By Zach Arnold

Joseph Benavidez is probably not a name that is too familiar to MMA fans. However, after this Monday’s DREAM 5 event at Osaka Castle Hall, his level of fame will certainly pick up.

Benavidez, at age 23, faces a monstrous challenge in the form of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. Yamamoto is being groomed as the ‘ace’ of DREAM’s new featherweight division. The Japanese storyline going into the fight is that Benavidez is a student of WEC Featherweight champion Urijah Faber. Therefore, the Japanese naturally are marketing the fight as “Kid vs. student of Faber,” with future hopes of having Kid and Faber square off against each other.

Benavidez trains with Faber in Sacramento at Ultimate Fitness. Originally hailing from Las Cruces, New Mexico, Benavidez has made a name for himself in the Western MMA circuit (primarily in Palace FC). He’s a tough amateur wrestler and has been training with some of the best fighters in the world, but stepping up to face Kid Yamamoto is by far the biggest challenge ever for the 23-year old fighter.

Faber recently told the Las Cruces Sun-News paper that he thinks Benavidez can hang with Yamamoto.

“The difference between Joseph and “Kid’ is the amount of money and exposure that they have put into “Kid’ is off the charts while Joseph started off in under cards in New Mexico.”

It’s a fascinating fight for several reasons, besides the obvious fact that it should be very entertaining and competitive. The fight represents the typical kind of K-1 thinking when it comes to booking native Japanese stars against relatively unknown foreigners that they haven’t marketed or built up yet. The end result usually is either the Japanese fighter wins in a squash or the fight is much tougher than expected and fans are left scratching their heads as to why the outcome was the way it happened. Remember, the Japanese audience that will be watching the DREAM 5 event this Monday in ‘golden time’ (prime time) on Tokyo Broadcasting System has no clue who Benavidez is. However, they sure know who Kid Yamamoto is.

To his credit, Benavidez has gotten some press coverage of his own. News10 in Sacramento (the city’s popular ABC affiliate) did a profile story on him and other Sacramento MMA fighters who are being booked in other promotions. Who knew that Sacramento would turn out to be an MMA hotbed?

In addition of Yamamoto/Benavidez, the show is centered around the semi-finals and finals of the promotion’s Lightweight GP tournament. Shin’ya Aoki will face Kaoru Uno and Eddie Alvarez takes on Tatsuya Kawajiri. Joachim Hansen faces Black Mamba in a ‘reserve match’ to determine a replacement should one of the two tournament finalists gets hurt.

Let’s take a look at the sportsbook odds for the Lightweight GP matches:

Lightweight GP: Shin’ya Aoki vs. Kaoru Uno
Bodoglife: Aoki (-330) vs. Uno (+260)
BetUS: Aoki (-350) vs. Uno (+250)

Lightweight GP: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Eddie Alvarez
Bodoglife: Kawajiri (-145) vs. Alvarez (+115)
BetUS: Kawajiri (-125) vs. Alvarez (-105)

Aoki is heavily favored to win his fight against Uno, and the smart money suggests that Aoki will win by decision. Kawajiri vs. Alvarez is a toss-up, despite the fact that the oddsmakers like Kawajiri to win. Alvarez is a beast in the ring and will certainly give Kawajiri a run for his money with his good wrestling skills.

If the finals end up being Aoki vs. Kawajiri, this could be an upset in the making due to Kawajiri’s raw strength. Aoki can be pushed around (see his first fight against JZ Calvan). Sure, common wisdom says that Aoki will win the tournament and probably have a third match against Calvan on New Year’s Eve. So, let’s look at the odds for who the sportsbooks think will win the tournament:

Bodoglife: Aoki (5/4), Kawajiri (3/2), Alvarez (7/2), Uno (15/2), The Field (not listed – 5/1)

Out of these choices, if you’re a gambling fool then obviously Alvarez is the most tempting choice to put your money on. Aoki, obviously, is chalk, and Kawajiri being very close behind suggests that there are some people who are not too confident of Aoki beating Kawajiri.

Also on the DREAM 5 show is a brutal mismatch involving Yoshihiro Akiyama against Katsuyori Shibata in the Middleweight division. I don’t know if a state athletic commission would allow this fight to take place, since it seems so blatantly obvious who this fight is geared for in terms of winning and losing. The only thing more boring than having to watch this beating are the prospects of Akiyama vs. Masakatsu Funaki on NYE. Spare me.

Kuniyoshi Hironaka, coming off of his UFC run, will face Motoki Miyazawa. It’s Judo & BJJ vs. Judo and Miyazawa is nearly nine years younger than his opponent. Miyazawa is a Keishukai fighter (Tokyo) from GCM, so he should be in good condition for the fight. Hironaka, due to his experience in UFC, should win this fight. Should.

Hideo Tokoro, K-1’s most marketable and favorite ‘freeter’, was set to face submission specialist Takeshi Yamazaki. However, Tokoro suffered minor injuries in a car accident recently after he got rear-ended. The fight is touch-and-go as to whether or not it will happen. With that said, if Tokoro can fight, he should win, which would set up a match between Tokoro and Kid Yamamoto on NYE (as Jordan Breen of Sherdog.com suggested last month in an article on this site).