As reported on BJPENN.com, Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki has pulled out of his scheduled bout with Ultimate Fighter Alum Shane Nelson on May 29th at DREAM 17. Nelson, who just accepted the fight, was coming off a victory over Jai Bradney …
As reported on BJPENN.com, Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki has pulled out of his scheduled bout with Ultimate Fighter Alum Shane Nelson on May 29th at DREAM 17. Nelson, who just accepted the fight, was coming off a victory over Jai Bradney at Nitro 2 on March 20th.
Aoki, who is coming off his quick disposal of Lyle Beerboh at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley on April 9th, did not give a reason for the withdrawal. Instead of Nelson, he will face UFC veteran, Rich Clementi. Clementi is coming off a loss to Reza Madadi at Superior Challenge 7 on April 30th, and has lost 3 of his last 5 fights overall.
This is not the first change of opponents for Aoki on the DREAM 17 card. He was first scheduled to face Antonio McKee, who was also coming off a loss at UFC 125. McKee said he had Visa issues that forced him to pull out of the fight.
So, for now, it’s Aoki – Clementi at DREAM 17: Fight For Japan.
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DREAM has put together another promo video for their “Fight for Japan: 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament”, which is set to happen on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena Hall in Saitama, Japan.
DREAM has put together another promo video for their “Fight for Japan: 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament”, which is set to happen on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena Hall in Saitama, Japan.
It appears that DREAM has secured the services of yet another lightweight opponent for promotional champ Shinya Aoki (27-5), for the upcoming DREAM: Fight for Japan at the end of this month.
On Tuesday evening, MMAjunkie.com is reporting that DREAM has secured the services of Shane “Sugar” Nelson (13-5), who replaces former MFC champ Antonio McKee […]
It appears that DREAM has secured the services of yet another lightweight opponent for promotional champ Shinya Aoki (27-5), for the upcoming DREAM: Fight for Japan at the end of this month.
On Tuesday evening, MMAjunkie.com is reporting that DREAM has secured the services of Shane “Sugar” Nelson (13-5), who replaces former MFC champ Antonio McKee who withdrew from the event due to travel visa issues.
DREAM: Fight for Japan is set to go down on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event will feature DREAM’s Bantamweight Japan Grand Prix Tournament, with the quarterfinal and semifinal bouts taking place on the card. The finals, and third place bouts, will take place later this summer with the top three fighters moving on to the World Grand Prix Tournament sometime this fall.
Nelson is a former cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir (TUF 8) putting together a 2-2 record in the UFC. “Sugar” was released from the promotion after losing two straight, dropping fights to Matt Wiman and Aaron Riley in 2009. Since then, the Hawaiian based fighter has fought only once, earning a second round submission victory last March at a local event in Australia. Seven of Nelson’s wins have come via decision.
Filed under: DREAM, News, JapanUFC veteran Rich Clementi is the latest candidate in a long line of possible opponents for DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki at DREAM “Fight for Japan” on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. FEG USA’…
UFC veteran Rich Clementi is the latest candidate in a long line of possible opponents for DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki at DREAM “Fight for Japan” on May 29 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. FEG USA’s Mike Kogan released the news via Twitter, but also stated that although the bout has been agreed upon, a contract has not yet been signed.
Clementi has gone 7-7 since his last win in the UFC in May 2008 and back to back losses to Gray Maynard and Gleison Tibau saw the 60-fight veteran lose his UFC contract.
Former Shooto champ Willamy Freire, former WEC champ Jamie Varner and MFC Champion Antonio McKee were all set to face the DREAM champion on May 29 but those bouts all fell through for various reasons. Some outlets have also indicated that BJ Penn student Shane Nelson was set to face Aoki but that bout has not materialized.
The full card for DREAM’s first event of 2011 is after the break although as experience shows, it is obviously subject to change. DREAM “Fight for Japan” – May 29, 2011 at Saitama Super Arena, Japan
Shinya Aoki vs. Rich Clementi
Joachim Hansen vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
“Lion” Takeshi Inoue vs. Koichiro Matsumoto
Caol Uno vs. Akiyo Nishiura
Katsunori Kikuno vs. Daisuke Nakamura
Bantamweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals:
Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara
Hideo Tokoro vs. Yoshiro Maeda
Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
Bantamweight Grand Prix Semifinals:
Masakazu Imanari/Keisuke Fujiwara vs Hideo Tokoro/Yoshiro Maeda
Kenji Osawa/Takafumi Otsuka vs. Darren Uyenoyama/Atsushi Yamamoto
Filed under: DREAM, FanHouse Exclusive, News, JapanThe only thing Antonio McKee is willing to say for certain is that he won’t be fighting Shinya Aoki at DREAM’s ‘Fight for Japan’ event at the end of the month, as was initially planned. As for why, tha…
The only thing Antonio McKee is willing to say for certain is that he won’t be fighting Shinya Aoki at DREAM’s ‘Fight for Japan’ event at the end of the month, as was initially planned. As for why, that answer is a little trickier, and one he’s keeping to himself for now.
“You know what? So I can fight Aoki in the near future, I’m not going to say anything about it,” McKee told MMA Fighting on Tuesday. “I’ll just say, I’ve heard it was because I just had surgery. I’ve heard there’s something wrong with my visa. I’ve heard I wasn’t getting paid so I wasn’t taking it. But it is definitely my responsibility that the fight’s not happening, and I’ll just leave it at that. Because I want that fight, sooner or later.”
McKee declined to explain any further, saying he was going to “protect myself and protect DREAM” by not disclosing the reason why the bout fell apart.
Of course, keeping quiet isn’t exactly easy for McKee. The 41-year-old lightweight has been known to make somewhat outrageous claims about his own abilities, which he feels were largely unappreciated for most of his career, and recently called the UFC the “new slave masters” after being cut from the organization following a decision loss to Jacob Volkmann in his Octagon debut at UFC 125.
But this time, McKee said, he’s resisting the urge to make a media splash on the subject of DREAM and Aoki.
“I’m just going to plead the fifth right now until it kind of cools off. I seem to be a very hot topic right now in the community of MMA, so I got to be a little more careful about what I say. I’m very verbal and I shoot it straight from the hip, but this is a situation where I’m going to shut my mouth because I think that’s best for my career.”
The next step in that career, according to McKee, is a fight with Rafaello Oliveira at CCF Bushido in Canada on July 23. And once that’s done?
“I would like to take the fight with Aoki right after that, if possible,” he said.
Filed under: DREAM, News, JapanRunning contrary to statements from promoter FEG, Antonio McKee claims he has been unable to obtain a visa and so has been forced out of his anticipated May 29 DREAM “Fight for Japan” bout with promotional lightweight cha…
Running contrary to statements from promoter FEG, Antonio McKee claims he has been unable to obtain a visa and so has been forced out of his anticipated May 29 DREAM “Fight for Japan” bout with promotional lightweight champion Shinya Aoki.
The announcement of McKee’s withdrawal first came from HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon with MMAJunkie.com providing the details on McKee’s visa. FEG USA’s Mike Kogan however has responded to the news on Twitter, admitting the fight is off but denying that the reason is McKee’s visa.
Former Shooto ace Willamy Freire was also ready to fight the DREAM ace but was unable to obtain a visa and so was forced out of the bout. Former WEC champ Jamie Varner was in negotiations to fight Aoki but the bout fell through in negotiations.
DREAM “Fight for Japan”, a charity event set to take place at the Saitama Super Arena, will be a scaled down version of a regular DREAM event due to power shortages following the March 11 Japanese earthquake. The full card for DREAM’s first show of 2011 is after the break.
As reported on BJPENN.com, Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki has pulled out of his scheduled bout with Ultimate Fighter Alum Shane Nelson on May 29th at DREAM 17. Nelson, who just accepted the fight, was coming off a victory over Jai Bradney at Nitro 2 on March 20th. 
UFC veteran 
The only thing 
Running contrary to statements from promoter FEG,