There were rumors yesterday that Ikuhisa Minowa might have been tapped for a UFC bout on the February UFC 144 card in Japan. Those turned out to be false, but Minowaman was back in the news for a more legitimate reason today. According to MMA Fighting, the Dream Super Hluk champion has signed with ProElite and will face a former TUF winner at their next event:

Former UFC middleweight Kendall Grove will meet Ikuhisa Minowa at ProElite 3 on Jan. 21 in Hawaii, MMAFighting.com has learned from sources close to the fighters.

They also reported that Minowa signed a three-fight deal with the promotion. Grove was released from the UFC following a loss to Tim Boetsch at UFC 130. He moved onto ProElite and picked up a win over Joe Riggs on home soil at their first event in August. Minowa has won four straight bouts over the past five months, including a submission win over Baru Harn at Dream 17. He is 10-2 in his last 12 bouts, usually against much larger opposition. This will be Minowa's first bout in North America.