FEG, the parent company of K-1 and DREAM, announced Thursday that the middleweight judoka would not be competing at this year's "Dynamite" New Year's Eve event.
See Also: Akiyama turns down offer to fight at 'Dynamite'
FEG said Akiyama was offered a list of ten opponents but turned down the offer to fight. Akiyama's decision to no partcipate is likely do to the terms of the agreement.
"My contract with FEG expired at the end of November," Akiyama told his fans Thursday on his blog. "Even though we talked it over, we couldn't reach an agreement for the Dynamite fight. Unfortunately, I cannot fight at Dynamite this year. I'm disappointed because I really wanted to participate."
Akiyama said he doesn't know where he'll fight next, but he'll begin negotiating with other MMA promotions next year.
DREAM lightweight Shinya Aoki, who called out Akiyama and was one of the names offered to Akiyama, says good riddance.
"If Akiyama asks me to fight someday, I'll accept his offer," Aoki said. "However, I personally don't want to see him in DREAM again. If I was the promoter, I would definitely kick him out of the event."
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