Normal bouts will change from the PRIDE style of having an initial ten-minute round, followed by a five-minute round, to three five-minute rounds. Title fights will also be changed to comply with the five five-minute rounds set from the Unified Rules.
Event producer, Keichi Sasahara talked about the reasoning for the change:
"While I believe that a 10-minute first round gives fighters a greater chance at finishing a fight, since we've lately been focusing on the lighter weight classes, for some reason the chances of them getting a finish like a knockout have been smaller. Therefore, I've decided to take a proactive stance to reset things by changing round times. One of the reasons we adopted the five-minute round was to follow the international flow."
"I don't believe that changing all bouts to be three fives will somehow make all fights wonderful, but the change gives us a great chance to reset the fights themselves,"
Other announcements from the presser included a couple of DREAM.17 bouts - A featherweight match between Caol Uno, and 'Lion' Takeshi Inoue, and DREAM LW Champ, Shinya Aoki against a yet to be named "strong foreigner that hardcore MMA fans will be delighted to see"."I don't believe that changing all bouts to be three fives will somehow make all fights wonderful, but the change gives us a great chance to reset the fights themselves,"
That opponent could be anyone, but it is interesting to note that DREAM did try to set up American fighters such as Antonio McKee and Jamie Varner to face Aoki in the past.
While not yet finalized, Sasahara mentioned that Tatsuya Kawajiri and Kazushi Sakuraba are likely to participate. Newly signed UFC veteran, Gerald Harris, is also expected to compete on the event.
English quotes from Sherdog