DREAM 10: Katsunori Kikuno Ready for the Spotlight

Most fans who follow the MMA landscape probably haven't heard of DEEP lightweight champion Katsunori Kikuno. In fact, a lot of hardcore fans are probably unaware of his status as an absolutely dominating force in DEEP. Kikuno (11-1-1) has been quietly amassing an extensive record of wins that include more recent wins over 2000 Sydney Games Silver Medalist Korean judoka Bu-Kyung Jung (0-3) and fellow DEEP veteran Koichiro Matsumoto (7-2).

Kikuno will now step up onto the big stage at DREAM 10 on July 20th against former Chute Box-trained striker Andre "Dida" Amade (6-3). Amade joined the exodus from Chute Box in late 2007, and he's now training with the Rua brothers at Universidade da luta and a Muay Thai trainer at their Toronto, Canada location.

Amade is primarily a Muay Thai boxer who has displayed some heavy hands in the past with four of his six wins coming via knockout. He managed to defeat Caol Uno during one of the K-1 HERO's tournament legs back in '07, and he broke Hiroyuki Takaya's nose at K-1 HERO's 8 for another notable win.

Following those successful bouts, Amade was considered a rising star in the Lightweight rankings until he ran into a juggernaut in Gesias "JZ" Calvancante during the K-1 HERO's Lightweight Tournament Final. "JZ" steamrolled through Amade in the same devastating fashion he went through the entire tournament, winning via armbar in the first round. Amade suffered another loss five months later to Eddie Alvarez at DREAM 1. Amade also participated in K-1's MAX tournament, falling in an extension round to K-1 MAX veteran Buakaw Por. Pramuk at the Final 16 event in April.

Now, Andre Amade will be looking to bring himself back into the mix among DREAM lightweights with a win over rising star Kikuno. Stylistically, this should be a very entertaining match-up. Both fighters like to bang with Amade battling it out with kickboxing and Muay Thai skills. Kikuno's resume is a bit more diverse.

Kikuno comes from a background in not only Judo, but in Kyokushin Karate training under legend Hitoshi Kiyama. Kikuno actually won a couple of open-weight Kyokushin Karate tournaments and a best of 16 spot in the All-Japan tournament. Much of Kikuno's success in Japan stems from that training, as he uses an array of karate derived strikes, including his patented crescent kick, to defeat opponents.

How does this match-up go down in the ring? It'll be very interesting due to Amade's aggression vs. Kikuno's calculated attacks and timing. Kikuno generally stays away from his opponents and mixes low kicks with high kicks and punches. Most notably, he'll look to put the crescent kick on Amade's chin after setting it up with a good dose of low kicks. The ground advantage goes to Kikuno however, and he's managed to punish some opponents pretty badly in the past (Bu-Kyung-Jung).

It should be a solid lightweight match-up on the card that will either bring Dida out of the basement or further push Kikuno into the spotlight. It's also a fairly tough fight to call, so it should be rather interesting to see how the action in the ring develops.