Bibiano Fernandes Drops to Bantamweight, Confirmed for Dream Grand Prix

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Former Dream featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes (8-3) will drop to the bantamweight division and will compete in the Dream world bantamweight grand prix. The first round of the event goes down September 24th, and Fernandes will be training with UFC bantamweight title challenger Demetrious Johnson at Matt Hume's gym in Seattle in preparation. Tatame has the scoop:

"He (Hume) called me in for training on his gym and I accepted it. I liked his trainings and his dedicator as a teacher. There’s Demetrious there, who’s really good and is fighting on the bantamweight division in UFC… There’re good athletes there… I liked the Muay Thai, Boxing and Wrestling trainings and I thought ‘there’re good trainings here’. In Canada I’m no longer training at Revolution (Fight Team, in Vancouver), so I decided to go on Monday and I’m going there", revealed Bibiano.

He believes he will have no problem making the bantamweight limit, and doesn't know who his opponent is yet:

"Now I’m weighting 64kg (141 lbs), so I’ll have no problems being on the right weight, so it’s my natural weight and I’ll just have to lose some pounds more, so it’s ok. They haven’t told me anything about that, in Japan they tell you who your opponent is three weeks in advance and so far they haven’t told me anything", said the athlete, who promised to come strong. "I don’t like talking much, because I’m a cool guy, but I guarantee I won’t let my fans down", concluded the fighter.

The Dream bantamweight limit is 61kg (134.5 lbs). Fernandes won the Dream featherweight grand prix in 2009, which included wins over the recent Japan BWGP winner Masakazu Imanari, Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren, and Hiroyuki Takaya. After defending his title once against Joachim Hansen, he lost the title to Takaya in a rematch on the New Years Eve Dynamite show. This will be his first fight since he dropped the title.

Other than the top three finishers in the Japan BWGP (Imanari, Hideo Tokoro and Kenji Osawa), no other competitors have been confirmed for the world grand prix as of yet.