Shinya Aoki vs. Rich Clementi official for "DREAM.17: Fight for Japan"

As expected, Japanese star Shinya Aoki (27-5 MMA, 11-2 DREAM) and fellow lightweight Rich Clementi (40-19-1 MMA, 0-0 DREAM) will fight later this month at "DREAM.17: Fight for Japan."

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) passed along news of the bout earlier this week, and DREAM executives since have made it official.

Clementi takes the fight after the loss of Antonio McKee (unspecified reasons) and Shane Nelson (Aoki declined to fight him). Jamie Varner and Willamy Freire also previously were rumored for the slot.

DREAM.17 takes place May 29 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and serves as a fundraiser following earthquakes and a tsunami that recently ravaged the country. HDNet is expected to air the show in North America.

Aoki enters DREAM.17 with a four-fight win streak and seven victories in his past eight fights. Most recently, he scored a 93-second submission victory (due to a neck crank) over Lyle Beerbohm at April's "Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley" event. However, mixed in with the recent run was an embarrassing (and sometimes baffling) second-round KO loss to K-1 kickboxer Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima in a "special rules" bout at "DREAM Dynamite!! 2010."

Clementi, a UFC veteran with a 60-fight resume, competed in Japan for the first time since 2004, when he went 3-1-1 during a five-fight stint for ZST. "No Love" has garnered mixed results as of late, alternating wins and losses during a 7-5 run since his 2009 release from the UFC.

The full DREAM.17 card (in reverse bout order) includes:

• Uyenoyama/Yamamoto winner vs. Maeda/Tokoro winner (Japan bantamweight-tourney semifinal)
• Fujiwara/Imanari winner vs. Osawa/Otsuka winner (Japan bantamweight-tourney semifinal)
• Shinya Aoki vs. Rich Clementi
• Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
• Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura vs. Caol Uno
• Takeshi Inoue vs. Koichiro Matsumoto
• Joachim Hansen vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
• Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka (Japan bantamweight-tourney first round)
• Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Masakazu Imanari (Japan bantamweight-tourney first round)
• Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro (Japan bantamweight-tourney first round)
• Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (Japan bantamweight-tourney first round)