Fickett-Kawajiri, Prangley-Mizuno Set for July 16 Dream

Dream officials announced the matchups Wednesday, revealing that Freire has injured his right hand and will be unable to compete. Nine fights are now official for the July 16 event, which will go down at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

The event will feature the final of Dream’s first bantamweight tournament, as Masakazu Imanari squares off with Hideo Tokoro. The promotion’s featherweight and light heavyweight titles will also be on the line at the event when champs Hiroyuki Takaya and Gegard Mousasi take on Kazuyuki Miyata and Hiroshi Izumi, respectively.

A UFC veteran, Fickett (Pictured, file photo) recently had a five-fight winning streak snapped by fellow UFC castoff Brian Cobb. Fickett signed with Canadian promotion Maximum Fighting Championship in 2011 and debuted in impressive fashion, armbarring Matt Veach in just 36 seconds. Four months later at MFC 30, Fickett would start quickly once again, taking Cobb’s back early in round one and looking to finish. However, Cobb proved resilient, escaping the position and pounding Fickett out with punches to hand “The Night Rider” his first loss since 2009.

Kawajiri has won five of his last seven contests, though he has lost two of his last three. After submitting quickly to Dream lightweight king Shinya Aoki in July 2010, “Crusher” rebounded from the loss by outpointing Josh Thomson on New Year’s Eve. However, Kawajiri would again be finished quickly in his first bout of 2011, as the 33-year-old was blasted by Gilbert Melendez in April.

Prangley, 38, has gone 1-2-1 in his last four bouts, his lone victory in that span coming via split decision against Keith Jardine in September. That victory was sandwiched between defeats to Tim Kennedy and, most recently, Roger Gracie. Prangley was dominated by Gracie’s potent ground attack in January, as the Brazilian took the South African’s back and sunk in a fight-ending rear-naked choke.

A former Dream light heavyweight title contender, Mizuno made waves when he shockingly submitted Melvin Manhoef one year ago in the semifinals of Dream's light heavyweight grand prix. Mizuno would fall in the September final to eventual tournament champion Gegard Mousasi, however, as the 30-year-old failed to capture the promotion’s inaugural light heavyweight strap. Most recently, Mizuno was knocked out by a Sergei Kharitonov knee in just 85 seconds on Dec. 31.