Plans to hold Dream.14 in South Korea on April 24th have been cancelled after the promotion was unable to secure a Korean television deal for the event. Korean MMA site MFight first reported on the news today. There was no word on whether the debut DREAM card in Korea would be rescheduled.

DREAM had hoped to make inroads into Korea in order to follow on the success that its sister promotion, K-1, has had over the years. However, due to a lack of available Korean talent, such as 7’2″ monster Hong Man Choi and Denis Kang, DREAM could not secure a TV deal in time.

The landscape of mixed martial arts in both Japan and Korea has changed considerably in recent years. Following the collapse of Pride Fighting Championships and the South Korean-based Spirit MC, Fight and Entertainment Group (FEG) dissolved its K-1 HERO’s MMA division and teamed with former PRIDE officials to create DREAM. The new promotion has been relatively successful since its inception and a partnership with the Sengoku faction led to an excellent event at “Dynamite!!” on New Year’s Eve.

However, since PRIDE’s closure, the popularity of mixed martial arts has never truly returned in Japan and the loss of famous names to retirement or promotions in North America has not helped matters. DREAM had hoped to make a big return to Korea, where K-1 HERO’s events were held in past years, but could not secure the required Korean MMA talent to warrant a television deal in the country.

DREAM veterans Dong Sik Yoon and Bu Kyung Jung, both natives of South Korea, were preparing to compete on the planned April 24th card. The talented judokas will no longer have a chance to fight in their home country for DREAM in April, but could at some point later in the year. With standouts such as “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim now competing in the WEC and UFC, respectively, DREAM may face challenges in signing top Korean talent.