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Keiichi Sasahara DREAM Event Producer
This is the last DREAM of the year so looking back I can say it's been an eventful year.
There were some great fights and great moments and being able to maintain the show over the past year is thanks to the fans and the press and the staff.
I appreciate your hard work in getting us through this year.
About DREAM 12, it was the first cage event and I was worried that the cage might break or something,
but there were no accidents and all the fights ended successfully so I can relax now.
There are several reactions to the cage like it's hard to see. Now that we've done it, I have to say...it's hard to see.
But we tried our best to make it easier to see and we created a new Japanese cage different from all the others.
Now that we've done it, I see why rings are superior.
The superiority, the flexibility, and the viewability of rings.
Instead of an American cage, we took the best things about the ring and the cage and put them together.
In the end, it's up to the fans. The event itself seemed covered by a gloom up until the intermission.
After that, things speeded up and we had a fitting end to this year's series.
I was disappointed by the Kikuno match. The top 4 are only separated by a hair's width of a margin.
It's that margin that separates the world.
It's Kikuno's first loss, but I hope he hangs on like Hayato Satsuma.
We can expect good things from him.
I thought Zaromsky wouldn't be able to win by highkick KO three times in a row.
But even though his opponent knew it was coming, he still got the KO.
Even after becoming champion, he doesn't change his fight style. That's amazing.
Usually you focus more on defense, but to win with your own style is just amazing.
Maeda won in his hometown with an ippon. I really felt his elation.
He said that it was a live or die situation and here he is - alive!
I have no words when it comes to Sakuraba. He's strong and just fantastic.
The whole crowd is putty in his hands. He has saved an event many a time in the past and he saved this one too.
After the fight, Shibata put him on his shoulders and it reminded me of UFC-J.
12 years ago Sakuraba carried his elder Anjo on his shoulders and now history repeats itself with Shibata carrying Sakuraba. A very emotional scene.
-- Sakuraba went to the hospital. Is he okay?
We don't know yet. He went straight to the hospital without talking to anyone.
He probably doesn't require an intense examination, but we'll know more tomorrow.
-- It doesn't seem too severe?
Right.
-- Recently Sakuraba has been fighting wrestlers, but after fighting Benkei will he be ranked high among middleweights?
Well this was a test of a 40-year old man's power and his strength pulled him through.
I don't know what fights we will have for him in the future, but this fight was definitely something to think about.
-- Should the fight have been stopped?
I thought so too, but he kept holding on to the leg and that's why I think the referee didn't stop it.
-- Alistair says he wants to fight Fedor.
That would be great. That's a fight I really want to see.
I thought in the main event, Alistair would win by choking, and he won the way he did because he is Alistair.
It's not an easy fight to get together, but it's a fight I'd like to see.
I'll do what I can to make it happen in the near future.
-- After the intermission you showed Sakuraba in the video, but what are your plans for him on New Year's?
We'll have to see about the injury first.
That is just a possible preview. We'll know more tomorrow.
-- Kawajiri challenged Aoki as you know.
Tomorrow at K-1 WORLD MAX, that card and Masato's card will be decided.
MAX, WGP, and DREAM fighters will be in the event, so we have to look at the whole thing as we put it together.
Right now I can't say for sure that they will fight.