Dream’s Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix Final Set; Shinya Aoki Submits Rich Clementi

Shinya Aoki at Dream 6

Dream held its “Fight for Japan” event on Sunday in Saitama, Japan, kicking off the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of its Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix.

Masakazu Imanari and Hideo Tokoro both fought their way into the final bout. The two will square off on July 16 to determine the tournament champion.

Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki kept his MMA winning streak alive, submitting Rich Clementi with a face lock that he cranked over until Clementi tapped out. It was Aoki’s fifth consecutive victory since failing to win the Strikeforce lightweight title against Gilbert Melendez a year ago.

Dream 17 will air on a delayed basis on HDNet in the United States on Friday, June 3.

Dream also announced that, in addition to the Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix final, Gegard Mousasi would fight Hiroshi Izumi on the July 16 fight card.

Dream 17 “Fight for Japan” Full Results

Dream Bantamweight Tournament Semifinals:
-Masakazu Imanari def. Kenji Osawa by Submission (Achilles Lock) at 0:58, R2
-Hideo Tokoro def. Atsushi Yamamoto by Split Decision

Dream Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinals:
-Kenji Osawa def. Takafumi Otsuka by Split Decision
-Masakazu Imanari def. Keisuke Fujiwara by Unanimous Decision
-Hideo Tokoro def. Yoshiro Maeda by TKO at 0:23, R2
-Atsushi Yamamoto def. Yusaku Nakamura by TKO at 8:43, R1

Main Card:
-Shinya Aoki def. Rich Clementi by Submission (Face Crank) at 2:17, R2
-Katsunori Kikuno def. Daisuke Nakamura by Unanimous Decision
-Caol Uno def. Akiyo Nishiura by Unanimous Decision
-Takeshi Inoue def. Koichiro Matsumoto by TKO at 6:51, R1
-Joachim Hansen def. Mitsuhiro Ishida by Split Decision