If all goes well, the UFC could have all the top-ranked featherweight talent locked up by next month.
Japanese featherweight Hatsu Hioki turned down an offer to fight featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takeya at DREAM.17 and on Tuesday announced that he's vacating his Shooto lightweight title.
Shu Hirata, an associate of Hioki who represents several Japanese fighters, today told MMAjunkie.com that the fighter is headed to UFC 131 as a guest, and all signs point to contract negotiations.