DREAM 5 News: Joachim Hansen Wins Lightweight Grand Prix

You might be thinking how did Joachim Hansen win the lightweight Grand Prix.  He was eliminated in the quarter finals in a fight of the year candidate with Eddie Alvarez.  Follow along this post as I recap DREAM 5. 

Quick Results:

Lightweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals

Shinya Aoki def. Caol Uno via Decision (Unanimous)
Eddie Alvarez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO (Punches), R1 – 7:35

 

Joachim Hansen def. Kultar Gill via Submission (Armbar), R1 – 2:33

Joseph Benavidez def. Junya Kudo via Submission (Guillotine Choke), R1 – 2:42

Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Motoki Miyazawa via TKO (Cut), R1 – 8:57

Hideo Tokoro def. Takeshi Yamazaki via Decision (Unanimous)

Daisuke Nakamura def. Andy Ologun via Submission (Armbar), R1 – 3:41

Yoshihiro Akiyama def. Katsuyori Shibata via Technical Submission (Gi Choke), R1 – 6:34

Alistair Overeem def. Mark Hunt via Submission (Keylock), R1 – 1:11

 

Lightweight Grand Prix Finals

Joachim Hansen def. Shinya Aoki via TKO (Punches), R1 – 4:19

Here is what happened.  Shinya Aoki and Caol Uno fought very well and the fight was very close, but Shinya Aoki pulled off the unanimous decision win placing him in the finals.  The second bout featured Eddie Alvarez and Tatsuya Kawajiri.  This fight was back and forth also and was a stand up war.  However, Alvarez was able to TKO Kawajiri in the first round.  The finals were set up to be Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez.  That is what I predicted for the final and what many people predicted.  The problem is a cut on Alvarez’s eye caused his eye to be swell shut and a doctor forced him to withdraw.  The question then is what was going to happen.  It just so happened that Joachim Hansen had been placed on the card just in case.  Hansen had won his earlier fight with Kultar Gill that night and he was tapped to replace Alvarez in the finals against Aoki.  So, the finals were set.  Hansen seized the opportunity and won by TKO in round 1 to become the first ever DREAM lightweight champion.  He stated he would like to defend his title first against Eddie Alvarez.  DREAM has some contenders at lightweight!  Eddie Alvarez, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Caol Uno, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Gesias Calvancante, Luiz Firmino, Katsuhiko Nagata, and Andre “Dida” Amade.

The losing LWGP semifinalists were awarded ¥1,000,000 (about $9,400).
Aoki received ¥3,000,000 ($28,000), and Hansen ¥10,000,000 ($94,000).
(These bonuses are in addition to their fight purses.)