Josh Barnett, Maeda vs. Escovedo Added to DREAM.13

by Chris Nelson on Mar 12, 2010 12:14 AM EST in MMA News

Yoshiro Maeda at today's presser inside DEEP Official Gym. Photo via Kamipro.

An experienced pair of featherweights will clash in the ring at DREAM's next show, as the promotion today held a press conference to announce Yoshiro Maeda vs. Cole Escovedo for March 22nd in Yokohama, Japan.

The announcement fell short of expectations, as many believed that Josh Barnett's opponent for his promotional debut would be revealed after SI.com's Josh Gross leaked word of a potential Barnett-Mighty Mo matchup on Thursday. Event producer Keiichi Sasahara told assembled reporters that, while Barnett would still participate, his opponent had not yet been finalized.

Hideo Tokoro was also scheduled to appear, but was ultimately unable to attend the presser. While Tokoro is still expected to compete on the card, his opponent was not announced.

Maeda (26-7-2) was bounced from DREAM's 2009 Featherweight Grand Prix by eventual finalist Hiroyuki Takaya, but rebounded at the end of the year with a pair of wins. He last saw action in the white cage of DREAM.12, where he choked out former WEC Bantamweight champ Chase Beebe in the first round. It's perhaps worth noting that three of Maeda's four fights since being released by World Extreme Cagefighting in 2008 have been against ex- WEC fighters.

Make that four out of five, as Escovedo (15-4) spent time in the pre-Zuffa WEC; the California native captured the company's inaugural featherweight title in 2002. Though forced into early retirement in 2007 due to a severe staph infection, the "Apache Kid" made an improbable return to the sport in May of last year and has since reeled off four straight wins at bantamweight. The Maeda bout will mark his first on Japanese soil.