The “Cage of the Rising Sun” is now officially in the books. DREAM unveiled its white, hexagonal cage for the inaugural caged fight card in promotional history.

The implication of the event on the future of the promotion and Japanese MMA will unfold in the coming days, weeks, and months: For the time being, DREAM 12 delivered a fist full of action in Osaka-jo hall.

DEEP veteran, Tomoya Miyashita and fast-rising ZST prospect, Keisuke Fujiwara experienced a milestone moment as they became the first two fighters to step into the brand new cage.

Miyashita and Fujiwara kicked off the night with a fast-paced grappling action. In the first and second rounds, Miyashita scored the takedown and kept his foe on the ground, switching periodically to side control and half guard. Fujiwara kept Miyashita in check with upkicks when Miyashita postured up and defended well from submission attempts. In between positional transitions, Miyashita flattened Fujiwara with knee kick on the ground.

The third round proceeded in a similar fashion until Fujiwara locked in a tight triangle choke with two minutes left – he seemingly turned the table the most emphatic finishing attempt in the fight. Much to his dismay, he ultimately fell short as Miyashita survived and took a unanimous decision victory.

In the second fight of the night, UFC veteran and Cage Force lightweight champion, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, squared off with the Korean prospect, Won Sik park.

Hironaka had his takedown attempt stuffed while he and Park tested the water on the feet throughout the first round. Park started to find his rhythm toward the end of the round, countering Hironaka’s leg kicks with quick jabs. He landed a stiff counter with right hand and a punishing knee to the body as Hironaka back pedaled to the cage.

The round ended with Park’s taking rein of the stand-up exchange. Then, in a puzzling turn of event, Park’s corner threw in a towel, forcing the bout to end with an anticlimactic TKO victory for Hironaka. It appeared that Park sustained an eye injury that has rendered him unable to continue.

Yoshiro Maeda emerged triumphantly in a “survival match” between two fighters in desperate need for an emphatic victory.

Maeda opened the first round with stinging punch-kick combos. He used the nimble movement he has honed from his days as a ping pong whiz in secondary school to piece together multiple-punch combos followed by a kick. Beebe failed to capitalize on his lone takedown as Maeda got back to the feet with the aid of the cage. Maeda then returned fire with a takedown of his own – he pushed Beebe toward the cage and postured up to rain down hard punches. Then, in one swift transition, he took Beebe’s back and sank in a tight rear naked choke.

The jubilant Maeda expressed his gratitude to the hometown crowd and appealed for his slot in the New Year’s Eve Dynamite! Show.

On the other hand, former WEC bantamweight champion, Beebe, continues to be plagued by the recent spell of losses and mishaps: He has lost his fifth straight bout, including his controversial split decision loss to Mike Easton at UWC that was recently overturned to No Contest.

To the delight of the citizens of the Dong-bar nation, Korean judoka Dong Sik Yoon snapped his three-fight losing streak by edging out Team Quest prospect, Tarec Saffiedine. Saffiedine, a last-minute replacement for Paulo Filho whose whereabouts remains unknown, controlled the first round with crisp strikes on the feet. After repeatedly stuffing Yoon’s takedown and holding his own in the clinch, he maintained his momentum to begin the second round.

Finally securing a single-leg takedown, Yoon initially struggled to advance the action from the half-guard. After a scramble, Yoon took the back and worked for a twister. In the most thrilling portion of the fight, Yoon threatened to cork Saffiedine’s neck off with neck crank and rear naked choke attempts and ended the second round with a barrage of punches from the back mount.

After a lackluster third round, Yoon walked away with a split decision victory.

In the showdown between two pro wrestlers, Katsuyori Shibata faced his pro wrestling idol, Tokimitsu Ishizawa.

In an action-packed round, both fighters kept busy with a spirited albeit ungainly punching exchange. Shibata landed a left hook flush on Ishizawa’s chin with thirty seconds left and followed up with a flurry of pound to finish off his opponent.

Japanese MMA demigod, Kazushi Sakuraba returned for the second time this month and earned another quick submission victory — this time against Croatian striker, Zelg Galesic.

After circling around briefly to kick off the first round, Sakuraba changed level to grab Galesic’s ankle for a takedown and immediately transitioned into a heel hook and then Achilles lock. Galesic showed a flash of his grappling prowess to wriggled free and reverse position. Sakuraba persists and works for toe hold but Galesic pounds away from the back. Galesic remained relentless with the punches; with his face badly swollen, Sakuraba snuck a knee bar. Galesic grimaced in pain and tapped out, sending the crowd at Osaka-jo hall into elation over Sakuraba’s victory.

DREAM Welterweight champion, Marius Zaromskis again demonstrated the dynamic striking prowess that took him to the apex in the DREAM welterweight grand prix.

In a non-title bout against Myeon Ho Bae, he kicked off the round with a hyper-acrobatic jump kick. After absorbing a left hand counter from Bae, he backed away and several seconds later, unleashed a lightening quick left head kick to shut off Bae’s light — another stunning high kick KO and déjà vu from his recent past.

DREAM lightweight grand prix semifinalist and Bellator FC champion, Eddie Alvarez showed his trademark grit and unveiled another glimpse of his continuous evolution into a formidable fighter.

In the semi-final event of the night, Alvarez found himself in trouble early as a botched takedown attempt trapped him in Kikuno’s standing crucifix. Seemingly wilted from escaping the submission, Alvarez looked more sluggish than usual throughout the first round, as he landed several swinging hooks but absorbed his opponent’s hard body kicks. In the second round, the back-and-forth action continued with both fighters connecting in a striking exchange. As the action started to slow, Alvarez passed Kikuno’s guard on the ground and locked in an arm-triangle choke, forcing Kikuno to tap.

With the victory, Alvarez improved to 19-2, continued to cement his status as a top flight lightweight, and notched the fourth consecutive submission victory.

In the final event of the night, Overeem continued his winning streak amidst his trek outside Strikeforce. His opponent, James Thompson suffered his fifth straight defeat and continued his devolution into a curious relic from the Pride FC era.

Thompson kicked off the round with his trademark “gong rush.” Not falling into his same old trick, Overeem moved out of the way, and seconds later, launched a flying knee kick that almost vaulted him over the cage wall. After several clumsy attempts at landing punches and takedowns, Thompson got trapped in Overeem’s standing guillotine choke: A quick and unsurprising victory for the Strikeforce Heavyweight champion came at 0:32 of round one.