DREAM 8 will take place Sunday, April 5, at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan. The event will feature eight fighters competing in the first round of a welterweight (75.9kg/166.9lbs) tournament, one featherweight tournament match, and five non-tournament bouts.
Headlining the card as part of the welterweight tournament will be fan favorite, Shinya Aoki, taking on one of the sport’s legends, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai. Also part of the welterweight grand prix will be Xtreme Couture’s John Alessio taking on two-time world BJJ champion, Andre Galvao.
In non-tournament bouts, Jeff “The Snowman” Monson (28-8) will take on Sergey Kharitonov (16-3) in a heavyweight showdown. The Russia born Kharitonov is a well-rounded PRIDE FC veteran with notable wins over Alistair Overeem, Pedro Rizzo, Fabricio Werdum, Sammy Schilt, and Murilo Rua, to name a few.
Kharitonov has let his fights go to the judges only twice in his professional MMA career. Monson has been known as a fighter who tends to grind out decisions on occasion. If Kharitonov has anything to say about it, and fortunately for fans, this is one fight “the Anarchist” most likely will not be sending to the cards.
DREAM 8 weigh-in results:
Welterweight GP Round 1:
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai 75.9kg/166.9lbs.
Shinya Aoki 73.5kg/161.7lbs.
Yuya Shirai 75.7kg/166.5lbs.
Jason High 75.9kg/166.9lbs.
Marius Zaromskis 75.5kg/166.1lbs.
Seichi Ikemoto 75.7kg/166.5lbs.
John Alessio 76.0kg/167.2lbs.
Andre Galvao 76.0kg/167.2lbs.
Featherweight GP Round 1:
Hideo Tokoro 62.3kg/137.06lbs.
Daiki “DJ Taiki” Hata 63.0kg/138.6lbs.
Non-GP Fights:
Heavyweight:
Sergey Kharitonov 116.5kg/256.3lbs.
Jeff Monson 110.0kg/242.llbs.
Catchweight (89kg/195.8lbs):
Riki Fukuda 88.8kg/195.3lbs.
Murilo “Ninja” Rua 88.0kg/193.6lbs.
Lightweight:
Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro 69.7kg/153.3lbs.
Katsuhiko Nagata 70.0kg/154.0lbs.
Middleweight:
Andrews Nakahara 85.0kg/187lbs.
Shungo Oyama 85.7kg/188.5lbs.
88kg/193.6lbs:
Katsuyori Shibata 86.2 kg/189.6lbs.
Ikuhisa Minowa 87.0 kg/191.4lbs
Although DREAM 8 will begin at approximately 2:00am CT/12:00am PT early Sunday morning, we here at PRO MMA (promma.info) will be providing LIVE round by round updates of all the action. PRO MMA (promma.info) is committed to bring you, the readers, the best possible MMA coverage 24/7.