Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) recently announced a couple of featherweight additions for its next event in the form of Caol Uno vs. Akiyo Nishiura and Joachim Hansen vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida.
DREAM 17: "Fight for Japan" takes place on May 29, 2011, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Winless in over three years, Uno (25-14-5) is desperately trying to get back into the win column and erase the memory of his failed comeback in the UFC. Standing in his way is Nishiura (11-6-1), who split a pair of bouts in DREAM just last year but has dropped four of his last six.
After an uncharacteristic slide that saw him lose three straight, "Hellboy" Hansen (21-10-1) is hoping to win his third in a row when he faces Ishida (20-6-1), who's put together back-to-back wins after getting pasted by Gilbert Melendez under the Strikeforce banner back in 2009.
DREAM 17 will also feature the promotion's 135-pound grand prix tournament.
Participants for the opening round of the all-bantamweight affair include Hideo Tokoro, Masakazu Imanari, Yoshiro Maeda, Keisuke Fujiwara, Darren Uyenoyama, Kenji Osawa, Takafumi Otsuka and Atsushi Yamamoto.
In addition, the event will operate in an "efficient" manner, with "minimal production and minimal light in it, [and] will be held in such a manner as possible without wasting electricity."
So don't count on any pyrotechnics or protracted musical numbers to open the show.
Part of that has to do with the country's national crisis, resulting from last month's devastating earthquake and the damage it caused to civilian and government domiciles.
Japan is still reeling from aftershocks and nuclear fallout but as they say, the show must go on.
For the current DREAM 17 "Fight for Japan" fight card and line-up click here.
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