DREAM champion Marius Zaromskis meets Waachim Spiritwolf at Strikeforce Challengers 12

Current DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis has hit a rough patch in his mixed martial arts career.

After debuting in the Japanese promotion in early part of 2009, Marius was met with a lot of promise and hype–all for good reason. En route to capturing the vacant DREAM welterweight title, “The Whitemare” defeated the likes of former Shooto champion and perennial contender Hayato Sakurai and UFC/Affliction veteran Jason High. Both win’s came by impressive highlight reel head-kick knockout victories.

Was it a fluke? Definitely not.

Following his title run through the welterweight field, Zaromskis returned to a 170-pound non-title affair with Ho Bae Myeong, a prospect of South Korea. He lasted all but 19 seconds in the cage with Marius at DREAM 12 in October of last year, before being knocked into unconsciousness with a head kick.

Crashing his wave of hype in 2010 with two losses, the win over Myeong would be the last time Marius would record a victory to date.

Marius appeared twice this far for the Strikeforce promotion, initially debuting in the San Jose promotion against Nick Diaz, vying for the vacant welterweight title. After some heated exchanges back and forth on the feet, including a knockdown recorded by Zaromskis, Diaz was put his combination’s together, eventually recording a TKO victory in the waning moments of the first round.

The Lithuanian hoped to return to his winning ways when he meet with the proverbial journeyman in “Cyborg” Santos (not to be confused with Cristiane, but her husband). Santos, who had competed as high as light-heavyweight in his career, made his welterweight debut against Zaromskis at a Strikeforce event last June, and delivered. The Brazilian got the better of the exchanges early and often and was able to capitalize when a right hand connected that shuffled the feet of the DREAM champion. A few more blows, and Evangelista was declared the winner.

The loss to Santos marked the first time that the 30-year-old had suffered back-to-back defeats, but he hopes to bounce back big with a win over King of the Cage veteran, Waachim Spiritwolf–and yes, he’s Native American.

Spiritwolf is an adept striker as well, so this bout could either result in an impressive knockout victory for Marius, or another devastating loss in his career.

The bout will take place at Strikeforce Challenger’s 12 on Novemeber 19th, at the Jackson Convention Complex, in Jackson, Mississippi. Strikeforce recently announced the match up.