Yusaku Nakamura has replaced Darren Uenoyama at Sunday's "DREAM.17: Fight for Japan" event. Officials announced overnight that an injury forced Uenoyama (6-3 MMA, 0-1 DREAM) off the card.
Nakamura (3-0 MMA, 0-0 DREAM) now replaces Uenoyama's original opponent, Atsushi Yamamoto (14-6-1 MMA, 1-1 DREAM), in the opening round of the eight-man Japan bantamweight grand prix.
The first and second rounds of the tournament take place at the event, which is slated for Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It's not expected to air live in North America.
The final round (and third-place fight) of the tourney are scheduled for July. The top-three finishers in the tournament secure slots in a planned DREAM world bantamweight grand prix later this year.
Nakamura, who's previously competed for the Japanese-based DEEP organization, owns three knockout wins during his 17-month career. He now meets seven-year Pancrase and Shooto vet Yamamoto, who's won three of his past four, including a decision victory over Hideo Tokoro at DREAM.6.
The full DREAM.17 card 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)
- Yusaku Nakamura vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (Japan bantamweight-tourney first round)
No comments:
Post a Comment