Hayato ‘Mach’ Sakurai Injured, Out of Dream 17 Fight with Marius Zaromskis

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai

Dream event producer Keiichi Sasahara on Thursday announced that Hayato “Mach” Sakurai has had to withdraw from his proposed non-title bout with Dream welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis. The two were expected to meet at Sunday’s Dream 17 “Fight for Japan: 2011 Japan Bantamweight Tournament Final.”

Sasahara stated at a press conference that Sakurai suffered a leg injury.

Zaromskis, however, will remain on the Dream 17 fight card. Stepping in to face him is Eiji Ishikawa. They will reportedly meet in a catch weight bout, although the specific weight was not specified.

Zaromskis (14-6) has had a rough go of it lately with a 1-3-1 record over his past five bouts. The three losses and one no contest were all outside of the FEG family, including losing a Strikeforce title bid against then-champion Nick Diaz. He defeated Kazushi Sakuraba at FEG’s Dynamite!! 2010 New Year’s Eve event.

Like Zaromskis, Ishikawa (22-16-2) has been fighting for more than a decade. He has faired much better than Zaromskis recently, winning seven of his last nine bouts, fighting primarily for DEEP and Pancrase.

Check out the MMAWeekly.com Dream 17 rumors page for the latest news on the fight card.