The heavy-handed Johnson (13-3), a 6-foot-4 inch, 250-pound resident of nearby Madera, will face off with another highly touted prospect, undefeated Lolohea Mahe (4-0-1) of Wailua, Maui in the STRIKEFORCE cage.

Tickets for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event, priced from $30, go on sale on Monday, Feb. 1, at the Save Mart Center box office and select Save Mart Supermarkets, all Ticketmaster locations (800) 745-3000, Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com ) and STRIKEFORCE’s official website (www.strikeforce.com ).

“My health is great and I’m almost back to where I was,” said Johnson. In his last start in the cage, Johnson crushed Carl Seumanutafa in just 18 seconds with a single punch at the first-ever STRIKEFORCE Challengers event at Save Mart Center on May 15, 2009.

After being struck down by the gunfire that also led to the death of a cousin, Johnson, a father of two boys, ages eight and five, spent one month in hospital care and lost approximately 60 pounds.

Months of physical rehabilitation followed and, one month ago, Johnson was cleared by a physician to return to training with trainer Jasper Tayaba and Team Buhawe in Fresno

“(The experience) made me realize how fragile life is and that every day I’m here is a blessing. It has also made me take MMA more seriously.”

In other action on the STRIKEFORCE Challengers card, “Abongo” Humphrey (5-1) of Atlanta, Ga., will square off with George Bush III (5-1) of Columbus, Ohio, at light heavyweight (205 pounds).

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Luke Stewart (6-2) of San Francisco, California will make his long-awaited return to action against Andre Galvao (3-1) of Brazil in a welterweight (170 pounds) contest.

Unbeaten Zoila Frausto (2-0) of Fresno will face off at 135 pounds with another one of the top prospects in the women’s field, Miesha “Takedown” Tate (7-2) of Olympia, Washington.

American Kickboxing Academy bred wrestling stud Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (8-3) of San Jose, Calif., will do battle with Bryan Travers (13-1) of Bakersfield, Calif., at lightweight (155 pounds).

Save Mart Center doors will open for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event at 6 p.m. PT. The first live, non-televised, preliminary bout will begin at 6:45 p.m.

The live SHOWTIME® telecast will begin at 11:45 p.m. ET/ PT (delayed on the west coast).

For the latest Strikeforce news and Strikeforce rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

Galvao (3-1), a seven-time PanAm gold medalist and 2009 ADCC runner-up, is coming off a July split decision loss to Jason High in the semifinals of DREAM’s welterweight grand prix, which snapped a three-fight win streak that included an April victory over John Alessio.

Stewart (6-2) has competed exclusively for Strikeforce over his eight-fight career which began in mid-2006 with five straight wins. He hasn’t fought since a November 2008 loss to veteran Joe Riggs, his second loss in his last three fights.

Strikeforce Challengers 7 is also expected to feature middleweight Joey Villasenor and heavyweight Shane DelRosario.

Pictured: Luke Stewart

After sending Sakurai to the canvas with a head kick and finishing him off with punches in the semis, Zaromskis used another head kick, this time early in the first-round, to knock off High and finish his surprising run by winning the tournament.

The Cage Rage veteran Zaromskis improves to 11-2 with 4-straight victories following his DREAM 10 wins, while High, who defeated Andre Galvao to advance to the finals, falls to 8-2 and Sakurai drops to 35-9-2.

In other DREAM 10 action, Shinya Aoki topped Vitor Ribeiro by unanimous decision in a lightweight bout that failed to live up to expectations, TUF 7 cast member Jesse Taylor defeated Dong Sik Yoon, who was unable to continue due to a left ankle injury, and former WEC champ Paulo Filho submitted kickboxer Melvin Manhoef in the opening round of their middleweight matchup.

The official results for DREAM 10 were:

• Marius Zaromskis def. Jason High via knockout (kick) – Round 1
• Shinya Aoki def. Vitor Ribeiro via unanimous decision
• Jesse Taylor def. Dong Sik Yoon via TKO (injury) – Round 1
• Paulo Filho def. Melvin Manhoef via submission (armbar) – Round 1
• Katsunori Kikuno def. Andre “Dida” Amade via TKO (punches) – Round 1
• Jason High def. Andre Galvao via split decision*
• Marius Zaromskis def. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai via TKO (strikes) – Round 1*
• Tarec Saffiedine def. Seichi Ikemoto via unanimous decision+

* Welterweight grand prix semifinals
+ Welterweight grandprix reserve bout

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest DREAM news and DREAM rumors.

[Pictured: Marius Zaromskis]

Welterweight grand prix participant Hayato “Mach” Sakurai struggled to reach the 76kg limit for his semifinals bout against Marius Zaromskis, but eventually dropped the necessary weight for his third weigh-in attempt.

The rest of the card, including Andre Galvao, Jason High, and Zaromskis, who will compete alongside Sakurai in the welterweight GP, as well as lightweight opponents Shinya Aoki and Vitor Ribeiro successfully made weight on their first attempts.

The official weigh-in results for DREAM 10 were:

• Shinya Aoki (153.6 lb./69.8 kg) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (153.8 lb./69.9 kg)
• Jesse Taylor (185.7 lb./84.4 kg) vs. Dong Sik Yoon (186.6 lb./84.8 kg)
• Paulo Filho (184.8 lb./84 kg) vs. Melvin Manhoef (184.4 lb./83.8 kg)
• Andre “Dida” Amade (154 lb./70 kg) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (154 lb./70 kg)
• Andre Galvao (167.2 lb./76 kg) vs. Jason High (167.2 lb./76 kg)*
• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (167.2 lb./76 kg) vs. Marius Zaromskis (166.8 lb./75.8 kg)*
• Tarec Saffiedine (166.8 lb./75.8 kg) vs. Ikemoto Seichi (166.8 lb./75.8 kg)+

* Welterweight grand prix semifinals
+ Welterweight grandprix reserve bout

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest DREAM news and DREAM rumors.

[Pictured: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai]

The official fight card in reverse bout order is:

• Welterweight grand prix final
• Shinya Aoki vs. Vitor Ribeiro
• Jesse Taylor vs. Dong Sik Yoon
• Paulo Filho vs. Melvin Manhoef
• Andre “Dida” Amade vs. Katsunori Kikuno
• Andre Galvao vs. Jason High*
• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis*
• Tarec Saffiedine vs. Ikemoto Seichi+

* Welterweight grand prix semifinals
+ Welterweight grandprix reserve bout

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest DREAM news and DREAM rumors.

Match ups have been set for the semi final round of the DREAM welterweight grand prix, to take place on DREAM 10, on July 20. The finals will take place the same night pitting the respective winners against one another. According to reports by MMAWeekly the match-ups will be Andre Galvao vs. Jason High, and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis.

Ground ace, Galvao, made it past the first round of the tournament by submitting veteran fighter John Alessio, improving his record to 3-0. His opponent, High, got back in the win column with a quick submission victory over Yuya Shirai in the GP opening round, and brings a 7-1 record into the event.

Sakurai will look to improve on his 35-8-2 record in the second round of the tournament, after defeating fan favorite, Shinya Aoki via TKO in their highly anticipated first round bout. He will be facing off against Marius Zaromskis, who brings a 9-2 record into the event after an opening round unanimous decision win over Seichi Ikemoto.

The winners of the semi-final match-ups will then face one another in the tournament finals later in the evening. Also reported for the event is a lightweight rubber match between Shinya Aoki and Joachim Hansen for the DREAM lightweight title, that Hansen holds.

Please be sure to follow the rumors for the July 20th event on our MMAFrenzy DREAM 10 Rumors page.

Gina Carano

• Eddie Alvarez, Jorge Masvidal, and Dave Herman will be the featured fighters for Bellator’s fifth event on May 1st in Dayton, Ohio. Complete Bellator lineups are available in the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.
• Former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho will be moving up to light heavyweight to compete at DREAM 9 on May 26th in Japan against an opponent to be named. [Tatame]
• Conor Huen, who last week appeared on MTV’s Bully Beatdown, is likely to fight at Strikeforce’s June 6th event in St. Louis. [MMA Junkie]
• Seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and DREAM welterweight grand prix participant Andre Galvao will soon make his Strikeforce debut. [MMA Junkie]
• Kim Couture and Miesha Tate will square off in a 135-pound women’s bout at ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers 1 on May 15th in Fresno, California.
• Daiki Hata has been forced out of the DREAM featherweight quarterfinals due to an eye injury and will be replaced by Hideo Tokoro, who he defeated in the grand prix’s opening round. DREAM also announced this week the matchups for the quarterfinals, which feature Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Joe Warren, Bibiano Fernandes vs. Masakazu Imanari, Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hiroyuki Takaya, and Abel Cullum vs. Hideo Tokoro.
• Tim Sylvia’ and Ray Mercer’s scheduled boxing headliner for Adrenaline MMA’s third event in Alabama will take place in an MMA cage. [MMA Junkie]
• Charles “Mask” Lewis, the co-founder of TapouT who recent died in a car accident, was free of drugs and alcohol at the time of the wreck. [OC Register]
• Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz drew an official attendace of 15,211 to the HP Pavilion in San Jose on Saturday for a live gate pegged unofficially at $750,000.
• Benji Radach suffered a “shattered” right hand in his Saturday Strikeforce loss to Scott Smith and underwent surgery immediately following the fight to repair the damage. [MMA Junkie]
• The highly-anticipated women’s fight between Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos is likely to take place in August in Strikeforce with the winner being crowned the promotion’s first-ever  female champion.
• As expected, Kevin Randleman has officially signed with Strikeforce and will soon make his debut of the promotion.
• A light heavyweight bout pitting Travis Wiuff against Stanislav Nedkov has been added to Sengoku Eighth Battle on May 2nd in Japan.
• The WEC is considering holding a future event in Ohio. [Dayton Daily News]

Sakurai improves to 35-8-2 with the victory and now advances to the semifinals of the promotion’s 2009 welterweight grand prix while Aoki, who falls to 20-4 with the loss, is likely to return to the lightweight division for his next bout.

With victories at DREAM 8, Jason High, Marius Zaromskis, and Andre Galvao also advanced to the welterweight semis.

The opening round of DREAM’s featherweight grand prix, which got underway with six bouts at DREAM 7, concluded on Sunday as Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata advanced with a win over Hideo Tokoro.

Notables Jeff Monson and Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro also picked up wins in non-tournament action, while Murilo “Ninja” Rua dropped an exciting unanimous decision to late-replacement Riki Fukuda.

The official DREAM 8 results were:

• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai def. Shinya Aoki via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 0:27*
• Jason High def. Yuya Shirai via technical submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 0:59*
• Marius Zaromskis def. Seichi Ikemoto via unanimous decision*
• Andre Galvao def. John Alessio via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 7:34*
• Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata def. Hideo Tokoro via unanimous decision^
• Jeff Monson def. Sergei Kharitonov via submission (north-south choke) – Round 1, 1:42
• Riki Fukuda def. Murilo “Ninja” Rua via unanimous decision
• Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro def. Katsuhiko Nagata via TKO (cut) – Round 1, 7:58
• Andrews Nakahara def. Shungo Oyama via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:00
• Katsutori Shibata def. Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa via unanimous decision

* 2009 DREAM Welterweight GP quarterfinals bout
^ 2009 DREAM Featherweight GP opening round bout

Videos:

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Shinya Aoki

Jason High vs. Yuya Shira

Jeff Monson vs. Sergei Kharitonov

The event will air via tape-delay on HDNet and features the opening round of the DREAM welterweight grand prix as well as the final bout from DREAM’s featherweight grand prix opening round.

Riki Fukuda has agreed to fight fellow middleweight Murilo “Ninja” Rua on just one days notice after his scheduled opponent, Dong Sik Yoon, was forced out of their bout due to an undisclosed injury.

The official DREAM 8 weigh-in results were:

• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (75.9kg/167 lbs.) vs. Shinya Aoki (73.5kg/161.7 lbs.)
• Yuya Shirai (75.7kg/166.5 lbs.) vs. Jason High (75.9kg/167 lbs.)
• Marius Zaromskis (75.5kg/166.1 lbs.) vs. Seichi Ikemoto (75.7kg/166.5 lbs.)
• John Alessio (76.0kg/167.2 lbs.) vs. Andre Galvao (76.0kg/167.2 lbs.)
• Hideo Tokoro (62.3kg/137 lbs.) vs. Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata (63.0kg/138.6 lbs.)
• Sergei Kharitonov (116.5kg/256.3 lbs.) vs. Jeff Monson (110.0kg/242 lbs.
• Riki Fukuda (88.8kg/195.4 lbs.) vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua (88.0kg/193.6 lbs.)
• Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro (69.7kg/153.3 lbs.) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (70.0kg/154 lbs.)
• Andrews Nakahara (85.0kg/187 lbs.) vs. Shungo Oyama (85.7kg/188.5 lbs.)
• Katsuyori Shibata (86.2 kg/189.6 lbs.) vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (87.0 kg/191.4 lbs.)

Stop by MMAFrenzy.com tomorrow afternoon for official DREAM 8 results.

Announced today were the opening round GP matchups of Shinya Aoki vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Yuya Shirai vs. Jason High, Marius Zaromskis vs. Seichi Ikemoto, and Andre Galvao vs. John Alessio. A non-tournament bout featuring Jeff Monson and Sergey Kharitonov was also announced.

DREAm 8 airs on HDNet on April 10th at 10pm ET.

The event’s official lineup features:

Welterweight Grand Prix Opening Round

• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Shinya Aoki
• Yuya Shirai vs. Jason High
• Marius Zaromskis vs. Seichi Ikemoto
• John Alessio vs. Andre Galvao

Featherweight Grand Prix Opening Round

• Hideo Tokoro vs. Daiki Hata

Non-Grand Prix Bouts

• Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
• Dong Sik Yoon vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua
• Andrews Nakahara vs. Shungo Oyama
• Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jeff Monson