Akiyama Bails on DREAM Grand Prix

Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) has pulled out of 29 April’s DREAM.2 Middleweight Grand Prix in Tokyo.

The judoka re-injured a nasal fracture originally suffered in a New Year’s Eve No Contest with “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (19-8-2).

At a press conference in Tokyo Monday, DREAM’s producer Keiichi Sashahara announced, “Even a slight blow will cause such heavy bleeding that will have every doctor stop the fight.”

Though DREAM continues to list an opening round Grand Prix match-up between Fighters.com’s seventh-ranked 185-pounder “Twinkle Toes” Frank Trigg (16-6) and “Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (7-1), Trigg denied to MMA Junkie that he’s agreed fight for DREAM.

With both Fighters.com top ten middleweights pulled from the Grand Prix, the favorite to win is Canadian Denis Kang (29-9-1); but, Kang is 1-2 in his last three fights.  In the first round, he battles surging Armenian Gegard Mousasi (20-2-1), who has won seven straight.