Nick Diaz continued his recent dominance last night with a first-round submission of Hayato “Mach” Sakurai in the main event of DREAM.14 in Saitama, Japan.
The event aired on television in the United States on HDNet.
Sakurai was largely effective when the fight remained standing, but Diaz began to get the better of strike exchanges near the end of the first round. Sakurai scored a takedown, but Diaz immediately secured an armbar for the submission win.
Diaz may have to return to Japan for his next fight; he’s awaiting word from the Tennessee Athletic Commission as to whether hiis suspension stemming from the “Strikeforce: Nashville” brawl will be reduced. The victory over Sakurai was his seventh in a row.
In the co-main event of the evening, Ralek Gracie dominated the man known as “the Gracie Hunter,” Kakushi Sakuraba, over the course of the entire fight, scoring a unanimous decision. Sakuraba showed plenty of heart, but his aging body won’t let him compete in mixed martial arts anymore.
DREAM officials also announced that Shinya Aoki will defend his DREAM lightweight championship against Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM.15.
Complete results:
Nick Diaz def. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai
Ralek Gracie def. Kazushi Sakuraba
Hiroyuki Takaya def. Joachim Hansen
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto def. Federico Lopez
Akiyo Nishiura def. Hideo Tokoro
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Takafumi Otsuka
Kenji Osawa def. Yoshiro Maeda
Ikuhisa Minowa def. Imani Lee via submission