DEEP 155-pound champion Katsunori Kikuno, who has recently made residence with the budding Japanese organization in DREAM, will be returning to action come this May when he will be taking on PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran, Daisuke Nakamura.

The event in question, DREAM 17, will be the organization’s first foray back into the fighting world since their last event in December of last year, “Dynamite!! 2010″. Since then, however, Japan (the organization’s base country) has since been ravaged by several natural disasters which have left the country in ruins with damages totaling in the billions.

The event will coincide with several charities which will help benefit the relief efforts in trying to salvage and rebuild the “land of the rising sun”.

Kikuno, 2-2 in DREAM, will be returning to action following a majority decision win over Nobuhiro Obiya under the DEEP banner. Katsunori was able to make a successful title defense of his lightweight strap–his first title defense since becoming champion in April of 2009. The victory helped the Karate fighter bounce back from a decision loss to current Strikeforce fighter in Gesias Cavalcante, better known as “JZ”.

Nakamura, meanwhile, will be looking for his fourth-straight win in his next outing with Kikuno. Daisuke began the new streak following back-to-back losses against Naoyuki Kotani and Justin Wilcox. The bout with Wilcox took place in Daisuke’s lone appearance under the Strikeforce banner in December of 2009. In his last match, Daisuke, 30, pulled off an impressive second-round submission over fellow countryman, Toshikazu Iseno. The bout took place at “Deep 51: Impact” last December, where Daisuke managed to pull out a flying arm bar out of his bag of tricks—it’s a sort of “go to” move for the dynamic Japanese star.

DREAM 17 takes place at the Super Saitama Hall in Saitama, Japan on May 29th.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the match-up? Do you favor the wily grappler or the dynamic striker in Kikuno, who’s Karate background provides him with a “different” style of strikes. Sound off in the comment section below.

“Gracie Hunter” takes the short-notice fight coming off two losses, most recently a unanimous decision to Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-2) at K-1 Dynamite!! on New Year’s Eve last year. Fighters.com anticipates DREAM will throw Saku’ some red meat at DREAM.11 to tune him up for another New Year’s Eve cameo.

Added to DREAM.12 in Osaka October 25, former WEC bantamweight title challenger “Rage” Chase Beebe (11-4) will fight fellow former WEC challenger Yoshiro Maeda (24-7-2).

Beebe lost his Japanese debut when the doctor stopped his fight versus Joe Warren (2-0) at DREAM.7 in Tokyo March 8.

Maeda won on disqualification when Kleber Koike (0-1) kicked him in the groin at DEEP in Osaka August 30.

Lightweight Daisuke Nakamura (18-9) has been rescheduled to fight at DREAM.12 after his opponent, “JZ” Gesias Cavalcante (12-2-1), withdrew from their DREAM.11 contest with an injury.

Both DREAM.11 and DREAM.12 will be broadcast on HDNet in North America.

Also, “Beast” Bob Sapp (10-5-1) was officially announced as the replacement for injured “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1) versus “African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (6-4) in the Super Hulk tournament and “JZ” Gesias Cavalcante (12-2-1) was officially withdrawn due to injury from his matchup versus Daisuke Nakamura (18-9).  Both moves had been expected.

Japanese favorite Kawajiri won a three-round UD over Cavalcante at DREAM 9 in Yokohama May 26, so it must be time to let him beat a gaijin mercilessly for the fans.  Chosen gaijin beating-taker Manibusan hasn’t fought since November 2006 when he was TKO’d by Artur Oumakhanov (2-1) at Draka 2006 in Khabarovsk, Russia.

Sapp gave up due to a barrage of punches from Bobby Lashley (4-0) at Fight Force International in Biloxi June 27 and was hoisted from the Super Hulk tournament in the first round by “Minowaman” Ikuhisa Minowa (40-28-8) at DREAM 9.  Sokoudjou beat “Giant” Jan Norte (2-6) at the same event.

DREAM is searching for a replacement for Cavalcante versus Nakamura.  Perhaps Manibusan has a mate at the pub in Russia he’s been drinking at for the last three years who’ll volunteer for the beating and a weekend in Yokohama?

Lawal had crouched low out of his corner; and, Kerr threw a low kick. Lawal caught Kerr’s low kick and dumped Kerr on his stomach, beginning the onslaught of punches that ended the fight.

For Lawal, the “W” is Pyrrhic as the talented light heavyweight wastes time versus opponents, like Kerr, who don’t develop his talent.

French middleweight “Psycho” Karl Amoussou (12-2-1) dominated late replacement for “Goat” Nick Thompson (38-11-1), American wrestler John Doyle (7-8), tapping Doyle in a rear naked choke at 3:15 of round one. Amassou tripped Doyle to the ground with a hard leg kick to start the fight; but, Doyle hugged Amoussou’s leg and crawled into the Frenchman’s full guard. Amoussou swept into full mount and tagged Doyle’s head with punches as Doyle went into the desperation roll, back-to-stomach, back-to-stomach. One roll too many and Doyle found himself wrapped in Amoussou’s rear naked choke.

Middleweight “Spartan” Lucio Linhares (12-3) avenged his loss to Mikhail Zayats (8-4) when he tapped him in a rear naked choke at 1:00 of round one. Linhares staggered Zayats with a right hook to the ear. Zayats crumbled; and, Linhares pounced into the choke hold to end the fight.

Lightweight Daisuke Nakamura (18-9) defeated Frenchman “Hurricane” Ferrid Kheder (11-3) by three-round unanimous decision. Nakamura popped Kheder’s proboscis with a rising left jab and lunging straight right rounds one through three, first etching a crease in the bridge of Kheder’s nose, then leaving him snorting blood from both nostrils. In round three, the referee paused the fight unnecessarily to have the doctor look at the bloody mess. In round two, however, “Hurricane” spun a three-four combo over the straight shots from Nakamura, tagging the Japanese veteran in the head. But, Kheder longed for a brawl that Nakamura danced around. When Kheder closed in to exchange, Nakamura either landed a knee to the short rib or pulled guard, which Kheder pulled out of. At the end of round three, Nakamura pulled guard and Kheder finally played along, falling into an arm triangle as the final bell rang. Too little, too late.

Heavyweights Alexey Oleinik (6-4-1) and Rogent Lloret (6-1-1) fought to a draw. Llorent consummated the contest with a left high kick that opened a slit on Oleinik’s right eye brow early in round one. But, Oleinik answered with a slam, swept near the end of the round by Llorent. Oleinik consistently put Llorent on his back hard throughout the fight, but Llorent fed Oleinik uppercuts and knees during the in-coming and had a sweep to answer most of Oleinik’s slams. Whether Oleinik or Lloret was in top position on the mat, they played paddy-cake, neither doing damage to the other. A draw is about right.

Dutchman Jessie Gibbs (5-0) won a unanimous decision over heavyweight Brit Rob Broughton (9-4-1) in a snoozer that drew the boo-birds for both fighters. Gibbs had a nifty telegraphed-right-kick-into-straight-right technique that caught Broughton flush twice in the second round and again in the third, but Broughton walked through the punches. Gibbs also landed a hard right elbow to Broughton’s liver while in half mount in the first round. If much else landed, it must’ve been while I was dosing off; but, Gibbs earned the decision.

Polish heavyweight Michal Kita (6-2) won a first-round submission by G’n’P at 1:50 when American Lloyd Marshbanks (12-8) tapped out with a dislocated right shoulder with Kita on his back wailing right hooks into Marshbanks’s noggin. Marshbanks had shot and ate a left. Kita sprawled and tagged Marshbanks again, then swiveled to his back and punished Marshbanks until Marshbanks called it quits.

Also added to the card is a bout between Hideo Tokoro (17-13-1) and Daisuke Nakamura (15-8).

Schilt last fought Nandor Guelmino (1-1) in January, and won via first-round KO.

“Mighty Mo” last fought in June 2007, defeating “Warpath” Ruben Villareal (13-13-3) via TKO at 1:33 of round one.

Tokoro lost his most recent fight via unanimous decision to Atsushi Yamamoto (12-5-1) at DREAM.6 in September.

Nakamura is on a seven-fight win streak, most recently submitting Carlos Valeri (0-2) via flying arbar at M-1 Challenge 8 in October.

Welterweight Jake Ellenberger (18-4) will return after a successful Team USA debut in July to face Korean Doo Won Seo (1-2) on the card.

Lightweight Daisuke Nakamura (16-9) returns to Team Japan versus Berlgian “Moreno” Wim Deputter (18-2) while welterweight Hidehiko Hasegawa (13-10-6) debuts versus American Top Team’s Norman Paraisy (4-0).

Russian Roman Zentsov (17-12) will headline the event in a rematch versus Korean Sang Soo Lee (8-4).

Also on the card, light heavyweight Tatsuya Mizuno (4-3) will fight Bruno Carvalho (3-3).

Undefeated American light heavyweight Bryan Harper (5-0) will fight Mujin Na (0-0).

Lightweight Dutchman Furdjel de Windt (24-10-1) will fight Korean Park Won Sik (0-0).

Lightweight American David Gardner (13-9) will fight Korean Jong Man Kim (3-5-3).

Middleweight American Brandon Magana (5-0) will debut in M-1 versus Korean Hyungyu Lim (0-0).

Heavyweight American Jeremiah Constant (6-5) drew Korean Ji Hoon Kim (1-6).

Heavyweight Dutchman Stefan Struve (13-2) will face Japan’s Yuji Sakuragi (9-12-1).

Russian Radmir Gabdulin (2-0) will fight Min Suk Heo (3-5) in a “Superfight”.

Hansen was originally eliminated from the tournament at DREAM.3 11 May after dropping a decision to Eddie Alvarez (15-1), but was drafted into the final after slapping an armbar on “Black Mamba” Kultar Gill (10-8) at 2:33 of round one in the tournament’s reserve fight Sunday.

Ironically, Hansen replaced Alvarez after Alvarez knocked out “Crusher” Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-5-2) at 7:35 of round one in a thrilling slugfest.  A right hook, right uppercut combo floored “Crusher” and Alvarez pounded the Japanese fighter out, but sustained a cut over his right eye in the action that would prevent him from fighting for the title.

Tournament favorite “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (17-3) contorted himself into the final versus Hansen in a unanimous decision over “Uno Shoten” Caol Uno (25-11-4), throwing everything in the “Judan” book at Uno: armbar, triangle choke, heel hook, rear naked choke, gogoplata, etc.  Though Aoki wasn’t able to stop Uno, he dominated for the decision.

The final was set: Aoki v Hansen; and, in most people’s minds, already settled in favor of the Japanese favorite.

Aoki quickly pressed his advantage and put Hansen on the mat, running through his repertoire of locks and chokes.  Hansen defended and worked into top position inside Aoki’s guard.

Pow!  Hansen tore into Aoki with punches from the top and a big left stunned the “Tobikan Judan”.  Hansen quickly finished off the helpless favorite with strikes at 4:19 of round one to win DREAM’s first Lightweight Championship.

Akiyama Has Something Up His Sleeve

Yoshihiro Akiyama (11-1) returned from an eight-month stint on the DL to choke out Katsuyori Shibata (2-5) with the sleeve of his gi at 6:34 of round one.

Shibata held his own for the first half of the round as he exchanged with the heavily-favoured Akiyama.

However, once the fighters went to the mat, Akiyama was able to get on top, get into mount, and put Shibata to sleep.

Overeem Taps Hunt

“Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (28-11) accepted the challenge from Kiwi kickboxer Mark Hunt (5-4) on three-days’ notice and gave little notice to Hunt before tapping him in a keylock at 1:11 of round one.

It was Hunt who took Overeem to the mat to begin the fight; but, Overeem used the position to his advantage.

Hironaka Wins DREAM Debut

Fresh from a poor showing in the Octagon, Kuniyoshi Hironaka (12-5) stopped a two-fight losing streak with a solid straight that gashed  Motoki Miyazawa‘s (4-1) left eye.

The fight had been a fairly even stand-up war; but, the cut prompted a doctor stoppage in favor of Hironaka at 8:57 of round one.

Other Fights

Featherweight Joseph Benavidez (8-0) remained undefeated after tapping “Kodo” Junya Kudo (6-2-2) in a guillotine choke at 2:42 of round one.

Welterweight Daisuke Nakamura (15-9) followed a straight right to Andy Ologun (1-1) into a takdown and slick armbar to tap Ologun at 3:41 of round one.

Though issued a yellow card for low blows, featherweight Hideo Tokoro (22-13-1) won a unanimous decison over Takeshi Yamazaki (14-8-2).

Mizuno dispatched Yoshiyuki Nakanishi (3-1) at 4:13 of round one in the main event.

American Jake Ellenberger (18-4) bounced back from a UD loss in Portland 20 June to win a UD over Frenchman “Paco” Farouk Lakebir (2-1) in Ellenberger’s Japan debut.

Countryman and former TUF contestant Mike Dolce (3-5) was TKO’d at 41 seconds of round two by middleweight “Psycho” Karl Amoussou (7-1-1) of France.

It was Dolce’s first action since season seven of TUF.

Japanese lightweight Daisuke Nakamura (15-9), fresh from knocking out Bu Kyung Jung (0-3) at DREAM.3 last May, won a decision over Bogdan Christea (4-3-1).

Dutch middleweight Jason Jones (6-3) TKO’d DEEP star “Andre” Yuta Watanabe (9-3-3) in the second round.

In SuperFights, Yuki Ito (9-3-3) and Seigo Inoue (4-3-1) came away tops in decisions versus Takaaki Aoki (4-4) and “Mike” Nobuhiro Hayakawa (1-4-2) respecitvely.

Journeyman Romano de los reyes (8-5) upset Japanese welterweight Ken Hamamura (14-5-4) by decision.

Heavyweight Jessie Gibbs (1-0) knocked out Katsuhisa Fujii (9-15-1) at 1:34 of round one.

Light heavyweight Kamil Uygun (6-2) TKO’d Yuji Sakuragi (9-12-1) in the first round.

Heavyweight Frenchman “Komodo” Malick Idiaye (2-1) wrapped up American James Jack (2-2) in a keylock at 3:54 of round one.

Keith Perrigon (2-1) TKO’d Samuel Judes (2-2) at 3:16 of round one.

Light heavyweight Christian N’Pumbu (10-1) TKO’d Bryan Harper (5-1) 32 seconds into the second round.

In M-1 Challenge’s national team format, the Netherlands crushed Japan 4-1 and France edge out the States 3-2.

Fighters.com’s tenth-ranked middleweight “Mayhem” Jason Miller (21-5) and Nick Diaz (16-7) also picked up wins.

“Mayhem” easily pounded out Masakatsu Funaki-trained Katsuyori Shibata (2-4) in 6:57 to add himself and a bit of respectability to the Middleweight Grand Prix to be continued at DREAM.4.

In the Lightweight GP’s biggest upset, Uno was too slick for Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked lightweight “Endless Fighter” Mitsuhiro Ishida (16-4-1) on his feet, then, surprisingly, on the mat.

“Uno Shoten” wrapped Ishida up in a rear naked choke during a scramble on the ground, ending the “Endless Fighter” at 1:39 of the second round.

Alvarez won an exciting unanimous decision over “Hellboy” Joachim Hansen in an upset predicted by Fighters.com.

Kawajiri advanced to DREAM.5 in the expected “W” over “Buscape” Luiz Firmino (12-4), but wasn’t able to stop the tough Brazilian.

Some fighters get rusty after a prolonged absence.  “Mean for no reason” (as labeled by “Punk” Josh Thomson (14-2)) Diaz was pissed after six months of inactivity.  He unloaded on welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (16-6-3) for nearly seven minutes, causing Inoue’s corner to throw in the towel.

Diaz earned a DREAM welterweight title shot with the dominating “W”.

Welterweight Daisuke Nakamura (14-9) served Korean judoka Bu Kyung Jung (0-3) his first stoppage loss with a knockout at 1:05 of round two.

“Marvelous” Melvin Manhoef (21-4-1) TKO’d another Korean judoka, Dae Won Kim (4-4), at 4:08 of round one.

Lightweight Takeshi Yamazaki (14-7-2) won a unanimous decision over Shoji Maruyama (6-3-1).

Emelianenko’s teammates Amar Suloev (24-7) and Roman Zentsov (17-12) also scored wins for the home team, while Japanese fighters “Andre” Yuta Watanabe (8-1-3) and Ken Hamamura (14-4-4) picked-up victories on foreign soil.

In the same kind of Finkelsteinian matchmaking that has kept “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) from meaningful MMA for over two-and-a-half years, li’l brother Aleks was paired with Santos whose only other professional MMA appearance ended in a split decision victory over that notorious gatekeeper to top ten contention, Edson Conterraneo (3-1).

Note my sarcasm.

The big Brazilian circled Russia’s finest before a shot stuffed and swept by Aleks into a textbook uchi mata makikomi toss landing Emelianenko in Santos’s half-guard.

Strong Santos stood out of Emelianenko’s half-mount, but into a near standing guillotine the Russian wrenched like a neck crank.

Emelianenko muscled Santos into a corner, released the choke, and hopped into a flying knee that effectively ended the fight.

Santos shot forward for a desperate single-leg lunge, but Emelianenko sprawled and pummeled the Brazilian with a series of rights as the referee dove to Santos’s rescue.

Emelianenko’s middleweight Red Devil Sport Club stablemate, Suloev, bounced back from a second round TKO to Chael Sonnen (20-9-1) last July to TKO Jacek Buczko (11-4), who hadn’t fought in two-and-a-half years, in the first round.

Heavyweight Zentsov also rebounded from an ’07 stoppage loss to deal undersized Daniel Tabera (9-1-2) of Spain his first “L” in a two-round decision.

DEEP middleweight vet Watanabe dealt Ansar Chalangov (7-4) his fourth consecutive defeat in a first-round rear naked choke.  It was Watanabe’s first fight out of country.

Welterweight Hamamura also ventured out of the “Land of the Rising Sun” for the first time to TKO Russia’s Islam Karimov (5-4-1) in the second round.

The event also saw Akhmet Sultanov (2-0) submit multi-promotion veteran Katsuhisa Fuji (8-14-1) in a first-round armbar.

Besiki Gerenava (5-0) won a decision over Pancrase vet Yuji Sakuragi (9-10-1).

U-File Camp’s Daisuke Nakamura (13-9) decisioned Juri Ivlev (4-3).

Victor Nemkov (1-0) debuted with a triangle choke submission of fellow rookie Christian Bombay (0-1).

Team Scandinavia’s Jarno Nurminen (2-1) forced Ji Hoon Kim’s (1-6) corner to throw in the towel in the first round.

Heavyweight Fin Toni Valtonen (15-7) submitted South Korean Seung Hyun Choi (0-2) in a rear naked choke in the first round.

Hyun Gyu Lim (2-1-1) knocked out Brazil’s Lucio Linhares (7-3) in the first round.

Lightweight Janne Tulirinta (7-2) TKO’d Doo Won Seo (1-2) in round two.

Finally, lightweight Niko Puhakka (11-6) of Finland submitted Jong Man Kim (3-5-2) in a triangle choke in round one.