Aoki vs. ‘Chiquerim’, Hansen vs. Ishida Added to DREAM.17

from cagepotatoe

Fresh off his first-round neck-crank victory over Lyle Beerbohm, Shinya Aoki will be returning to his homeland to compete at DREAM.17 (May 29th; Saitama, Japan). MMAWeekly reports that Aoki will take on former Shooto champ Willamy “Chiquerim” Freire, an 18-4 Nova Uniao product who was recently cut from the UFC after a single unsuccessful performance against Waylon Lowe at Fight for the Troops 2. The loss snapped an 11-fight win streak that included victories over Patricky Freire (no relation) and Yusuke Endo.

Also supporting the Japan Bantamweight Tournament at DREAM.17 will be a featherweight meeting between PRIDE Bushido/DREAM mainstays Joachim Hansen and Mitsuhiro Ishida. Hansen’s last DREAM appearance was a first-round submission of Hideo Tokoro last September, while Ishida is riding back-to-back decision victories over Daiki Hata and “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura. Speaking of Wicky, he’s also been booked for a DREAM.17 date against 15-year MMA veteran Caol Uno, who has gone winless in his last five fights.

Of course, Uno has previously suffered losses to Aoki and Hansen, while Aoki and Hansen have fought each other three times. Basically, everybody mentioned in this article shares germs.