Star-studded 10-bout DREAM.9 lineup finalized for May 26

Saturday, 25 July 2009

by Dann Stupp on May 20, 2009 at 1:05 pm ET With the star-studded DREAM.9 card now less than a week away, the Japanese-based organization has finalized the lineup for the May 26 event.

The show, which takes place at the Yokohama Arena in Kanagawa, Japan, airs live in North America on HDNet.

In addition to the second round of the organization's featherweight grand prix, the event also features the opening round of the intriguing "Super Hulk" open-weight tourney.

Slated for the night's main event is a rematch between Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Jason "Mayhem" Miller, which will earn the winner the DREAM middleweight title recently vacated by Gegard Mousasi. Miller, fresh off an April victory over Kala Hose for the KINGDOM MMA middleweight belt, has suffered just one loss in his past five fights. It came to Souza in a June 2008 quarterfinal fight in DREAM's middleweight tournament.

The co-main event features a featherweight grand-prix bout between Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto and Joe Warren. Yamamoto, who received a first-round tournament bye, fights for the first time in a year and a half.
The night's card begins with the four matches from the eight-man "Super Hulk" tournament. Match-ups includes Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa vs. Bob Sapp, Jan Nortje vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Mark Hunt vs. Mousasi, and Jose Canseco vs. Hong Man Choi.

The full line-up for DREAM.9 includes:
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller (for vacant middleweight title) Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Joe Warren* Bibiano Fernandes vs. Masakazu Imanari* Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hiroyuki Takaya* Abel Cullum vs. Hideo Tokoro* Gesias "JZ" Cavalvante vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri Mark Hunt vs. Gegard Mousasi+ Jan Nortje vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou+ Jose Canseco vs. Hong Man Choi+ Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa vs. Bob Sapp+