"Yoshihiro Akiyama has decided not to fight on New Year's Eve," FEG producer Sadaharu Tanikawa said Thursday. "We offered him a fight in Dynamite and gave him a list of ten fighters. He was supposed to pick one. However, in the end he refused to fight in Dynamite."
Akiyama (11-1) wasn't originally on the list of participants for the New Year's Eve show but Tanikawa later spoke about a possible fight between Akiyama and Shinya Aoki.
"I'm tired of negotiating with him," Tanikawa continued. "He doesn't understand what fans expect from him and his position. I don't know the reason why he turned down the offer. I'm very disappointed in him."
Akiyama last fought for DREAM in November at DREAM 6. But afterwards, Akiyama called out Hidehiko Yoshida -- a fighter for DREAM's main competitor Sengoku.
Aoki, a loyal DREAM fighter, took offense to this and challenged Akiyama to a fight on New Year's Eve. With Akiyama out of the picture, Aoki will fight Eddie Alvarez.
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