On July 10, 2010, Fighting and Entertainment Group’s mixed martial arts promotion DREAM is scheduled to host DREAM 15 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The signature fight of the event was rumored to be between Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez, but the fight has been called off.

DREAM officials informed MMAmania.com of the pending match-up on June 30. Almost immediately after, numerous people including Alistair Overeem’s trainer and DREAM Executive Producer Kelichi Sasahara stated that the fight would not happen. Overeem himself issued a statement on July 5 stating that he lost a desire to fight at the event when a title opportunity was taken off the table.

On the same day DREAM officials announced the potential fight between Overeem and Ricco Rodriguez, Rodriguez’s agent, Ken Pavia, said he holds a signed contract for the bout. Overeem’s trainer, Martin De Jong, said he had never received a contract. De Jong went on to say that his fighter has no problem fighting Rodriguez but that his decision to skip the event stems from other issues.

Despite the growing evidence that the bout will not take place, DREAM is still clinging to the hope that it will happen. It was recently reported that Rodriguez was aboard a plane to Japan under the assumption that the fight was still ago. DREAM officials have denied the reports that have surfaced about Overeem bowing out of the event and they are steadfastly holding to their claim that Rodriguez and Overeem will end up fighting. While the chances of the fight actually happening are slim, anything can happen when it comes to mixed martial arts.

The fight would have been a great one. Overeem is coming off of a round 1 TKO against Brett Rogers in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship. Rodriguez has overcome weight issues and drug addiction to return to dominant form, winning his last seven bouts.