Bellator Fighting Championships made a lightweight rematch official on Thursday between former Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez (22-3) and DREAM champion Shinya Aoki (30-5, 1NC).
The event, Bellator 66, is set to take place on April 20, 2012 at the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The main card will air live on MTV2, while the prelim card is expected to stream live on Spike.com.
Alvarez and Aoki met for the first time in December 2008 in Japan at a Dynamite!! 2008 show. Aoki would end the fight in 92-seconds, using a heel hook submission.
Since that time Alvarez went on a seven fight run, winning the Bellator lightweight championship. That streak came to an end last November, as Alvarez suffered a fourth round submission loss to Michael Chandler.
After defeating Alvarez, Aoki put together a record of 11-2 reclaiming his DREAM title and competing for the Strikeforce lightweight title. Currently Aoki has won seven in a row, defending his DREAM title last New Years Eve in Japan.