The FEG officially added two more DREAM-rules bouts Wednesday to their New Year’s Eve Dynamite!! card. Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked lightweight “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (15-3) will face third-ranked Eddie Alvarez (13-1), and heavyweight Mark Hunt (5-2) will face Jerome LeBanner (4-1-1). A fight with Aoki had been offered to fifth-ranked middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-2), but he decided not to fight at all NYE. "I'm tired of negotiating with [Akiyama]," said FEG executive Sadaharu Tanikawa. "He doesn't understand what fans expect from him and his position.  I don't know the reason why he turned down the offer.  I'm very disappointed in him." ...

DREAM heavyweight "Cro Cop" Mirko Filipovic's (23-6-2) match-up versus "Geronimo" Jerome LeBanner (3-1-1) has been rescheduled to 21 July's DREAM.5 card, according to Cro Cop in an interview published at Nokaut. The bout was originally scheduled for DREAM.4 on 16 June. Croatian news site Javno reports Cro Cop has been spotted in Zagreb wearing a brace on one of his legs. Cro Cop described it as a "special bandage" to Nokaut and explained, "I suffered a minor leg injury last week, but it doesn't affect my trainings.  During a wrestling session, I slipped and felt pain in my left knee, but the medical exams have confirmed that no damage was done." Cro Cop's left leg delivers the infamous high kick Filipovic has ominously described as a sentence to the "cemetery". ...

"Cro Cop" Mirko Filipovic (23-6-2) will return to the ring versus K-1 kickboxer "Geronimo" Jerome LeBanner (3-1-1) at DREAM.4 16 June in Tokyo, reported Cro Cop's sponsor MMA-ID today. The Croation and Frenchman tangled under K-1 rules 12 years ago, making the match-up a rematch of sorts. "Cro Cop" eked out a "W" by five-round unanimous decision in 1996 and is favored under MMA rules due to his experience. LeBanner has taken a two-year hiatus from MMA since knocking out "The Titan" Jimmy Ambriz (11-9-1) in K-1 Hero's. "Geronimo's" only loss was by submission to Tadao Yasuda (2-4) in LeBanner's 2001 MMA debut. The prolific kickboxer owns 73 wins against 14 losses in kickboxing. Filipovic comes off 56-second KO of Tatsuya Mizuno (3-3) at DREAM.1. ...