The match has been planned by Bellator for a few months now, but Alvarez recently confirmed that exact time for the bout.

Alvarez and Aoki are two of the top lightweights in the world and among the few fighters out there regarded in such high esteem who do not compete in the UFC.

“It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been wanting to get this back for the past three years so I’m just happy I got the opportunity and that the promoter, Bjorn Rebney, was able to make this come together and happen,” said Alvarez, in an interview with The Fight Nerd.

Alvarez lost his Bellator title to Michael Chandler in late 2011 in a match that many have claimed was the Fight of the Year. Aoki last competed at the DREAM New Year’s Eve event, earning semi-lopsided decision win over Satoru Kitaoka.

PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR/FEG

The bout is scheduled to take place at DREAM’s New Year’s Eve show dubbed Fight for Japan: How are you! New Year! 2011, an event taking place on December 31 at the legendary Saitama Super Arena.

Since his win over Kawajiri, Aoki went on to record five consecutive victories, including multiple non-title affairs in Japan and a submission win over Lyle Beerbohm at Strikeforce: Diaz vs Daley in April. The “Submission Magician” has dropped just one of his last ten fights — a decision loss to Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.

Kitaoka is most famous for submitting Takanori Gomi to win the Sengoku lightweight title. He is currently riding a four-fight winning streak and has last competed against Willamy Freire in a bout that ended with a tight split decision win for the Japanese fighter.

Also rumored for the card is a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and 2008 Olympic Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii.

PHOTO CREDIT – DREAM/SRC

News of the fights was first reported by MMAJunkie.com

One of the top lightweights in the world for many years, Aoki is currently on a five fight win streak. “The Baka Survivor” is known for his excellent grappling game, with 18 of his career 28 victories coming by way of submission. During his five fight win streak, Aoki has submitted four of his opponents including wrestler Lyle Beerbohm, striker Tatsuya Kawajiri, and grappler Rich Clementi. Although the man with the rainbow pants is the current DREAM lightweight champion, his title will not be on the line in this fight.

“Razor” Rob is a muay thai veteran who has been competing in MMA since 2001. A former WEC lightweight champion, McCullough is looking for one last big run in his career. 4-4 in his last eight fights, he’s coming off a devastating TKO loss to Patricky Freire in the first round of Bellator‘s most recent lightweight tournament. This fight will be McCullough’s first pro MMA fight outside of the US in his career.

At the age of 31, Kitaoka has already competed in 46 professional bouts and holds victories over the likes of Takanori Gomi, Paul Daley, and Carlos Condit. His opponent, Freire, had won 11 straight fights before losing a unanimous decision to Waylon Lowe at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 this past January.

DREAM.17 is scheduled for September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Along with these two lightweight bouts, a featherweight bout between Takeshi Inoue and Caol Uno is on the card. No word yet if the event will be broadcasted live in the United States.

News of the potential pairing was first reported by MMA-Japan citing Aoki himself, then later confirmed by HeavyMMA with a nod from Strikeforce officials. Five Ounces of Pain has also been able to confirm the fight is in place with Beerbohm.

“Fancy Pants” endured the first loss of his career last month at Strikeforce Challengers 14 in the form of a unanimous decision to Pat Healy. Prior to the outpointing Beerbohm had won fifteen fights in a row with thirteen finishes in the bunch. He holds past wins over Duane Ludwig and Vitor Ribeiro.

Aoki has been sidelined since suffering a knockout to kickboxer Yuichiro Nagashima in the MMA portion of a mixed-rules bout on New Year’s Eve in Japan. However, he is officially 3-0 in his last trio of outings based on the format including an opening round submission of Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM 15 in July. The April match-up will be his second under the Strikeforce banner and his first of 2011. The talented tap-out artist has also beaten the likes of J.Z. Cavalcante, Caol Uno, and Eddie Alvarez.

Also set for action in San Diego at the event, Diaz will defend his belt against powerful British striker Paul Daley while Melendez puts his up for grabs against the aforementioned Kawajiri. Gegard Mousasi will also face Mike Kyle on the live Showtime broadcast.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Word of their addition was first reported by MMAWeekly where it was also mentioned discussions are ongoing to possibly air preliminary bouts on HDNet and Sky Perfect TV in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Aoki’s last official MMA fight occurred in October and resulted in an opening round submission of Yokthai Sithar. However, the colorful, often polarizing lightweight old suffered a knockout in the Mixed Martial Arts portion of a “special rules” feature against kickboxer Yuichiro Nagashima on New Year’s Eve at Japan’s annual “K-1 Dynamite!!” extravaganza. He holds an overall record of 26-5 including highly respectable wins over Gesias Cavalcante, Joachim Hansen, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Eddie Alvarez. The 27-year old has fought once before under the Strikeforce banner in a one-sided outpointing by Melendez a little more than a year ago.

Unlike Aoki, Takaya will be making his promotional debut on the California card. The 15-8-1 striker is currently riding a three-fight winning streak including a recent unanimous decision victory over Bibiano Fernandes. He has also beaten standouts like Hansen, Yoshiro Maeda, Hideo Tokoro, and Hatsu Hioki over an eight-year career.

PHOTO CREDIT – ESTHER LIN / STRIKEFORCE

News that Aoki contemplated retiring from MMA to focus purely on teaching for DEEP in Japan was reported by MMAFight where it was also explained he changed his Twitter account after being harassed by fans.

However, the submission-savvy lightweight is known for being a very emotional fighter and hasn’t come close to announcing anything official at this point in time. Though the New Year’s Eve defeat was undoubtedly a set-back in Aoki’s career, he had won three consecutive fights prior to the performance and holds an overall record of 26-5. Aoki is widely considered to be one of the top 155-pounders in MMA based on his otherworldly Jiu-Jitsu and past victories over opponents like “J.Z.” Cavalcante, Joachim Hansen, Vitor Ribeiro, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Eddie Alvarez.

According to the company, Aoki will compete in a “mixed rules” bout against K-1 fighter Yuichiro Nagashima. Though the specific format has not been explained as of yet, there has been discussion regarding the possibility of one round of Mixed Martial Arts followed by another using the K-1 kickboxing format.

Slated for MMA-specific action, legendary competitor Kazushi Sakuraba will face Marius Zaromskis in a bout with the Lithuanian striker’s DREAM Welterweight Championship on the line. The pairing marks Zaromskis’ return to the promotion where he made a name for himself last year after compiling three consecutive wins by way of headkick. He has since gone 0-2 in Strikeforce with a recent “No Contest” against Waachim Spiritwolf due to an accidental eye-poke.

Also returning to Japan after a stint in the United States, former UFC lightweight Caol Uno will make his 145-pound debut at “Dynamite: The Power of Courage 2010” against freestyle wrestler Kazuyuki Miyata. Miyata, who represented Japan in the 2000 Olympics, has won his last five bouts including a decision victory over Takeshi “Lion” Inoue at DREAM 16 this past September.

The six fighters join a New Year’s Eve line-up already featuring former Strikeforce lightweight champ Josh Thomson fighting 26-6-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri, as well as a featherweight title fight between Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya (who originally fought to a split decision in the final of last year’s DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix).

Among the group of fighters finding success on the ground was now dual-divisional DREAM champion Gegard Mousasi. The 25-year old, who had previously held the promotion’s middleweight strap before voluntarily relinquishing it, beat Tatsuya Mizuno by way of Rear-Naked Choke a little more than midway through the opening round of their bout. The performance brought Mousasi’s record to 30-3-1 and was his second consecutive victory since dropping Strikeforce’s light heavyweight belt to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal this past April.

Also a winner by submission, Jason “Mayhem” Miller lived up to his promise of tapping out Japanese icon Kazushi Sakuraba and became the first fighter to do so since Kimo Leopoldo in Sakuraba’s MMA debut (circa 1996). Miller, who donned an orange-stripe in his hair rather than red out of respect for “Saku”, controlled the fight throughout its two-minute duration, even taking a moment to pause and flash his patented peace-sign pose while in top position. After raining down a few stiff shots shortly thereafter, Miller eventually locked in an Arm-Triangle Choke and fulfilled a life-goal in the process. The loss dropped Sakuraba’s record to 2-2 since the beginning of 2009 and was his second in a row.

As expected, the bulk of the action between submission-specialists Marcus Aurelio and Shinya Aoki took place on the mat. However, Aoki’s dominance and overall aggressiveness likely opened a few eyes. The “Tobikan Judan” offered little room for Aurelio’s offense, taking him down early and holding him there while doing a good deal of damage from the top as well. In fact, a large portion of the bout involved a slick double-leg triangle that kept Aurelio immobilized on the bottom for the most part. Aoki eventually went on to win the ground-war by way of unanimous decision.

Here is a complete rundown of DREAM 16 results:

Yusuke Kawaguchi def. James Thompson via Split Decision
Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Akiyo Nishiura via Split Decision
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Takeshi “Lion” Inoue via Unanimous Decision
Joachim Hansen def. Hideo Tokoro via Submission Round 2 (Triangle Choke)
Michihiro Omigawa def. Cole Escovedo via Submission Round 2 (Inverted Armbar)
Hiroyuki Takaya def. Chase Beebe via Knockout Round 1 (Strikes)
Satoshi Ishii def. Ikuhisa “Punk” Minowa via Unanimous Decision
Shinya Aoki def. Marcus Aurelio via Unanimous Decision
Jason “Mayhem” Miller def. Kazushi Sakuraba via Submission Round 1 (Arm-Triangle Choke)
Gegard Mousasi def. Tatsuya Mizuno via Submission Round 1 (Arm-Triangle Choke)

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.

“When I had his arm behind his back, I could feel it popping,” explained Aoki in a recent report at Sherdog.com. “I thought, ‘Well, this guy’s pride just won’t let him tap, will it?’ So without hesitation, I broke it. I heard it break, and I thought, ‘Ah, there, I just broke it.’ I was stopped afterward, but even if I hadn’t been, continuing to break it more would have been fine by me.”

According to DREAM event producer Keichi Sasahara, Aoki was sternly reprimanded following the bout for his post-fight antics that included the submission master standing over his fallen foe while giving him the finger and running around the ring mocking the fact that he had just severely injured Mizuto.

“After my fight, I was excited, and so I did something rude that I should apologize for,” said Aoki. “But that showed just how excited I was over that fight.”

According to Shinya, he’s an assassin for the promotion he represents, and it’s all in DREAM’s hands as far as who he goes after next.

“When Sasahara tells me to go and do something, I do it, and that’s how I live my life,” said Aoki. “If Sasahara tells me to go to Strikeforce and take them out or ‘Go and kill that guy,’ I’m going to do it.”

However, with that said, in the next breath Japanese superstar went on to confirm that he had accepted a challenge from fellow DREAM lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri in the near future, stating, “I received a challenge from [Kawajiri], and so without telling him to shut the f— up, I accept the challenge and look forward to our fight.”

But what about the countless American fighters that have gone on record to call out Aoki over the years? Where’s the motivation to make them eat their words?

Aoki went on to say that the earliest possible date he could see himself facing off with Kawajiri would be in March.

Strikeforce is currently targeting an early 2010 promotional debut for Aoki, with lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez as a possible first opponent.

The two faced off as part of the event that took place from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and aired live on HDNet.

Aoki scored a takedown early on in the opening round and quickly managed to pin Hirota’s right arm behind his back while the “The Tobikan Judan” reeled off a succession of punches. Mizuto began to try to roll out of the maneuver but was trapped on the canvas where his arm was quickly twisted and ripped out of the socket, giving Aoki the technical submission victory due to the lack of a tap out from the mangled Sengoku title holder.

In an extremely poor and uncharacteristic display of sportsmanship, Aoki took a page out of Brock Lesnar’s book following the stoppage, giving his fallen opponent the middle finger as he moaned in agony and running around the ring mocking the fact that his foe had his arm broken.

Aoki is expected to make his Strikeforce debut in early 2010, possibly against the promotion’s lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez.

Shinya Aoki is widely regarded to be among the very best lightweights in the business, and Strikeforce is aiming to bring him stateside in early 2010.

“He’s fought for Dream and we’re hoping he’s one of the guys that we can bring over to our stable in the first quarter,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker during a recent conversation with Sherdog.com.

Coker went on to name Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez as possible opponents for the “Tobikan Judan” if and when he makes the trip to Strikeforce.

Be on the lookout for Shinya at tomorrow evening’s “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers” card, as the submission specialist is expected to be in attendance.

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.

Shinya Aoki and Fedor Emelianenko

WAMMA Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko submitted WAMMA lightweight champion Shinya Aoki with an achilles lock in a “special super exhibition” match that took place at Wednesday’s “M-1 Challenge” event.

The most recent edition of the M-1 Challenge took place at the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan and featured a total of nineteen action packed bouts in the ongoing world mixed martial arts tournament.

Teams from France, Spain, Japan and England all took place in tournament competition during the event. Most notably, Team USA West was able to annihilate their competition, South Korea, with a score of 5-0.

Emelianenko had his way with Aoki for the bulk of the exhibition grappling match-up, throwing the smaller Japanese opponent around the ring like a rag doll with several Sambo throws. At one point during the contest Aoki attempted a flying armbar on the much larger heavyweight champion and eventually removed his gi in good fun. Ultimately Fedor was able to overpower Aoki with a tight achilles lock to force the submission just three minutes into the match-up.

Fedor prepares to secure the hold

The video of the unlikely grappling match between champions will air free of charge on a video-on-demand basis starting on Monday, May 4 at www.M-1Global.com and www.Mixfight.ru.

A full list of the results for the event are listed below:

Preliminary -

1. Featherweight - Tomoaki Ueyama def. Takayuki Hosakawa via TKO (punches) at 2:51 of round 1.

Team France vs. Team Spain -

2. Lightweight - Jose Luiz Zapater Aguirre (Spain) def. Makhtar Gueye (France) via DQ (illegal kick) at 1:21 of round 3.

3. Welterweight – Abner Lloveras (Spain) def. Gael Grimaud (France) via three-round split decision.

4. Middleweight - Christophe Dafreville (France) def. Rayco “Kakin” Romero Silva (Spain) via submission (Anaconda choke) at 2:48 of round 1.

5. Light Heavyweight – Christian Mpumbu (France) def. Enoc Solbes (Spain) via submission (armbar) at 4:59 of round 1.

6. Heavyweight - Rogent Lloret (Spain) def. Soufian Elgarne (France) via submission (Anaconda choke) at 2:44 of round 1

Spain Defeats France via 3-2 score

Preliminary -

7. Lightweight - Kosuke Umeda def. Muneyuki Sato via unanimous decision.

USA West vs. South Korea (best-of-five series) -

8. Lightweight- David Jansen (USA West) def. Yui Chul Nam (S. Korea) via unanimous decision.

9. Welterweight- Fabio Negao (USA West) def. Myung Ho Bae (S. Korea) via majority decision.

10. Middleweight- Giva Santana (USA West) def. Min Suk Heo (S. Korea) via submission (armbar) at 4:05 of round 1.

11. Light Heavyweight - Raphael Davis (USA West) def. Jae Young Kim (S. Korea) via TKO (punches) at 3:45 of round 2.

12. Heavyweight – Shane Del Rosario (USA West) def. Doo Hee Lee (S. Korea/103 kg) via KO (head kick) at 2:27 of round 1.

USA West Defeats South Korea via 5-0 score

Superfight -

13. Middleweight – Karl Amoussou (France) def. Kazuhiro Hamanaka (Japan) via KO (flying knee) at 0:23 of round 1.

Special Super Exhibition -

14. Fedor Emelianenko (Russia) vs. Shinya Aoki (Japan): Match was conducted as a sparring exhibition with no scoring.

Japan vs. England (best-of-five series) -

15. Lightweight - Luiz Andrada (Japan) def. Ian Butlin (England) via submission (armbar) at 3:20 of round 1.

16. Welterweight – Simon Phillips (England) def. Hidehiko Hasgawa (Japan) via KO at 0:20 of round 1.

17. Middleweight – Matt Thorpe (England) def. Yusuke Masuda (Japan) via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:30 of round 2.

18. Light Heavyweight – Tom Blackledge (England) def. Tatsuya Mizuno (Japan) via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:22 of round 1.

19. Heavyweight – Rob Broughton (England) def. Yusuke Kawaguchi (Japan) via unanimous decision.

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

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has confirmed with M-1 Global officials that Fedor and Aoki will indeed take part in an exhibition against each other during the course of the 19-bout show that includes head-to-head M-1 Challenge matchups between Team USA West vs. South Korea, host country Japan vs. England, and Spain vs. France.

The nature of the exhibition between Fedor and Aoki has been the subject of much speculation in the Japanese press, with some publications indicating that it will be a full-on submission grappling match while other outlets claim it will be a sambo wrestling exhibition.

When asked for details by Five Ounces of Pain, M-1 officials would only state that the Fedor vs. Aoki exhibition would be a “special sparring session” and that rules for the encounter are still being finalized.

Emelianenko has not competed since recording a first round knockout over Andrei Arlovski during Affliction and M-1′s “Day of Reckoning” event this past January. The special exhibition will also mark the first time the former PRIDE heavyweight champion has competed on Japanese soil since recording a first round submission over Hong Man Choi during “Yarrenoka!!” on New Year’s Eve in 2007.

Aoki fought earlier this month at DREAM.8, losing via TKO just 27 seconds into his welterweight matchup against Hayato Sakurai. The talented submission specialist had won his three previous consecutive bouts with wins over Todd Moore, Eddie Alvarez, and David Gardner.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has confirmed through its sources that the fighter in question is former WEC and UFC veteran John Alessio. However, a source cautioned that a deal to bring Alessio into the tournament fold has not been finalized and his chances of signing and fighting Aoki were appraised as being “50/50.”

Aoki, 19-3, primarily competes at lightweight. He won the then-vacant WAMMA lightweight title this past New Year’s Eve during FEG’s “Dynamite!!” event after he submitted Eddie Alvarez with a heel hook at 1:32 of round 2. The six year veteran is widely regarded as the number two lightweight fighter in the world and holds notable victories in his career over Akira Kikuchi, Joachim Hansen, Caol Uno, and Gesias Calvancante.

Alessio is 24-12 and has been idle since losing to Paul Daley this past December during a Maximum Fighting Championships event. Daley was able to TKO Alessio courtesy of punches at 2:18 of round 2. Having competed since 1998, Alessio holds notable wins over Thomas Denny, Chris Brennan, Pete Spratt, and Gideon Ray.

The Grand Prix, which is scheduled to begin at DREAM.8 on April 5 in Japan, is expected to include a total of 16 fighters. In addition to Aoki, Hayato Sakurai has also been confirmed for the tournament field.

Newly crowned WAMMA lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, fresh off a submission victory over Eddie Alvarez at FEG’s New Years’ Eve event, will make the jump to welterweight to compete in the Grand Prix. You may recall that Aoki made it to the finals of last year’s lightweight Grand Prix only to lose to Joachim Hansen, who was a replacement for an injured Alvarez.

Also confirmed for the grand prix is Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, who was defeated Katsuyori Shibata by first round TKO at “Dynamite!!” on New year’s Eve.

A qualifying match for entry into the Grand Prix between Hidetaka Monma and DEEP champion Seichi Ikemoto will also take place on the DEEP 40 card on February 20.

Ikuhisa Minowa will be fighting on the Dream.8 card as well, although no opponent has been named. Minowa, who is 41-29 in a career that dates back to 1996, recently defeated Errol Zimmerman on the same NYE”s card.

Minowa has fought a who’s who of mixed martial artists including Evan Tanner, Paulo Fihlo, Ricardo Almeida, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Wanderlai Silva, Kazushi Sakuraba and Mirko Cro Cop. However, Minowa went winless in all of the aforementioned matchups.

Reports surfaced earlier this month that the Alvarez vs. Aoki bout was under consideration to be for the vacant WAMMA lightweight title. FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned Monday morning through a press release issued by WAMMA that the organization will be recognizing the Alvarez vs. Aoki winner as its lightweight champion.

The release goes on to state that a belt will not be presented to the winner immediately after the conclusion of the contest. Instead, the winner will receive the championship belt during a ceremony to be held at a later date.

Alvarez was a two-time All-American high school wrestler at Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia and has gone 15-1 since becoming a professional mixed martial artist. A former BodogFIGHT welterweight champion, Alvarez made the decision to drop to the lightweight division earlier this year.

Starting with a 165 pound catchweight bout during a Jan. 25 ShoXC event in Atlantic City, N.J., the 24-year old father of two has gone 4-0 as a lightweight. The undefeated streak includes a 3-0 run during DREAM’s lightweight Grand Prix that only ended after Alvarez was unable to receive medical clearance to compete in the finals.

Aoki is 18-3 and widely regarded as one of the top submission fighters in MMA with black belts in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The 25-year old Japan native has earned his number three WAMMA lightweight ranking with notable victories over current DREAM lightweight champion Joachim Hansen; Gesias “JZ Calvan” Calvancante; former two-time UFC lightweight title challenger Caol Uno; and former Shooto middleweight champion Akira Kikuchi.

Alvarez and Aoki had been scheduled to compete during the finals of the DREAM lightweight Grand Prix but Hansen, and injury reserve, replaced the injured Alvarez. Hansen became the DREAM lightweight champion after TKO’ing Aoki in the first round even though he had been eliminated earlier in the tournament by Alvarez.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com President and Publisher Sam Caplan serves as the chair for WAMMA’s ranking committee.