(pictured Rich Clementi & Shinya Aoki, find more photos at DreamOfficial.com)
DREAM’s Japan Grand Prix – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament got the go ahead on Saturday as all eight tournament competitors made weight for Sundays event.
Headliner, DREAM lightweight champ, Shinya Aoki (153.8lbs/69.8 kg) made the 70 kg weight limit, while opponent Rich Clementi (154.76 lbs/70.2 kg) was 0.2 kg overweight and will have an undisclosed period of time to drop the extra weight. Clementi made weight on his second attempt, weighing in at 69.9 kg (154 lbs)
DREAM: Fight for Japan is set to go down on Sunday night at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event will be rebroadcast in North America June 3, on HDNet.
Participants in the Japan Grand Prix will fight in the quarterfinal, and semifinal matches on Saturday. The tournament final, and third place bout, will occur at a July event with the top three fighters moving onto the Bantamweight World Grand Prix tournament sometime this fall.
Other bouts on the DREAM card include matches between Caol Uno vs. Akiyo Nishiura, Joachim Hansen vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida, and Takeshi Inoue vs. Koichiro Matsumoto.
DREAM: Fight for Japan weigh-in results (courtesy of Sherdog.com):
Main Card
Shinya Aoki (69.8 kg/153.8 lbs) vs. Rich Clementi (69.9 kg/154.06 lbs)
Katsunori Kikuno (70 kg/154.32 lbs) vs. Daisuke Nakamura (69.6 kb/153.44 lbs)
Caol Uno (65 kg/143.3 lbs) vs. Akiyo Nishiura (64.8 kg/142.86 lbs)
Mitsuhiro Ishida (64.9 kg/143.3 lbs) vs. Joachim Hansen (65 kg/143.3 lbs)
Takeshi Inoue (65 kg/ 43.3 lbs) vs. Koichiro Matsumoto (64.9 kg/143.08 lbs)
Bantamweight Grand Prix Tournament
Yoshiro Maeda (60.5 kg/133.38 lbs) vs. Hideo Tokoro (61 kg/134.48 lbs)
Yusaku Nakamura (60.2 kg/132.72 lbs) vs. Atsushi Yamamoto (60.7 kg/133.82 lbs)
Kenji Osawa (60.5 kg/133.82 lbs) vs. Takafumi Otsuka (60.7 kg/133.82 lbs)
Keisuke Fujiwara (61 kg/134.48 lbs) vs. Masakazu Imanari (60.8 kg/134.04 lbs)