The Weekly Wrap: March 20 - March 26

Dream 13

In the main event of Dream’s first event of 2010, Bibiano Fernandes made a successful first defense of the promotion’s featherweight (139-pound) championship, while Josh Barnett and K.J. Noons made successful returns after extended hiatuses from the sport.

Fernandes took a split decision over former lightweight titleholder Joachim Hansen, who cut from a 152-pound weight limit to a 139-pound threshold. The cut seemed to affect Hansen’s power and left him looking a bit skeletal in the ring. Fernandes hit three takedowns in the first round but could not prevent Hansen from getting to his feet. Fernandes had more trouble getting the fight horizontal in the second and ate a stiff Hansen uppercut, but he still produced enough offense to sway two judges. All was not lost for Hansen, however, as EA Sports announced he will be featured as a character in its upcoming “MMA” video game. Barnett was also announced as a character in the game.

Dream 13 took place before an announced 13,712 fans on March 21 in Yokohama, Japan. The event aired live on HDNet but not in primetime in Japan. The card aired in an edited format at 2 a.m. on March 22 on Tokyo Broadcasting System. Because of the weak time slot, the card did not feature much star power and was one of the leaner offerings to date from the leading Japanese MMA league.

The card featured a particular emphasis on the burgeoning Strikeforce vs. Dream rivalry and included several mentions of the April 17 fight in Nasvhille, Tenn., between Shinya Aoki and Gilbert Melendez. Videos played featuring a host of fighters from both organizations with the tagline “Dream vs. Strikeforce: Raise Your Flag.”

Barnett saw action for the first time since failing a steroid test last year, killing his August fight with Fedor Emelianenko. The former UFC heavyweight champion submitted Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga in the first round when the kickboxer tapped as Barnett was lining up a kimura. It took a long time to get to the finish, as Barnett, wearing wrestling shoes, booted Siliga hard in the groin, a blow that required no less than 15 minutes from which to recover. When Siliga did recover, Barnett immediately took the fight down and went for the submission. Barnett was apologetic for the groin shot, even offering Siliga the chance to punt him playfully in the crotch following the fight.

The promotion kept framing Alistair Overeem as next for Barnett, though Overeem has a K-1 kickboxing match on April 3 and an MMA fight against Brett Rogers in Strikeforce on May 15. A video played during the broadcast said both Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia turned down a fight with Barnett.

Also at Dream 13, Noons, the former EliteXC lightweight champion, saw MMA action for the first time since June 2008. Working on what he thought to be a broken foot suffered in training, Noons stood flat-footed but outboxed Andre “Dida” Amado, landing several hooks to the body en route to notching a unanimous decision. Top Dream lightweight contender Tatsuya Kawajiri was talked about as a potential future opponent for Noons. Another stateside notable, Cole Escovedo, put himself into consideration for “Knockout of the Year” by landing a left switch kick that caught Yoshiro Maeda across the jaw and left him stiff-legged.

Also picking up wins at Dream 13 were Ikuhisa Minowa (second-round ankle lock submission over Jimmy Amrbiz), Katsunori Kikuno (first-round TKO over Kunioyshi Hironaka) and Ryo Chonan (unanimous decision over Andrews Nakahara)

During the HDNet broadcast, Dream 14 was announced as taking place in South Korea, expected on April 24, but the Korean MMA site mfight.co.kr reported that the event has been cancelled. XTM, the network that airs Dream fights in South Korea, has made a decision not to renew the contract. The network has a deal to air UFC fights that also has not been renewed, according to the Wrestling Observer.