On Sunday, October 25, 2009, FEG will present its twelfth installment of Japan's leading MMA promotion DREAM. DREAM.12 - Cage of the Rising Sun will take place at Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka, Japan. The event will mark the first time DREAM has used a hexagon cage. The fights will also consist of three five-minute rounds, as used in the North American system. However, the use of elbows will remain illegal. DREAM, just like its sister promotion K-1, will have its main card aired in the United States on HDNet.

The event will feature 9 star-studded fights. Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem of the Netherlands will face the former PRIDE star James Thompson of the United Kingdom in a heavyweight contest. The card also features a middleweight bout where MMA legend and Japanese sensation Kazushi Sakuraba will return to action to battle the highly touted Croatian fighter Zelg Galesic. Also in middleweight action, two native Japanese fighters Katsuyori Shibata and Tokimitsu Ishizawa will square off, while former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho will face the Korean judoka Dong Sik Yoon.

A second former WEC champion Chase Beebe will also be on the card, just a mere 3 weeks removed from his controversial Split Decision loss to Mike Easton at UWC 7 on October 3rd. The controversial decision has since been ruled a "No Contest" by the Virginia Athletic Commission, but it still cost Beebe the title he would have one if the controversial decision did not occur. He will now face a fellow WEC veteran in Yoshiro Maeda. Both Beebe and Maeda lost to former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres during WEC title fights and will look to take their frustrations out on one another. Also in featherweight action will be another pair of native Japanese fighters, as Keisuke Fujiwara takes on Tomoya Miyashita.

DREAM.12 will also feature the first appearance of Marius Zaromskis since he won the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix. On July 20th of this year, Zaromskis who is a native of Lithuania, KO'd both Hayato Sakurai and Jason High in the same night with head kicks to become the DREAM welterweight champion. He will now look to unleash his devastating kickboxing skills against the Korean fighter Ho Bae Myeon, who is a veteran of MARS and M-1.

The card will be rounded out with the inclusion of two hotly contested lightweight bouts. The first will feature the newly crowned Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez against the DEEP lightweight champion Katsunori Kikuno. Both men are widely regarded as two of the most dangerous lightweights in the world. The other lightweight contest will feature 4-time UFC welterweight veteran and newly crowned Cage Force lightweight champion Kuniyoshi Hironaka against the promising Korean fighter Won Sik "Parky" Park, who is a veteran of DEEP, M-1, and MARS.


Fight Card:

-Alistair Overeem vs. James Thompson (Heavyweight Bout)

-Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Zelg Galesic (Middleweight Bout)

-Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Middleweight Bout)

-Marius Zaromskis vs. Ho Bae Myeon (Welterweight Bout)

-Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Tomoya Miyashita (Featherweight Bout)

-Paulo Filho vs. Dong Sik Yoon (Middleweight Bout)

-Chase Beebe vs. Yoshiro Maeda (Featherweight Bout)

-Eddie Alvarez vs. Katsunori Kikuno (Lightweight Bout)

-Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Won Sik Park (Lightweight Bout)