Fighting and Entertainment Group has two more official fights for Dream 11 on Oct. 6 at the Yokohama Arena, but no
Gegard Mousasi.
The promotion partially formalized the semifinals of its Super Hulk tournament on Wednesday: 7-foot-2 South Korean
Hong Man Choi will take on middleweight giant-slayer
Ikuhisa Minowa, and UFC and Pride veteran
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou will await a replacement opponent due to Strikeforce 205-pound champion and tournament favorite
Gegard Mousasi pulling out of the tournament due to injury.
Also announced for the card is a 154-pound contest between Brazilian standout Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante and high-flying submission stalwart
Daisuke Nakamura.
The bout will be just the second fight for Cavalcante in 16 months. After sitting out most of 2008 following surgery to repair an ACL tear and having a Dec. 31 bout with
Joachim Hansen fall apart at the last minute due to Hansen not passing a pre-fight physical, Cavalcante returned to action in May, where he dropped a unanimous verdict to
Tatsuya Kawajiri.
For the ever-active Nakamura, it will be his 10th bout in the same 16-month time span. With just one loss in his last 10 bouts -- a unanimous decision to
Mitsuhiro Ishida in Dream this past March -- Nakamura is fresh off of a tidy unanimous decision win over former Olympic judoka
Ferrid Kheder at M-1's "Breakthrough" on Aug. 28.
Minowa, Choi and Sokoudjou all advanced in their respective Super Hulk tournament quarterfinal bouts in May. Minowa and Sokoudjou defeated a pair of K-1 veterans, as Minowa leglocked super heavyweight
Bob Sapp and Sokoudjou recklessly punched out South African giant
Jan Nortje. Choi earned his semifinal berth by quickly polishing off former baseball slugger
Jose Canseco in just 77 seconds.
MMAWeekly reported Tuesday that Mousasi would be forced out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury, which was sustained during his Aug. 28 exhibition sparring match with heavyweight king
Fedor Emelianenko. Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara confirmed this story, stating that Mousasi's management informed him that his shoulder injury wouldn't allow him to adequately train for the Oct. 6 tournament finale.
"In choosing a replacement, we will give some priority to participants from the first round," said Sasahara.
The Oct. 6 card will also feature the rubber match between Dream lightweight champion
Joachim Hansen and challenger
Shinya Aoki, as well as the semifinals and finals of the promotion's featherweight grand prix in which former Greco-Roman wrestling world champion
Joe Warren will take on former BJJ world champion
Bibiano Fernandes and heavy-handed
Hiroyuki Takaya will face popular underdog
Hideo Tokoro.