The next offering of DREAM is coming up in Japan on March 22nd, and a few fights that will anchor the promotion's thirteenth event have been established, which will supplement the main attraction of Joachim Hansen's downshift to 145 pounds versus Bibiano Fernandes for the FW title.

The most compelling chunk of the announced line-up is a pair of solid lightweight match-ups, one of which will carry the now recurring theme of "Strikeforce vs. DREAM".  It looks like the Strikeforce debut for pro-boxer KJ Noons will take place in hostile territory, as the former EliteXC lightweight champion will jump across the pond as a representative of Strikeforce to face DREAM hometown favorite Andre "Dida" Amade.

Fists will obviously be flying at high velocity in this one.  Dida prefers to charge and hurl overhand fireballs in classic Chute Boxe fashion, and Noons has experienced mixed success in dealing with overwhelmingly aggressive strikers:  he dodged an onslaught of Nick Diaz' long punches and tactically dismantled the heavily favored Diaz with crisp boxing and ornery takedown defense, but fell asleep to the tune of a jackhammer delivered by Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennet when exchanging in the pocket.  Dida is always dangerous, but currently on a three-fight slide, dropping consecutive bouts to Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante, Eddie Alvarez, and Katsunori Kikuno, which are the first losses on his 6-3-1 track record.

Speaking of Kikuno, the man with the deadliest crescent kick in MMA will return to action after his eleven-fight winning streak was snapped by the stiff punches of Eddie Alvarez in the white cage of DREAM 12.   Kikuno's awkward striking style and hefty clinch strength proved to be a formidable challenge for Alvarez throughout the fight, and Kikuno still gained a lot of respect despite the result in his first taste of top competition. 

His opponent is 16-6 Kuniyoshi Hironaka, who has notched four straight wins since encountering some rough road in the UFC (1-3) and during his 2008 stint in DREAM (1-1).  Hironaka was born a Shooto fighter in 2001, and pieced together an astounding 10-2 record out of the gate, beating Nick Diaz, Ryan Schultz, and Renato "Charuto" Verissimo.  Hironaka is comfortable everywhere, as is Kikuno, so expect this to be just as much of an entertaining whirlwind as Noons-Dida.

"The Piranha" is another fighter looking to rebuild after a less than stellar 1-3 venture through the shark-infested waters of the UFC, and Ryo Chonan took his first step by besting veteran Jutaro Nakao on his DEEP stomping grounds last August in his first fight since leaving the octagon.  Holding a 16-6 record, he will have the significant advantage in experience over Andrews Nakahara, who will meet Chonan at DREAM 13 for only his fourth professional MMA fight.

Nakahara is an intriguing new Brazilian prospect with a rare kyokushin karate foundation.  He's definitely bypassed the warm-up fights by squaring off with none other than MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba in his first fight, where he looked good in succumbing to a submission; but Nakahara persisted with tough opposition and found success by finishing both Dong Sik Yoon and Shungo Oyama with strikes.  Nakahara's karate background seems to be translating smoothly to MMA, and Chonan is game to stand and trade--so this will be another one to keep your eye on for fight of the night potential.

In the final tilt we have newly crowned "Super Hulk Champion" Ikuhisa Minowa taking on the massive Jimmy Ambriz.  Ambriz perfectly fits the bill as another "Super Hulk" to be sacrificed by the Minowaman, as Ambriz has a lot of size and power, but not an overabundance of technique.  He's faced a slew of A-list heavyweight fighters, but rarely found success.

DREAM intends to add another handful of fights to the card, two of which will feature "heavier" fighters, and one more "Strikeforce vs. DREAM" match.  The promotion is also gearing up for a light-heavyweight tournament in May, where more Strikeforce fighters are expected to appear.

Source:  Nightmare of Battle