn a living. As well as being a fighter, Newton is also a qualified doctor, so if he’s only fighting because he likes it you would have thought he would show up in shape, if only for the sake of his legacy.

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