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Over the weekend DREAM-promoter FEG announced Aoki would put his high-level Jiu-Jitsu skills up against a fellow blackbelt at the art of tapping opponents out, Marcus Aurelio, in a non-title affair.

Aurelio has won four of his last five bouts including two straight and is 20-8 in his career. Seventeen of his victories have come by way of a finishing performance, including thirteen submissions with his most notable victim being Takaonori Gomi in 2006.

His opponent, Aoki, is also 4-1 over his previous five in-ring appearances with the only loss coming to Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez this past April.

Additionally, DREAM also revealed Joachim Hansen will face Hideo Tokoro at the show, while “Lion” Takeshi Inoue will fight Kazuyuki Miyata in hopes of getting back on the winning track after a split decision loss to Hatsu Hioki at a Shooto event in May.

DREAM

The event is set to take place at the Yokohama Arena in Kanagawa, Japan on October 6 and will air live on HDNet in the United States.

The first bout between the two saw Hansen coming up on the stinky end of an Aoki gogoplata at “PRIDE Shockwave 2006″, before Hansen evened the score by pounding Aoki senseless in their rematch that took place in the finals of the 2008 DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix.

It remains to be seen if ring rust will be a factor for the well rounded Norwegian commonly referred to as “Hellboy” by his fans, as Hansen’s last victory was the previously noted victory over Aoki in July of 2008, while the spandexed submission specialist from Japan has been as active as ever, putting together a 4-1 record in the year since the two last met.

DREAM 11 is quickly taking form as one of the most intriguing in the promotion’s history with the recent addition of the lightweight title bout between Hansen and Aoki. Also announced for the card will be the closing series of “Super Hulk” tournament bouts, and a still expected middleweight championship bout between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

The event is set for October 6 and will take place at the Yokohoma Arena in Yokohoma, Japan.

The news of the anticipated lightweight match-up comes courtesy of a recent report on Sherdog.com.

Aoki bounced back from a welterweight TKO loss at the hands of Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at DREAM 8 by besting Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro by unanimous decision on July 20 at DREAM 10. The “Tobikan Judan” is widely respec

ted as one of the most dangerous submission artists in the game and has only suffered two defeats in his last seventeen bouts.

Hansen’s last trip to the ring saw him avenge a loss to none other than Aoki at DREAM 5 to win the DREAM lightweight grand prix. Aoki submitted Hansen in the first match between the two with a nasty gogoplata at PRIDE Shockwave 2006.

Also expected for the card will be the featherweight grand prix semifinals and finals, the Super Hulk semis and finals, and a DREAM middleweight championship bout between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

The fight will be for the Dream lightweight championship currently held by Hansen. The title was obtained by Hansen with a victory over Aoki and this rematch will be his first defense of the crown.

The pair are far from strangers as the match-up scheduled for July 20 will mark the third time these two lightweights have butted heads in the ring.

The first bout between Aoki and Hansen took place at Pride Shockwave which went down on New years Eve, 2006. Aoki came into the fight off of five consecutive victories and improved it to six with a technically superb gogoplata over Hansen in the very first round.

Aoki continued with his winning ways for close to two years before he crossed paths with Hansen again, putting together a string of thirteen consecutive victories before the pairs second meeting.

Hansen drastically turned the tables on the “Tobikan Judan” in the rematch between the two that took place in the final round of the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix on July 21, 2008.

After coming up on the losing end of a decision to Eddie Alvarez in a slugfest that was waged in the opening round of the lightweight grand prix, Hansen never should have been in the ring with Aoki on that fateful night. If it hadn’t been for a submission victory obtained over Kultar Gill in the evening’s reserve bout, and Eddie Alvarez’ ridiculously swollen eye he earned while stopping Tatsuya Kawajiri to advance to the finals, things could have ended up quite differently for Hansen.

What did end up happening was Hansen’s brutal first round TKO stoppage over Aoki that will set up the rubber-match for all of the glory at Dream 10.

A full list of the participants expected for Dream 10 are listed below.

Lightweight Championship – Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen

Welterweight Grand Prix Semifinals

Andre Galvao
Jason High
Hayato Sakurai
Marius Zaromskis

“I am really looking forward to possibly fighting Joachim Hansen,” said Thomson.

Thomson went on to say that his next fight will definitely take place in 2008.

“November 21st is my next fight. I do know that I will be fighting at the HP Pavilion. I believe it will be a title defense.”

Once again, Thomson made it clear who he wants the title defense to be against.

“We are hoping for Joachim Hansen.”

A fight between Thomson and Hansen would certainly be an excellent match-up. Hansen is coming off a very impressive showing in the recent Dream lightweight tournament that included a win over Shinya Aoki and a loss to Eddie Alvarez in a potential fight of the year candidate. On the other hand, Thomson is on an eight fight winning streak dating back to March 2006.

EliteXC just announced during the broadcast of EliteXC: Return of the King that Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith will face off in a rematch for the EliteXC middleweight title on CBS on July 26.Smith was on hand to talk to the broadcast team and said that his eye as well as his foot are both fine and he is ready to fight. So there you have it, folks. EliteXC on CBS in July is now official.

I am making that e-mail available here, but I wanted to add that 5 Oz. of Pain contacted both Kaitlin Young and Scott Smith to get their sides of the story. Young declined to comment on the record at this time while Smith was unavailable for comment.

Here is Wulkan’s e-mail:

“When we saw Kaitlin in the cage, we were concerned about an orbital fracture. Both she and her corner were grateful that the fight was stopped and actually thanked us for stopping the fight. When she first returned to the dressing room, she said she wasn’t sure why the fight was stopped, but after looking in the mirror, she was glad we did. That is almost a quote verbatim. She said she was overwhelmed and that Carano definitely got the better of her on this occasion. I don’t read the blogs [Editor's Note: Dr. Wulkan is referring to an alleged post by Kaitlin Young on FighterGirls.com, however, the post has yet to be verified as actually being authored by Young herself], but perhaps she was not well reviewed and this prompted the response you forwarded.

“We did not stop the fight because it looked ugly or because she was a woman, but because she had taken some major abuse, and because we were afraid she had a fracture. The risks of orbital fractures are well known to ringside physicians.

“Her response seems more like a vendetta for not being invited to the interviews . It’s a shame, because she presented herself very professionally both before and after the fight on fight night.

“As a follow up, Drago [editor's note: Pete Sell] told me that Smith said he still was seeing double and triple 15-20 minutes after returning to the locker room. His corner was grateful we made the call we did. I want to know who told the press we didn’t pick up the foot injury at the time it happened. That’s just not precise reporting. I’m glad you cleared that up. I think it’s amazing that Smith himself, although initially disappointed, currently has no problem with the decision; he knows we’re professional and we have both their short term and long term interests at heart. At no time did we hear a complaint from Smith’s corner, so why are the blogs so insistent that an injustice was served? Besides, the rematch will prove to be a war, especially with two healthy fighters.”

Terms of the contract have not been disclosed and the promotion has not announced a debut date.

Smith, a middleweight, was a part of the cast for the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter. He is probably best known for his fight against Pete Sell during the live finale in which he knocked Sell out when he was on the verge of being finished himself.

Smith was let go by the UFC several months ago when the promotion decided to cut many fighters that were under contract to the promotion.