Former Shooto world title challenger Kenji Osawa (Pictures) will make his stateside debut when the WEC heads back to The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Osawa will face a tough task in undefeated 20-year-old ATT product Chris Manuel (Pictures).

Osawa, 31, has split his last six bouts, albeit against strong competition. He opened last year 0-2, dropping a majority decision to Marcos Galvao (Pictures) and a split decision to Daniel Lima (Pictures). However, the dynamic Wajyutsu product ended the year with a win, taking a lopsided decision over Nobuhiro Yamauchi (Pictures) in December.

Osawa's debut in the WEC takes on higher stakes on a personal level for the charismatic banger. He will be looking to score a win not only for himself but in part to atone for the 91-second knockout loss of his friend and training partner Hiroyuki Takaya (Pictures), who was vanquished by Leonard Garcia (Pictures) in February.

The undefeated Manuel, a BJJ brown belt, has been tabbed as the next in a long line of strong ATT products. His breakout performance came last May in a highly exciting victory over Khomkrit Niimi (Pictures). Manuel followed up with another TKO win in his last bout, stopping Rex Payne (Pictures) in August.

A Japanese quintet is bound for Russia for the next edition of M-1 Mixfight's M-1 Challenge team series on April 3 in St. Petersburg, where Japan's contingent will meet the hometown Russian squad.

Organized by former Dream Stage Entertainment Vice President Sotaro Shinoda, the Japanese squad will feature Pride veteran Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures), heavy-hitting Kansai fighter Ken Hamamura (Pictures), Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures)'s student Yuta Watanabe (Pictures), karateka Yuji Sakuragi (Pictures) and veteran Katsuhisa Fujii (Pictures).

Nakamura will campaign at 154 pounds and will meet Yuri Ivlev. The Japanese fighter dominated in his last bout, an October win over South Korea's A Sol Kwan in Seoul. Ivlev was defeated in his last bout 12 months ago, being submitted by fellow Russian Karen Grigoryan.

Hamamura, an entertaining brawler and veteran of many smaller events in western Japan, is coming off two lackluster performances in which he was defeated by Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures) in December and fought to a dull draw with Shigetoshi Iwase (Pictures) in February. He will look to get back into the win column at 168 pounds against Islam Karimov, who has fought sparsely as of late, last taking a submission win over Sergei Bytchkov in October 2006.

The 23-year-old Watanabe, one of Japan's more respectable up-and-comers in the higher weight categories, is undefeated in his last six bouts. Most recently he took a decision over South Korea's Min Suk Heo in December.

Watanabe will face a stiff test in well-traveled veteran Ansar Chalangov (Pictures). The once highly touted Chalangov has lost his last three bouts, but they've come at the hands of strong competition in Thiago Alves (Pictures), Josh Koscheck (Pictures) and most recently Nick Thompson (Pictures).

At 205 pounds, Sakuragi will meet little-known Besike Gerinava. Sakuragi has fought in Russia before, having competed in a one-night vale tudo tournament on Russian soil last year. After going winless in four fights in the second half of 2007, Sakuragi opened 2008 up with a win, smashing Kenichiro Shinohara in February.

Fujii, a 12-year MMA veteran, has lost four of his last five bouts. He will be in for a stiff test against Akhmet Sultanov. The relatively unknown Sultanov notched a very impressive victory last November, when he took a unanimous decision over Eric Pele (Pictures) in Moscow.

The M-1 Challenge card will also feature a Finland vs. South Korea team competition as well as three superfights pitting Amar Suloev (Pictures) against Jacek Buczko, Roman Zentsov (Pictures) against Junior "Cigano" dos Santos, and Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) against Fabio Maldonado (Pictures).