Zaromskis vs. Sakurai non-title fight added to DREAM 17

A rematch between welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis (14-6 MMA, 5-0 DREAM) and Hayato Sakurai (35-12-2 MMA, 4-4 DREAM) has been added to next month's "DREAM: Japan GP Final" event, officials today announced.

The fight is slated as a non-title affair.

"DREAM: Japan GP Final" is set for July 16 at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

No North American broadcast plans have been announced for the event (officially dubbed "Fight for Japan: DREAM Japan GP Final – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament Final").

Zaromskis and Sakurai first fought back in 2009, when Zaromskis scored a head-kick-KO victory in the semifinal round of DREAM's welterweight grand prix. The Lithuanian went on to win the tournament to become the organization's first-ever welterweight champion.

While stuck in a 1-3 skid, Zaromskis remains undefeated in DREAM. In fact, his only victory in his past five fights came via TKO over Kazushi Sakuraba at "DREAM Dynamite!! 2010" in his first and only title defense. Recently, though, he suffered a unanimous-decision loss to top Canadian prospect Jordan Mein at theScore Fighting Series event earlier this month in Canada.

The once highly ranked Sakurai looks to snap out of a career-worst four-fight losing streak, which has included defeats to Zaromskis, Akihiro Gono, Nick Diaz and Jason High. Prior to the setbacks, the PRIDE veteran posted eight wins in nine fights, which included a 4-0 start to his DREAM career.

Dream.17 Japan GP Final now includes

Gegard Mousasi(Champ) vs. Hiroshi Izumi (for light-heavyweight title)
Hiroyuki Takaya(Champ) vs. Kazuyuki Miyata (for featherweight title)
Marius Zaromskis(Champ) vs. Hayato Sakurai (welterweight non-title fight)
Masakazu Imanari vs. Hideo Tokoro (Japan bantamweight-tourney finale)
Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Kenji Osawa (Japan bantamweight-tourney third-place fight)
Todd Duffee vs. Nick Gaston
Willamy Freire vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Bruno Carvalho vs. Eiji Mitsuoka