While fans Stateside have been busy celebrating independence, dissecting the opinions of people named "Roy" and "Adelaide" and watching a drunken Will Smith throw whales around, there's been plenty shaping up and shaking out in the Japanese MMA scene. Not only did the now-well documented Akasaka Fight Festival take place last week with dozens of top-shelf fighters in attendance, but this month's FEG-promoted DREAM.5 event and August's Sengoku 4 from World Victory Road are finally beginning to take form... for better or worse.

The biggest headline came just this morning and was not a positive one, as it was revealed that Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic has now been completely scratched from the July 21st DREAM card. Originally slated to face kickboxer Jerome Le Banner in an MMA rules match, and then "Mighty Mo" Siliga after Le Banner instead chose to partake in a K-1 championship bout against Semmy Schilt, Filipovic revealed on his blog today that he has opted to rehab a knee injury and undergo arthoscopic surgery on his apparently long-ailing right elbow after learning that Siliga too would withdraw.

Said the Cro Cop:

My goal is to become the first heavyweight champion in DREAM and to do that I need to be ready to fight on September 23 [when DREAM.6 is scheduled to take place]. I'm not interested in summer time, vacations or things like that; I'll focus on getting back to shape and hopefully I'll fight in September. I would really like to fight Alistair Overeem, we all know why and I won't let it go. My career is far from being over, I'll be fighting some strong competitors soon again and hopefully I'll meet Fedor in the ring once more in 2009.

This all comes exactly one month after the beleaguered striker pulled out of an exhibition grappling match with Ralek Gracie at DREAM.4. It's always great to see a fighter so optimistic about returning to the ring, and no doubt many would still like to see a redux with Fedor, but having dropped two of his last three fights, being less than a year removed from surgery on a deviated septum (which he said at the time sapped "50 percent of my combat stamina"), and already purged from the UFC memory bank, this can not be a good sign for the future of the 34-year old Croat.

Elsewhere on DREAM.5, long-announced headliner Yoshihiro Akiyama may have finally found a partner for the dance: during Day 3 of the aforementioned Fight Festival, ex-NJPW star and recent Hero's can Katsuyori Shibata stated that he'd like a shot at the slippery judoka. Shibata is currently riding a four-fight losing streak; his last match was in May as part of the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix opening round, in a suitably pro-wrestling style loss to Jason "Mayhem" Miller. FEG officials have not yet confirmed the bout, but are expected to anounce Akiyama's opponent any day.

More after the jump, including news of World Victory Road's signing of Frank Trigg and the up-to-date card for Sengoku 4.

DREAM.5 // 07.21.2008

Lightweight Grand Prix: Final Round
- Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno
- Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- winner of Aoki/Uno vs. winner of Alvarez/Kawajiri

- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. TBA
- Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Joseph Benavidez

Rumored participants: Katsuyori Shibata, Ikuhisa Minowa, Mark Hunt, Denis Kang, Kultar Gill

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World Victory Road updated the official Sengoku website last week and, besides dropping a kickin' new promo video, also confirmed the addition of a superfight between French journeyman Moise Rimbon and K-1 2007 WGP finalist Peter Graham to August 24's event.

Here's how the card looks at current:

SENGOKU 4 // 08.24.2008

Lightweight Tournament Opening Round
- Satoru Kitaoka
- Eiji Mitsuoka
- Kazunori Yokota
- Duane "Bang" Ludwig
- Rodrigo Damm

- Peter Graham vs. Moise Rimbon
- Takanori Gomi vs. Chris Horodecki
(rumored; only Gomi confirmed to participate by WVR)

The promising World Victory Road has stumbled out of the gate with its first few Sengoku events, but this stacked LWGP - the winner of which will earn a shot at the elusive "Fireball Kid" - could be just the thing to jumpstart the fledgling promotion.

Finally, as reported today by MMAJunkie, former UFC and PRIDE middleweight Frank Trigg has signed a non-exclusive three-fight deal with WVR which is tentatively set to begin at Sengoku 4, though an oppopnent for "Twinkle Toes" has yet to be named. More interestingly, Trigg has been pencilled in for a spot in 2009's Middleweight Grand Prix, which the Junkie says will also feature Kazuo Misaki and - if I'm decoding the Sengoku website properly - a cadre of high-caliber Georgian wrestlers.

"future game polar participation schedule players"
(thanks, Babelfish!)

- Frank Trigg
- Eldari Kurtanidze
- Georgi Gogshelidze
- Ramaz Nozadze (2004 Olympic silver medalist, Men's Greco-Roman 96kg)
- Zurab Zviadauri (2004 Olympic gold medalist, Men's Judo 90kg)