A former champion of World Extreme Cagefighting gets the next crack at Dream lightweight titleholder Shinya Aoki.
"Razor" Rob McCullough will face Aoki (28-5, 1 no-contest) on Sept. 24, Dream posted Friday on its official website. The bout will be part of the Dream 17 card in Saitama, Japan.
The organization also unveiled a fight between two former champions of other Japanese promotions. Satoru Kitaoka, who was the first 154-pound titleholder of World Victory Road's now-defunct Sengoku brand, takes on Willamy Freire, who was the most recent fighter to hold the equivalent belt for Shooto.
McCullough (19-7), an ex-WEC champion, will be the third American mixed martial artist this year to fight Dream's top lightweight. Aoki submitted Lyle Beerbohm in April for Strikeforce and tapped out journeyman Rich Clementi in May for Dream.
Aoki is No. 4 in the USA TODAY/MMA Nation consensus ranking for lightweights.
Unlike Beerbohm and Clementi, both of whom often rely on grappling to win, McCullough has a strong preference for stand-up fighting. He comes from a Muay Thai and kickboxing background, putting him at the opposite end of the style spectrum from Aoki, one of MMA's most creative grapplers. McCullough has never been submitted in a pro fight.
"Razor Rob is a dangerous lightweight with championship experience who has consistently displayed an ability to end fights throughout his career,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “If you are a fan of the Lightweight division in MMA, you’ve got to be a fan of Razor’s. I’m looking forward to watching him compete in our Season 4 Lightweight Tournament."
Featuring some of the sport's top stars, Bellator brings a unique format of world-class fighting to fans with 12-week, eight-man tournaments in respective weight classes. MTV2, which features the highest concentration of M12-24 and M12-34 in television, will telecast two of these LIVE tournaments per year, plus a collection of special feature events. The first tournament will premiere in March 2011.
"MTV2 is the perfect home for the intense mixed martial arts action of Bellator," Eric Conte, SVP, Programming and Production, MTV2. "MMA is at the top of our audience's wish list, and partnering with Bellator to bring live events and specials to MTV2 made complete sense since our viewers are so hungry to see more MMA on-air."
"We are thrilled to partner with MTV2 which has such a strong audience of hard-to-reach young guys," said Rebney. "With a timeslot on a prominent nationally-distributed cable network aimed at young men, we now have the perfect platform to showcase our exciting, action-packed tournaments and fighters."
Bellator which is Latin for "Warrior," is based in Chicago, IL and was founded in 2008 by Rebney. The stable of fighters include some of the most exciting in the sport including Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard, Joe Warren, Ben Askren, Zoila Frausto and Roger Huerta, once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Bellator events are held in venues all across the country. Their fights have previously aired on Fox Sports Net, NBC, bi-lingual channel Mun2, ESPN Deportes, and the Score.
