The September 25th Dream.16 fight card is beginning to take shape and three more bouts have been added to the event. Former top lightweight contender “The Endless Fighter” Mitsuhiro Ishida will continue on with his campaign as a featherweight when he faces “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura.

Elsewhere, Cole “The Triangle” Escovedo will look to pick up his second victory in DREAM when he steps in for new Bellator champ Joe Warren against Michihiro Omigawa. Chase “The Rage” Beebe will also return to DREAM when he faces Hiroyuki “Streetfight Bancho” Takaya.

Ishida (19-6-1) will look to pick up his second victory as a featherweight after defeating Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata at Dream.15 in July. The win snapped the first two-fight losing streak of Ishida’s career. A talented wrestler, Ishida has faced many of the sport’s best fighters in the lightweight division and now has his eyes on the DREAM Featherweight Championship held by Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes. A victory at Dream.16 would put Ishida one big step closer to title contention.

Nishiura (11-5-1) is also coming off of an impressive victory when he stopped veteran Hideo Tokoro in less than three minutes at Dream.14. Five of Nishiura’s wins have come by a form of knockout and his highly unorthodox striking style poses problems for many of his opponents. However, Nishiura is just 2-3 in his last five fights and needs a big victory in order to position himself for a title shot down the line. A win over Ishida, who has faced many past and present champions, would be more than adequate.

Escovedo (16-5-0), a former champion in both the WEC and Tachi Palace Fights, enters the bout with Omigawa as a late replacement for new Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren. Escovedo was knocked out in his most recent bout and lost his TPF title in the process, but Japanese fans will remember him well for his devastating head-kick KO of Yoshiro Maeda at Dream.13 in March. The win was Escovedo’s fifth in a row at the time after returning from a staph infection that led to paralysis. A victory over Omigawa could position Escovedo for a shot at yet another major title.

Omigawa (11-8-1) was once written off as a complete afterthought, but has now won seven of his last eight fights to emerge as a breakout star in Japan. Following a failed run in the UFC, Omigawa entered the 2009 Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix with a meagre 4-7-1 record. He shocked onlookers by upsetting LC Davis and Nam Phan, then scored a highly controversial Split Decision win over reigning Sengoku champ Marlon Sandro to advance to the finals. Though he would come up short, Omigawa remains one of Japan’s fastest rising stars and he also has his eyes on DREAM gold.

Beebe (13-6-0), a former WEC Bantamweight Champion, is currently embroiled in a very difficult period in his career. He lost the WEC title to Miguel Torres in early 2008 and then lost four more fights in a row. However, one of those bouts, an October 2009 UWC title fight with Mike Easton, was easily one of the worst judging decisions in the history of mixed martial arts. Attempts to overturn the loss were unsuccessful and Beebe has yet to pick up a victory in two tries in DREAM. He is coming off of a win in April and will now look to finally capture the elusive first DREAM victory.

Takaya (13-8-1), in stark contrast to Beebe, is coming off of the biggest victory of his lengthy career. At Dream.14, Takaya became the first man to ever knock out former DREAM Lightweight Champion Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen, and he is now on a short list of contenders for the DREAM Featherweight Championship. Ten of Takaya’s victories have come by knockout and he holds stoppage wins over Jong Won Kim, Yoshiro Maeda, Hideo Tokoro and Hansen in DREAM. Takaya was ever so close to capturing the Featherweight title in his bout with Bibiano Fernandes at Dream.11, but came up just short. He now aims for a second chance.

Dream.16 takes place on September 25th at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

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