10-Bout Lineup Set for Dream 17; Aoki-McCullough Headlines

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Shinya Aoki will be back in the headlining slot for the first time in 14 months this Saturday when the spindly submission artist tangles with “Razor” Rob McCullough in the main event of Dream 17.

Dream officials Monday set a 10-fight lineup for the Sept. 24 show, which will take place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and is scheduled to air live in North America on HDNet.

The promotion’s reigning lightweight champion, 28-year-old Aoki will not risk his belt in Saturday’s bout, but will put on the line a five-fight winning streak which includes recent neck-crankings of Lyle Beerbohm and Rich Clementi. McCullough, 34, recorded back-to-back wins in 2010, but was punched out by Patricky “Pitbull” Freire in his March Bellator debut.

In the evening’s co-main event, former lightweight beltholder Joachim Hansen will welcome Tatsuya Kawajiri to the featherweight ranks in a rematch of a 2006 Shooto title affair. In the pair’s first encounter, then-champ Kawajiri was awarded a win via disqualification after catching an errant low kick in the groin only eight seconds into the bout.

Another featherweight matchup will see Caol Uno square off against “Lion” Takeshi Inoue, while 42-year-old Japanese icon Kazushi Sakuraba will look to snap a three-fight skid in a welterweight tilt against a man 14 years his junior, unbeaten Nova Uniao product Yan Cabral.

In lightweight action, Aoki training partner and onetime Sengoku champ Satoru Kitaoka will make his Dream debut against former Shooto titleholder Willamy “Chiquerim” Freire. Also making his first appearance in the Dream ring will be ex-UFC prospect Gerald Harris, who locks horns with Yoshida Dojo representative Kazuhiro Nakamura.

The evening will open with the quarterfinals of Dream’s 2011 world bantamweight grand prix, where Hideo Tokoro, winner of the company’s all-Japan bantamweight tourney, is set to go up against WEC veteran Antonio Banuelos. In the remaining pairings: dethroned Dream featherweight ace Bibiano Fernandes moves down the scale to rematch Takafumi Otsuka; Japan GP runner-up Masakazu Imanari meets fellow ground specialist Abel Cullum; and undefeated wrestler Yusup Saadulaev takes on once-beaten Brazilian Rodolfo Marques Diniz in a clash of foreign newcomers.