DREAM Adds Hansen-Ishida, Uno-Nishiura To May 29 CardA pair of non-tournament featherweight bouts have been added to DREAM: “Fight For Japan” on May 29th in Saitama. Former Lightweight Champion Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen takes on “The Endless Fighter” Mitsuhiro Ishida, while UFC veteran Caol “Uno Shoten” Uno faces “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura.

Both fights were officially announced today. The event will also feature the first two rounds of the newly-renamed DREAM Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix at the Saitama Super Arena. The top three fighters in the tournament will advance to a DREAM World Bantamweight Grand Prix later this year.

Hansen (21-10-1) and Ishida (20-6-1) previously campaigned as lightweights in PRIDE and DREAM, and Hansen was able to capture the DREAM Lightweight Championship in July 2008. He lost the title in a rubber match with current champion Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki, and challenged unsuccessfully for the promotion’s Featherweight Championship last year. He has won two straight fights since suffering a brutal knockout loss to Hiroyuki “Streetfight Bancho” Takaya last May. Ishida has fought just six times in the last three years, including two appearances for Strikeforce, but recently bounced back after a pair of knockout losses by defeating “DJ.haiki” Daiki Hata and the aforementioned “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura.

Uno (25-14-5) and Nishiura (11-6-1) are both coming off of defeats, but Nishiura has found much more success in recent fights. Uno is winless in his last five outings, though questionable judging arguably robbed him of a pair of 2009 victories in his return to the UFC. His last win came against Ishida when the pair squared off in the second round of the 2008 DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix. Nishiura dropped a Split Decision to Ishida in September, but had won two of his three fights before then, including a stoppage of Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix participant Hideo Tokoro.

Both matchups represent interesting clashes of styles, as the wrestling and grappling skills of Ishida and Uno meet the punching power of Hansen and Nishiura, respectively.

DREAM Japan Grand Prix: “Fight For Japan” takes place on May 29th at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event may air on HDNet in North America. Proceeds from the card will go towards disaster relief and reconstruction after the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11th.

 

 

(Photo Credit: DREAM)

  1. Hellboy!
    Can’t wait to see him do his thang.