Shinya Aoki Now Slated to Face Rich Clementi at “Dream.17: Fight for Japan”

from 5thround.com

The game of musical lightweights appears to have finally come to an end for Dream. After seeing four previously rumored opponents slip through the cracks, the Japanese promotion appears to have finally located someone to stand opposite Shinya Aoki.

Mike Kogan, Dream’s representative in America, announced the bout late Tuesday night on his Twitter account. However, he reiterated the scrap has merely been agreed upon and contracts have yet to be signed.

Both 155-pounders are expected to put pen to paper shortly.

Clementi holds an extensive 40-19-1 professional record. The former UFC fighter was last seen dropping a unanimous decision to Reza Madadi at “SC 7: Rise of Champions” last month.

Willamy Freire, Jamie Varner, Antonio McKee and most recently Shane Nelson were all reportedly in talks to fight Aoki.

“Dream.17: Fight for Japan” takes place May 29th inside the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. The card features the opening rounds of Dream’s eight-man Bantamweight Grand Prix.

If the event airs in North America, HDNet would likely play host. Nothing has been announced at this time.

Here is the official lineup for the show:

Individual Bouts:

Caol Uno vs. Akiyo Nishiura
Joachim Hansen vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
Takeshi Inoue vs. Koichiro Matsumoto
Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
Shinya Aoki vs. Rich Clementi

Bantamweight Grand Prix (1stRound):

Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara

Bantamweight Grand Prix (2ndRound):

Osawa/Otsuka Winner vs. Imanari/Fujiwara Winner
Maeda/Tokoro Winner vs. Uyenoyama/Yamamoto