As expected, DREAM officials have scrapped a planned contest between Todd Duffee and Nick Gaston.With ex-UFC heavyweight Todd Duffee (6-2 MMA, 0-1 DREAM) injured and Gaston (5-1 MMA, 0-0 DREAM) the victim of a recent knockout loss, both fighters were left unavailable for this weekend's "DREAM: Japan GP Final" event.
Rather than scramble to add an additional bout on extremely late notice, DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara on Wednesday announced the event will proceed with eight official contests.
"DREAM: Japan GP Final" takes place this Saturday, July 16, at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. No North American broadcast plans have been announced for the event (officially dubbed "Fight for Japan: DREAM Japan GP Final – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament Final").
Duffee had hoped to rebound from back-to-back losses that cooled his quick rise to the top of the prospect list. After being released from the UFC in fall 2010, he took a short-notice fight against Alistair Overeem for the DREAM interim heavyweight belt at the promotion's "Dynamite 2010" event in December and was knocked out cold in 19 seconds.
Meanwhile, six-time King of the Cage veteran Gaston opened his career with five-straight victories. However, "Afrozilla" was defeated by Tyler East in Oklahoma on June 24.
With the late scratch, the full card for "DREAM: Japan GP Final" now includes:
- Champ Gegard Mousasi vs. Hiroshi Izumi (for light-heavyweight title)
- Champ Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Kazuyuki Miyata (for featherweight title)
- Champ Marius Zaromskis vs. Hayato Sakurai (welterweight non-title fight)
- Masakazu Imanari vs. Hideo Tokoro (Japan bantamweight-tourney finale)
- Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Kenji Osawa (Japan bantamweight-tourney third-place fight)
- Tatsuya Mizuno vs. Trevor Prangley
- Drew Fickett vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- Bruno Carvalho vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
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