Tokyo Sports recently published a brief Q&A with DREAM Event Producer Keiichi Sasahara, quoting him as saying that DREAM will send many of their MMA fighters to K-1 in 2009. This comes in the aftermath of the 2008 Dynamite event, which saw DREAM standouts Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi and Tetsuya Kawajiri all come up with surprising first round knockouts in K-1 rules action. Kawajiri in particular is expected to join the K-1 MAX fray sooner rather than later, possibly in a rematch with his Dynamite dance partner, Takeda Kozo. Sasahara named Overeem, Mousasi and Sergei Kharitonov as fighters who are expected to be booked in K-1 fights this year.


In other crossover news...

Sengoku underdog Sergei Golyaev has agreed to a match with another Dynamite veteran, Yoshihiro Sato, for the February 23rd 2009 K-1 WORLD MAX Japan Tournament card, in a non-tournament superfight. Golyaev is coming off an armbar loss to Eiji Mitsuoka at Sengoku No Ran 2009, but is being brought in to capitalize on the gift decision win over Takanori Gomi in his previous bout.  Sato is a top K-1 MAX talent who lost a close decision to rising star Artur Kyshenko during the opening segment of the New Year's Eve show. He is best known for his upset knockout of two-time MAX Champion Buakaw Por Pramuk at last year's Final Eight tournament.

At the lighter weights, Rumina Sato announced that he will participate in the February 11th Shootboxing event. Shootboxing is affiliated with K-1 and has much of the same ruleset, except modified to allow upper body throws or takedowns, and standing submissions. Fellow Shooto fighter and top-ranked flyweight Mamoru Yamaguchi will also be featured on the card.

And finally, something called RogueMag is reporting that Mark Hunt is likely match up with Semmy Schilt again, this time in an MMA rules match. As a matchup of former K-1 champions, it could be an interesting draw for DREAM 7 or DREAM 8.

(Major hat tips: Nightmare of Battle and Gryphon Japan)