PRIDE legend Kazushi ‘The Gracie Hunter’ Sakuraba (26-15-1, 2NC) was officially added to September’s DREAM.17 event by promotion officials on Thursday. His name was added to the growing list of bouts for the event, along with his opponent, undefeated Brazilian welterweight Yan Cabral (9-0).
DREAM.17 is scheduled to take place on September 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event is expected to feature the opening round of the DREAM World Bantamweight Grand Prix tournament.
Sakuraba hasn’t competed since December 31 of last year at the Dynamite!! 2010 event for the DREAM welterweight title. The bout ended in a first round TKO loss against champ Marius Zaromskis after Sakuraba suffered a gruesome ear injury that forced the doctor to end the fight. ‘The Gracie Hunter’ has lost three straight which include defeats at the hands of Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and Ralek Gracie.
Cabral is a product of the Nova Uniao gym and is undefeated in nine career bouts. All nine of his victories have ended via submission, with no opponent making it into the third round. Four of those submission victories have come via arm-triangle choke, which is the only submission choke that Sakuraba has been forced to tap to twice in his career.