We’ve seen that first with the recent Strikeforce event, where three of Japan’s best participated on the card, with DREAM’s featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya, lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, and perennial contender Tatsuya Kawajiri all in action.

Though the participants left the the event with mixed results, with Shinya Aoki the only one emerging victorious with a first-round submission win over lightweight prospect Lyle Beerbohm, DREAM hopes to give an extra push towards Japan’s relief efforts by holding their May event side by side with various charities. And said event will also feature the organization’s inaugural bantamweight grand-prix, which will feature many notable fighters.

Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), the parent company that owns infamous Japanese organizations such as the aforementioned DREAM and K-1 promotions, announced earlier their intentions to hold the bantamweight tournament, which will include mixed martial artists: Keisuke Fujiwara, Masakazu Imanari, Yoshiro Maeda, Kenji Osawa, Takafumi Otsuka, Hideo Tokoro, Darren Uyenoyama and Atsushi Yamamoto.

First leg of the tournament will take place on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and the final round will be completed in July where the new bantamweight champion will be crowned.

Interestingly enough, most of the notable fighters on this card were originally featured in the the organizations featherweight tournament. The promotion’s featherweight class is competed at 139-pounds, which will most likely be revised given the confusion that such a weight class would leave most fighters.

Two favorites heading into the tourney would have to be Atsushi Yamamoto (pictured), a protege of Japanese legend and current UFC fighter “Kid” Yamamoto (no relation). The other favorite will be submission ace Masakazu Imanari, where interestingly enough, both fighters met in the past for the featherweight tourney where the grappling whiz edged out Yamamoto via split-decision in March of 2009.

The announcement of said event took place during a press conference in Japan where the head executives of FEG as well as several other prominent figures of other Japanese promotions discussed their intentions to band together in order to raise money for the tragedies that have since victimized Japan.

Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Katsunori Kikuno, Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura and Caol Uno are also expected to be featured on the card.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the news? Who do you favor in the bantamweight GP? Yamamoto has an impressive stand-up arsenal that has most opponents puzzled or face down on the mat, and Imanari has a ground game that rivals Aoki’s. Sound off in the comment section below.

Coming off consecutive losses since winning the DREAM strap in a TKO of “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (19-5) at DREAM.5 in 2008, Hansen will battle “Streetfight Bancho” Hiroyuki Takaya (12-8-1).  Takaya himself is entering the fight on a two-loss skid.

Also announced is a featherweight matchup between “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura (10-5-1) and Hideo Tokoro (26-21-1).

Marquee lightweight “Hellboy” Joachim Hansen (18-7) weighed 150.4 pounds and opponent “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (17-4) weighed 153.9 pounds.

MMA legend and Japanese hero “Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (21-13-1)  weighed 184.1 pounds and rookie opponent Rubin Williams weighed 181.9 pounds.
 
Lightweight “Crusher” Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2) weighed 154.1 pounds and “Barracuda” Melchor Manibusan (1-1) weighed 152.6 pounds.

Featherweight Grand Prix contestant Joe Warren (2-0) weighed 138.2 pounds and his semi-final “Flash” Bibiano Fernandes (5-1) weighed 138.2 pounds.

In the other GP semi-final, Hideo Tokoro (19-15-1) weighed 138.5 pounds and “Evil Fist” Hiroyuki Takaya (11-6-1) weighed 138.9 pounds.

In the GP reserve bout, Daiki Hata (2-0-1) 138.5 pounds and Kazuyuki Miyata (4-6) weighed 138.5 pounds.

In the Super Hulk Tournament semi-finals, “African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (6-4) weighed 220.5 pounds and his replacement opponent “Beast” Bob Sapp (10-5-1) weighed 341.7 pounds.

Finally, in the other Super Hulk semi-final “Minowaman” Ikuhisa Minowa (40-28-8) weighed 192.9 pounds and Techno Goliath” Hong Man Choi (1-1) weighed 319.7 pounds.

DREAM.11 will be broadcast on HDNet in North America.

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.

Yamamoto floored Tokoro early with a charging left, right hook combo, but got wrapped up in Tokoro’s rubber guard when he pounced to finish.

Yamamoto mixed his knose-busting jabs and hooks with an occasional knee.

The fight was Tokoro’s when the two went to the mat.  Tokoro attempted an armbar in the first round and ended the fight holding Yamamoto in an armbar attempt for a full minute, but couldn’t finish.

“Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (9-1) and “Benkei” Zelg Galesic (9-3) will take part in the Middleweight Grand Prix, as will “Marvelous” Melvin Manhoef (22-4-1) and Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1), who all fought at DREAM.4 in June.

Also announced is a featherweight match-up between Hideo Tokoro (21-13-1) and Atsushi Yamamoto (11-5-1).

“Jacare” defeated “Mayhem” Jason Miller (21-6) via unanimous decision at DREAM.4.

Galesic got a TKO victory over Taiei Kin (3-3) when Kin injured his elbow.

Manhoef TKO’d “Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1) in the first round in July.

Mousasi most recently won a unanimous decision over Dong Sik Yoon.

Tokoro fought at DREAM.4 and DREAM.5, earning unanimous decision victories over Darren Uyenoyama (4-2) and Takeshi Yamazaki (14-8-2).

Yamamoto, a Pancrase and Shooto veteran, lost his last fight unanimous decision to Masakatsu Ueda (8-0-1) in March.

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).

Tokoro, a veteran of K-1 Hero’s, won the unanimous decision after a match with Darren Uyenoyama (4-2) at DREAM.4 last month.

Yamazaki, a Shooto and DEEP veteran, is coming off four consecutive wins, most recently earning a unanimous decision over Shoji Maruyama (6-3-1) at DREAM.3.

Adorning his sprayed-on, gaudy long johns, Aoki scored two takedowns, mounting Nagata on the second.  Aoki pounded his victim as Nagata bucked.

Aoki wasn’t going anywhere!

He smothered Nagata and slipped his foot out of nowhere into the pretzel that ended the fight, advancing Aoki to the Lightweight Grand Prix semi-finals.

“If you want to be the legend, you have to kill the legend,” “Marvelous” Melvin Manhoef (22-4-1) said after slaying “Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1) with a kick in the first round and advancing to the Middleweight Grand Prix semi-finals.

“That’s what I did today.”

Manhoef finished the Japanese legend with a knee to Sakuraba’s head from side control followed by hammerfists to his face before the referee ended the fight.

Hideo Tokoro (20-13-1) and American Olympic grappler Darren Uyenoyama (4-2) battled the most exciting fight on the card in a bantamweight match-up

The fight spanned all ranges and levels as the two fighters rolled and stood, attacked with strikes and tried submissions, defended and reversed, and recovered.

But, it was Tokoro’s consistent knee strikes that won him the two-round UD.

Ninth-ranked middleweight “Mayhem” Jason Miller (21-6) pulled one Houdini escape after another in a two-round UD loss to “Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (9-1).

Souzadictated the mat match and consistently mounted “Mayhem”, but couldn’t submit the slippery Miller.  Nonetheless, Souza advanced into the Middleweight GP semis.

The uneven match-up between Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1) and Dong Sik Yoon (4-5) lasted longer than it should’ve.

Yoon shot for an ever-elusive takedown most of the fight, while Mousasi worked Yoon’s bandaged leg like a soccer ball.

In the first round, Yoon freed one of Mousasi’s arm for a joint lock; but, Mousasi rolled free.

Mousasi put Yoon on his back in round two, hammering fists as the clock counted down to the UD for Mousasi, who advances in the Middleweight GP semis.

“Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (27-11) demolished Tae Hyun Lee (1-2) in 36 seconds with left hook-right hook-left uppercut combo followed by a knee that left Lee on the mat.

Overeem added his name to “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic‘s (26-3-2) dance card after his DREAM debut.  “Demolition Man” has accused Filipovic of ducking him.

Ralek Gracie (2-0) wants “Cro Cop” too.  He challenged DREAM’s premier heavyweight after tapping Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (7-2) in an armbar at 3:02 of the first round.

Gracie was originally scheduledto grapple with the Croatian kickboxer.

An elbow injury at 1:05 of round one gift wrapped a TKO “W” for “Benkei” Zelg Galesic (9-3), sending him into the Middleweight GP semis.

The Croatian launched a high kick at Taiei Kin (3-3) before taking Kin to the mat hard and awkwardly on Kin’s right arm, buckling the Korean’s elbow.