Latest DREAM Stories

It wasn't too long ago that JZ Cavalcante was considered one of the best 155-pounders in the world. But after losing two fights in a row and dealing with multiple knee injuries, the Brazilian lightweight has fallen out of most top-10 rankings.

Cavalcante hasn't competed since May 2009, and when MMA Fighting caught up with him recently at the American Top Team gym in Coconut Creek, Fla., he said he expects to return to action in April or May, which is when he is sure to be 100% healthy.

Cavalcante also talked about wanting to fight in the United States and how he is able to fight with not one, but two, tongue rings. Check out the video interview below.

Marius Zaromskis (13-3) is set to face Nick Diaz for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title on Saturday night, but regardless of what happens at Strikeforce: Miami, it appears as though "The Whitemare" will head back to Japan for his next fight to defend his DREAM 170-pound title against Kiyoshi Tamura (32-13-3) at DREAM.13 on March 22.

MMA Fighting learned on Friday that the Japanese-based promotion is close to signing the bout. Of course, should Zaromskis get seriously injured against Diaz, there is a chance the fight might not happen.

DREAM featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes will put his belt on the line against Joachim Hansen at DREAM.13 on March 22 in Yokohama, Japan, the promotion announced Thursday in a press conference in Tokyo.

DREAM.13, first DREAM event for 2010, will happen on March 22 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, the promotion announced Wednesday.

It will be the promotion's first show since co-promoting with rival Sengoku at Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year's Eve. In seven head-to-head matchups, DREAM defeated Sengoku four to three.

New Year's Eve is the biggest day on the Japanese MMA and kickboxing calendar, and then the month of January is when the Japanese fight scene takes its biggest respite. So that makes now a good time to take a breath and consider what 2010 will bring in Japan.

Today I'm taking a look at Japan in 2010 with Michael Schiavello, the voice of K-1 and Japanese MMA on HDNet.

Michael David Smith: Let's start with K-1. I think 2010 will be the year Badr Hari finally wins the K-1 World Grand Prix after losing in the final the last two years. What do you think? Is this going to be the year of Badr Hari?

Shinya Aoki has been removed as an instructor at the Paraestra Tokyo in Japan for his antics following his win on New Year's Eve at Dynamite!! 2009.

Yuki Nakai, the general manager of Paraestra, announced Aoki's dismissal on the gym's website and apologized on behalf of the camp for anyone's discomfort from watching Aoki's "inappropriate behavior."

Sengoku is calling for Shinya Aoki be punished for his behavior following his New Year's Eve win at Dynamite!! 2009 in Saitama, Japan.

World Victory Road, the parent company of the Sengoku Raiden Championship, and the Japan Association of Athletics Federations urged DREAM Thursday at a press conference to prevent such unsportsmanlike conduct to happen in the future by taking disciplinary action against the DREAM lightweight champion.

Shinya Aoki gave Mizuto Hirota a broken arm when Hirota refused to tap out from Aoki's hammerlock submission in their fight at Dynamite 2009, and then Aoki gave Hirota a middle finger on top of it.

It was a classless act from Aoki, and Dream event producer Keichi Sasahara said afterward that Aoki was reprimanded for his antics. For his part, Aoki said, "After my fight, I was excited, and so I did something rude that I should apologize for.

Dream's heavyweight fights consisted mostly of freak shows and mismatches in 2009, but Japan's leading MMA promotion is making noises about beefing up its heavyweight division in 2010.

Specifically, Dream event producer Keichi Sasahara said after Dynamite 2009 that he hopes to bring in former UFC heavyweight champions Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, perhaps as soon as Dream's first 2010 show in March.

Alistair Overeem said after his easy victory at Dynamite 2009 that he's ready to start taking on much, much tougher competition: He wants to defend his Strikeforce heavyweight title against Fedor Emelianenko.

But Overeem said he wants to do it on his own timeframe, and that he wants the Fedor fight to come in May or June. That's a problem because Fedor is expected to fight in April on the next Strikeforce/M-1 Global/CBS show.

We're 10 days away from a very important featherweight card at WEC 46, where three of the best five featherweights in the world will fight: Urijah Faber vs. Rafael Assuncao in a bout that should determine the No. 1 contender, and Mike Brown vs. Anthony Morrison in a bout that should give Brown a relatively easy win after the loss of his featherweight title.

But before we get too deep into that card, let's take a moment to re-shuffle our featherweight rankings in the wake of the New Year's Eve Dynamite 2009 card. Both Masanori Kanehara and Michihiro Omigawa had impressive victories on New Year's Eve, and as a result they've both moved into my featherweight Top 10, which is below.

Melvin Manhoef went straight from his knockout win over Kazuo Misaki at Dynamite 2009 to a press conference at which he said he could fight less than a month from now, against Robbie Lawler at Strikeforce Miami on January 30.

Manhoef typically trains at Mike's Gym in Amsterdam, which burned down recently, but he said he'll be able to find a place to train. And for Manhoef, who had five kickboxing matches and two MMA fights in 2009, a rest period of 30 days is plenty.