Fernandes-Takaya Title Rematch Official for New Year's Eve Card

Bibiano Fernandes (left) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya: Sherdog.com

TOKYO -- Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya will get to settle their score on New Year's Eve.

Thursday, Fighting and Entertainment Group announced the first of its New Year's Eve bouts for "Dynamite: The Power of Courage 2010," revealing that Fernandes will make the second defense of his Dream featherweight title against Takaya. The bout is a rematch of the October 2009 Dream featherweight tournament final that decided the vacant crown.

"Since losing to Fernandes in the tournament, I've wanted that rematch. When it was finally set, I was so happy. I want to show fans how I've progressed over this last year," said Takaya. "When we last fought, it was a one-day tournament where we both already fought twice. This time, we'll both be at our best."

In their first encounter, “The Flash” controlled the opening 10 minutes of the bout before flagging late, allowing Takaya's superior punching to take over. The late salvo was not enough to earn Takaya the win, as he dropped a razor-thin split decision and the Brazilian took the crown.

Since earning the title, the 30-year-old Fernandes successfully defended his title once, defeating Norway's Joachim Hansen by split decision in March. Takaya, 33, also defeated the tough Norwegian, becoming the first man to knock out "Hellboy" by clobbering the Norseman in May. Takaya followed up with a sub-two-minute drubbing of former WEC bantamweight champion Chase Beebe in September.

"After defeating Joachim Hansen and Chase Beebe, Takaya is undoubtedly the No. 1 contender," said Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara. "It will be a really exciting and tense fight, and a perfect addition to the New Year's Eve card."

Fernandes has been inactive since his March victory over Hansen, owing to a reported monetary dispute between him and Dream.

In a written address read by Sasahara at Thursday's presser, Fernandes said he was excited to return before the Japanese audience on the grand stage of Dynamite, and that he looked forward to seeing how both he and the challenger have developed since their first meeting.

The title bout will be the last to be contested at Dream's 63-kilogram, or 139-pound, "featherweight" limit.

"Since we started it at 63 kilograms, this time will be the last time we contest the title there before splitting it into a 65-kilogram featherweight and 60- or 61-kilogram bantamweight division next year,” explained Sasahara. “We want to ask the winner of this bout what division they want to be in and then hold a grand prix in the division they aren't in, next year. I think there's going to be a lot of shuffling around when we split the divisions, and should prove exciting for the lower weight classes."

As Dynamite takes place on Japan's most important television viewing day of the year, previous iterations have played host to spectacle bouts aimed at luring casual viewers away from other New Year's Eve programs such as broadcaster NHK’s historically dominant Red and White Song Battle, leaving hardcore fans and pundits groaning in criticism at the inclusions of Bob Sapp, Chad “Akebono” Rowan, and other “celebrity” athletes. However, Sasahara expressed a wish to appeal more toward fight fans this year however, offering the Fernandes-Takaya bout as a strong step in that direction.