Akiyama, Sakurai Added to DREAM.6

DREAM added Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama (11-1) Thursday to their event in Saitama, north of Tokyo, 23 September.

The zainichi judoka has been given a choice between three unnamed opponents, according to Japanese website SportsNav.

Akiyama returned from a seven-month layoff 21 July in Osaka to tap puroresu star Katsuyori Shibata (2-5).

Also added Thursday, welterweight “Mach” Hayato Sakurai (32-8-2) will fight UFC vet Kuniyoshi Hironaka (12-5), not Nick Diaz (18-7) as originally planned.

Sakurai tapped in a guillotine to Frenchman David Baron (16-2) in Tokyo 3 May, subsequently earning Baron a UFC contract.

Hironaka followed his 1-3 stint in the Octagon with a TKO of Motoki Miyazawa (4-1) in his DREAM debut in Osaka.

Former UFC welterweight “K-Taro” Keita Nakamura (14-3-2) will face Adriano Martins (9-3).

Nakamura ended his three-fight UFC run with a split decision loss to Robert Emerson (8-6) in Las Vegas 2 February, going 0-3 in the Octagon.

Brazilian Martins was kayoed by Roni Torres (13-1) in Amazonas in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest 7 April.

Japanese heroes “Minowaman” Ikuhisa Minowa (40-28-8) and Masakatsu Funaki (38-13-1) will battle.

“Minowaman” slayed another MMA god in Okayama 16 August when he tapped “Predator” Don Frye (19-7-1) in a kneebar.

Funaki has weathered a dismal return to MMA after seven-years’ absence, tapping in a Kimura to “Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1) and most recently TKO’d in 57 seconds by Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-2).