DREAM officials recently announced the headliner for its DREAM.15 event in July, as DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will make his first title defense against Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Aoki and Kawajiri were originally slated to meet at the New Year's Eve "Dynamite!! 2009" event, however, the bout was scrapped after the event underwent a late change, as fighters from DREAM and World Victory Road's Sengoku Raiden Championships were matched against each other.

Aoki (23-5) most recently suffered a loss in his Strikeforce debut, as he was defeated by Gilbert Melendez in a Strikeforce lightweight title bout at Strikeforce: "Nashville" in April. Prior to the loss, he won three straight fights, which included wins over Vitor Ribeiro, Joachim Hansen and Sengoku lightweight champion Mizuto Hirota.

Aoki has complied an impressive 9-2 record during his time with DREAM, scoring other notable wins over Gesias Cavalcante, Caol Uno and Eddie Alvarez. He has fought for other notable promotions during his six-year career such as; Shooto,  DEEP and Pride. Aoki holds other notable career wins over the likes of Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Akira Kikuchi, Clay French and George Sotiropoulos.

Kawajiri (26-5-2) is 7-1 in his last eight fights, which includes a current four fight winning streak. He hasn't fought since defeating Kazunori Yokota at the aforementioned "Dynamite!! 2009" event in December.

Kawajiri holds a nearly perfect 6-1 DREAM record, scoring other notable wins in the promotion over Kultar Gill, Luiz Firmino and Gesias Cavalcante; while suffering his only DREAM loss against Eddie Alvarez.

The longtime Shooto and Pride veteran has been competing professionally for 10-years and has complied other notable career wins over Yves Edwards, Vitor Ribeiro, Charles Bennett, Per Eklund, Luiz Azeredo and Joachim Hansen.

DREAM.15 takes place on July 10 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and will air on HDNet in North American. The event is also expected to feature Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi and explosive striker Melvin Manhoef.