A DREAM come true

I must apologize for not updating yesterday, but a snow day is a dream come true for a college student so I had to take full advantage. 

A dream come true for a fight fan is good, old-fashioned grand prix. The Japan-based mixed martial arts promotion, Pride, was famous for its grand prix, especially the open weight tournaments that gave fans exciting matchups that pitted fighters from one weight class against another. 

With Pride defunct, DREAM has taken over as the country's flagship fighting organization. It has already offered some memorable matches with fighters such as Joachim Hansen, Eddie Alvarez, Shinya Aoki and Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti. And as Japan's flagship promotion, it is ready to pay homage to Pride by holding a 16-man featherweight grand prix. 

This should be a great tournament for all MMA fans, considering the featherweight division is often overlooked. If DREAM runs this tournament correctly, there could be multiple fight of the year candidates within this single tournament. 

The grand prix is scheduled to begin March 8th at DREAM 7. There have been talks of making the featherweight weight limit 138 pounds instead of the usual 145 pound limit. This would be a clear advantage to the Japanese fighters, especially Norifumi Yamamoto, but the good international and American featherweights should still be able to cut to that weight. 

So far there have only been three confirmed participants. Arguably the best featherweight in the world, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, is confirmed and was reportedly offered a first-round bye. Former WEC Bantamweight Champion Chase Beebe has been confirmed as well as the always tough Takafumi Otsuka. Two world-class fighters and a gatekeeper have already been confirmed for the tournament, and while it's a nice start, I am hoping for more. 

I will offer a list of a few fighters I think should be included in the 16-man featherweight grand prix.

1. Urijah Faber — When talking about the best featherweight in the world, it always comes down to "Kid" Yamamoto or Urijah Faber. If Faber and Kid ever met, it would be one of the most anticipated fights in Japan's history.

2. Miguel Torres — The current WEC Bantamweight Champion seems to be an unstoppable force and is very well-rounded. He fights at 135, so a jump to featherweight should be just fine. I think Torres would be a favorite to win the grand prix if he was included. 

3. Jeff Curran — I think Curran's wrestling could give a lot of fighters fits in the grand prix. He is always a tough out and would make it very hard for whoever he fights to stay 100 percent throughout the tournament. 

4. Masakazu Imanari — Considering all the fighters I just mentioned are under contract for WEC, I think this could be the most likely addition. Imanari is pretty inconsistent, but when he is focused, he is one of the toughest competitors in the division, especially on the ground.

5. Joe Benavidez — Faber's protege was supposed to fight "Kid" last year until Yamamoto went down with an injury. This 9-0 prospect is the future of the division and would be a dark horse to take home the trophy. 

6. Yoshiro Maeda — How could you not put in the man who pushed Torres to the limit? He is a tough competitor and you know anytime he steps in the ring you are going to see a great fight. 

7. Rani Yahya — Yahya is a handful for any fighter when it goes to the mat. 11 of his 12 wins have come by submission and in a division full of strikers and wrestlers, that could be deadly.

8. Fredson Paixao — He hasn't fought in more than a year, but if anyone is better than Yahya on the ground it's this guy. Paixao has had a great career to this point at 8-2, but he hasn't fought since 2007. This would be a great way to get back in the mix. 

9. Mike Brown — The current WEC Featherweight Champion has been on a great run lately with an eight-fight win streak including victories over Yves Edwards, Jeff Curran and most recently Faber. He could ride his streak to the top of the featherweight world.

10. Jens Pulver — Yes, I just said he should consider retiring, and no, he couldn't win this grand prix. But he is the founding father of this division and it would be a shame not to see the legend compete. Give him a chance to pull off a Rocky type upset. 

Now, none of this will ever happen and I know that — that is why it is a dream. But if for one tournament only, promotions could ease up and let its fighters go abroad, this would be the tournament to make. I can always have a dream, but either way, the real DREAM should have a great grand prix.