Also added to the card, Cage Force welterweight champ Kuniyoshi Hironaka (13-6) will matchup versus “Parky” Won Sik Park (2-0).

Alvarez tapped out Toby Imada (23-14) in a rear naked choke at Bellator 10 in Miami June 19.

Kikuno TKO’d Andre Amade (1-2) at DREAM.10 in Tokyo July 20.

Hironaka TKO’d Yoshihiro Koyama (10-2-1) at Cage Force 12 in Tokyo September 12.

Park submitted Yuichi Ikari (7-4-2) by rear naked choke  at DEEP 43 in Tokyo August 23.

DREAM.12 will be broadcast on HDNet in North America.

Featherweight Wataru Miki (14-7-3) submitted Tomonori Taniguchi (2-6) in a rear naked choke at 4:36 of round three.

Lightweight Yasunori Kanehara (1-4-1) TKO’d “KG Shinto” Hiroki Kuga (1-1) in 55 seconds.

Featherweight Wataru Takahashi (7-8-3) submitted “Randleman” Masayoshi Ichikawa (0-2) by arm bar at 3:43 of round one.

Bantamweight Yoshihiro Matsunaga (1-1) won a unanimous decision over Hirokazu Nishimura (2-2-1).

Bantamweight Masato Kobayashi (1-0) also won a UD over Daisuke Sugishima (0-1).

Cage Force is Japan’s first cage-based MMA promotion and considered a UFC-qualifying promotion for Japanese fighters. Current UFC talents who entered the Octagon after stints in Cage Force include “Thunder” Yushin Okami (23-4), “Outlaw” Dan Hardy (22-6), and “Zenko” Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3). That trio alone holds a 12-2 record in the Octagon.

Hironaka fared less well with a 1-3 UFC record, but is riding a two-fight winning streak into the title fight. He TKO’d puroresu’s Katsuhiko Nagata (4-4) at Cage Force 11 in Tokyo 27 June.

Koyama won a UD over Tomonari Kanomata (10-3-3) at Cage Force EX in Tokyo 28 February. If he leaps the hurdle of Hironaka, Koyama could be headed to an Octagon near you soon.

The Cage Force lightweight title was just vacated by Mizuto Hirota (9-3) who has fought his last two battles at Sengoku.

The undercard includes:

Wataru Miki (13-7-3) v Tomonori Taniguchi (2-5)
Yasunori Kanehara (0-4-1) v “KG Shinto” Hiroki Kuga (1-1)
Wataru Takahashi (6-8-3) v “Randleman” Masayoshi Ichikawa (0-1)
Hirokazu Nishimura (2-1-1) v Yoshihiro Matsunaga (0-1)
Masato Kobayashi (0-0) v Daisuke Sugishima (0-0)

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).

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).

Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1; 2 NC) v Katsuyori Shibata (2-4)

“Hellboy” Joachim Hansen (17-7-1) v “Black Mamba” Kultar Gill (9-7)

Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) v Motoki Miyazawa (4-0)

Mark Hunt (5-3) is also slated to fight, but no opponent has been named.

Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked middleweight Akiyama has not fought since New Year’s Eve, when he faced eighth-ranked “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (20-8-2; 1 NC).  Akiyama was KO’d by an illegal soccer kick, ending the fight in a No Contest.

Shibata lost his last four fights, to Ralek Gracie  (2-0), “Gracie Hunter” Kazushi Sakuraba (24-11-1; 2 NC), Min Suk Heo (2-5), and most recently to tenth-ranked “Mayhem” Jason Miller (21-6) at DREAM.3 in May.

Hansen, a PRIDE and Shooto veteran from Norway, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Eddie Alvarez (14-1) at DREAM.3.

Gill, from Canada, last fought at DREAM.1 in March where he lost to “Crusher” Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2) in a unanimous decision.

Hironaka hopes to recover from a two-fight losing streak, both second-round TKOs in the UFC by “Pitbull” Thiago Alves (15-3) in September and Jonathan Goulet (22-9; 1 NC) in April, although that fight earned him a $75K “Fight of the Night” bonus.

Miyazawa has won all four of his fights at the Greatest Common Multiple events.

PRIDE veteran Hunt was submitted in his last two fights, in 2006, via first-round kimura, first by Fighters.com’s sixth-ranked heavyweight “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (27-1), then to fifth-ranked “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (22-5).

Former UFC Middleweight Champion and Fighters.com’s second-ranked 185-pounder “Ace” Rich Franklin (23-3) also found the land of maple leaf friendly in a second-round TKO of “The Serial Killer” Travis Lutter (9-5).

TUF Champions “The Count” Michael Bisping (15-1) and Mac Danzig (18-4-1) debuted in new weight classes with stoppages.

Les habitants “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (20-9), “Dooms” Jason Day (17-5), and Jonathan Goulet (22-9) also had success for the home team, while “The Rock” Nathan Quarry (10-2), Demian Maia (7-0), “No Love” Rich Clementi (31-12-1), and Cain Velasquez (3-0) scored wins as visitors to the true north, strong and free.

Though seven of the 11 duels on 83’s lineup featured St. Pierre’s fellow countrymen, this French-Canadian bon soirwas entirely the Quebecois phenom’s. He entered the Octagon blazing a crimson gi with the strength of 22,000 at the Centre Bell.

Serra had played a clever villain during the event’s promotional tour, but had no quips for “Rush” as St. Pierre packed him into the mat upon stuffing Serra’s initial shot.

St. Pierre mauled “The Terror” with short, sharp elbows as Serra pedaled through guards, all passed by St. Pierre. Serra finally crawled up the cage to his feet.

In the center of the cage, St. Pierre blasted Serra with a Superman punch, setting up a double-leg takedown near the end of round one.

Serra, a mouse puffing beneath his right eye, emptied his tank about 90 seconds into round two as “Rush” tagged “The Terror” with five snapping jabs before planting him back onto the mat with a double-leg takedown.

St. Pierre’s G’n'P onslaught poured on, driving Serra into turtle guard. A series of unanswered rib-rattling knees persuaded referee Steve Mazzagatti to end the fight at 4:45.

“I tired him out,” explained the best 170-pound fighter in the world.

Serra countered, “I ended up coming up short, no pun intended.”

Welterweights Goulet and Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) both pocketed 75 grand for battling the “Fight of the Night” in the card’s opening bout.

Goulet got the worst of it in the punch-up’s first round. Attempting to press his striking advantage, Goulet got tagged with a short Hironaka left hook. The Japanese fighter fell the Canadian and followed with a mix of fists and elbows to close the round.

“He tried to finish me,” Goulet admitted after the fight, “but he got too excited. I was careful because of my experience.”

The two fighters traded evenly to open the second before Hironaka was stunned with a punch that backed him to the cage. Goulet stalked with a flurry that dropped his opponent for a TKO at 2:07.

In the co-main event, Franklin also rebounded from a lost first round in which Lutter took the former champ to the mat and worked his jiu-jitsu juju. Franklin was nearly tapped in an armbar before he countered in a nifty maneuver that rolled him into Lutter’s full guard.

Lutter had worn himself weary by the second round and got caught with head kick as he shot for single-leg takedown. Franklin hammered “The Serial Killer” and motioned for the referee to stand him up. “Ace” picked Lutter apart on their feet with a combination of slick boxing and knees until the referree stopped the fight at 3:01

Danzig predicted to Fighters.com that Mark Bocek (5-2) is susceptible to a knee and the debuting 155-pounder delivered three big knees to set Bocek up for a rear naked choke submission at 3:48 of the third round.

“I paced myself, and I needed that; because, if I didn’t pace myself I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did in the last round,” Danzig said.

His fellow TUF Champion Bisping debuted at 185-pounds with a dominant TKO “W” over “Chainsaw” Charles McCarthy (10-5), who was unable to continue due to an arm injury after round one.

“Charles couldn’t get up,” “The Count” expalined after the fight.

Middleweight Quarry chased down a timid Kalib Starnes (8-3-1), who probably ran himself out of the UFC, for a unanimous decision.

Middleweight MacDonald added $75,000 to his bank balance with a “(T)KO of the Night” versus Joe Doerksen (39-12) at 54 seconds of the second round.

Middleweight Maia also earned 75 grand for “Submission of the Night”, a triangle choke of “Short Fuse” Ed Herman (14-5) at 2:27 of round two.

Middleweight Day made a successful UFC debut with a 3:58 TKO of “The Talent” Alan Belcher (12-5).

Lightweight Clementi ruined Canadian “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout’s (13-4-1) homecoming with a split decision victory.

Finally, touted heavyweight Velasquez only spent 2:10 in his Octagon debut before TKOing Brad Morris (9-3).