Written by Lyman Hoyt
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Saturday, November 29 2008
Joachim Hansen postures up to pound Shinya Aoki. His New Years' Eve fight against JZ Calvan should produce fireworks (Photo: Susumu Nagao)
For hardcore MMA fans, the worst thing to come out of the demise of EliteXC was the cancellation of their November card featuring a match between Nick Diaz and Eddie Alverez to fill the vacant lightweight title, most recently held by KJ Noons. It was one of those rare bouts that had “fight of the year” written all over it and while it didn’t get the press that the newly unemployed Kimbo Slice did it was easily the most significant collateral damage from the demise of Pro Elite and its MMA promotional arm.
Despite the cancelation of Alverez/Diaz, MMA fans have been given another all but certain epic confrontation to enjoy during the upcoming holiday season. DREAM has scheduled a non-title matchup between reigning lightweight champion Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen and former K1-Hero’s middleweight king Gesias Cavalcante, who is known as “JZ Calvan” in Japan for somewhat inexplicable reasons. This is a matchup that could potentially surpass the scrapped EliteXC lightweight title match for excitement and intensity.
JZ Calvan figured significantly in the very dramatic DREAM lightweight Grand Prix tournament even though he didn’t make it out of the first round. Calvan faced one of the tournament favorites, Shinya Aoki, in the opening round of the event at DREAM 1 on March 15, 2008. He appeared to be on the way to victory, dominating with his superior strength until he landed a couple of elbow strikes to the back of Aoki’s head. The referee ruled that these strikes were illegal, and when Aoki couldn’t continue the fight was ruled a “no contest”.
Aoki suffered a concussion from the aforementioned elbow strikes, and DREAM decided to give him time to recover and schedule a rematch for the second DREAM event on April 29th. In that bout after a good start, Aoki took over and began to put on a trademark submission clinic. Calvan was able to fend off his submission efforts, but would end up losing by unanimous decision. Despite some controversy surrounding whether his DREAM 1 elbow strikes were indeed illegal, Calvan more or less accepted the loss and returned to Brazil.
Joachim Hansen’s journey through the DREAM tournament was no less dramatic but ultimately more successful. He had no problem with his first round opponent, Kouetsu Boku, and advanced to the 2nd round of the tournament where he was matched against highly regarded American Eddie Alverez. Alverez and Hansen went toe to toe in a battle that many pundits consider to be the “fight of the year”. Ultimately, Alverez would win a unanimous decision victory and advance to semifinals of the lightweight GP.
The tournament semifinals and finals were scheduled for DREAM 5 on July 21st, with Alverez slated to meet Tatsuya Kawajiri. Hansen was also on the card, in a “reserve match” against “The Black Mamba” Kultar Gill. Alverez defeated Kawajiri by first round TKO, and Hansen easily dispatched with Gill via a quick submission. Alverez was through to the finals against Shinya Aoki, when fate would intervene.
Alverez had suffered a cut and eye injury during his win over Kawajiri, which began to swell severely as the evening progressed. As the time for the final battle with Aoki drew near, it became apparent that Alverez would be putting his vision at severe risk by participating and he was ruled medically unable to continue. Though he was obviously disappointed by this turn of events, he was pleased that taking his place would be the man he defeated in the epic quarterfinal struggle, Joachim Hansen.
Hansen would make quick work of Aoki after the Japanese submission machine tried to set up a move to end the match and wasn’t able to make it work. Hansen found himself in full mount and pounded the helpless Aoki until the referee stopped the contest and awarded him the TKO victory and the DREAM lightweight title.
Some Japanese fight observers have questioned why Calvan is getting the first shot at Hansen, as well as the fight’s non-title status. They rightfully argue that several fighters more deserve a match versus Hansen, most definitely Alverez and Aoki. “Office politics” aside, however, this should be a great fight. On paper, JZ Calvan is definitely the more technically proficient of the two and brings to the bout a more impressive resume. With a career record of 14-2, he has only lost to Aoki and to none other than Joachim Hansen via majority decision at a 2004 Shooto event.
Hansen, meanwhile, doesn’t have the fluency in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that his opponent possesses. Hansen’s background is in submission wrestling and while his submissions may not be as technically adept as Calvan’s they are definitely effective. Hansen’s career record is 19-7 and since a couple of sketchy losses early in his career he’s only been defeated by top level competition including Alverez, Aoki, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Tatsuya Kawajiri and the reigning Sengoku lightweight champion Eiji Mitsuoka.
Twelve of JZC’s victories are by KO or submission, while Hansen’s wins include 9 decisions, 7 KO’s and 3 submissions. Both of Calvan’s losses were via decision, and of Hansen’s 5 later career losses listed above 3 were via decision, 1 via DQ and 1 via submission to a Shinya Aoki
gogoplata at PRIDE Shockwave 2006. Hansen does have a 3” height advantage, though Calvan may be the more physically powerful fighter.
In theory, Hansen’s best chance for a victory is by KO as it is difficult to envision a scenario where he’d be able to submit or decision his technically more adept and generally “slicker” opponent. The problem with that is that he’ll have to knock out an opponent that’s never been knocked out, which is always a dicey proposition. JZC’s best chance is to win by submission, though Hansen is very good at submission defense despite his lack of a BJJ pedigree. Calvan’s fighting style and record also suggests that he’d most likely prevail in a fight that goes the distance.
While those scenarios would suggest that JZC should be favored to defeat Hansen, it’s important to remember that he’s called “Hellboy” for a reason. Hansen may be the overall toughest competitor at the weight class, while despite his glossy record JZC has shown some minor issues with focus at various points in his career. In the always important mental aspect of the fight, Hansen almost certainly holds a significant advantage.
In other words, this bout is essentially a tossup and one in which either man could win. Both have an aggressive, offensively oriented style and with no title at stake there’s no reason for either man to approach this battle with a tactical, measured approach. No matter who wins, the fight should be epic and reason alone to stay up all night to catch the DREAM/K-1 New Years’ “Dynamite” show live.
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