A rumored bout between Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1) and veteran Gary Goodridge (23-19-1) is set to take place on New Year’s Eve.

A report from MMAjunkie.com confirmed the status of the bout with Mousasi’s manager and M-1 Global executive, Apy Echteld, verified the matchup, noting that his fighter was already on his way to Japan for the bout.

Both men will meet under MMA rules as part of the “Dynamite!! 2009″ event in Japan being held by DREAM, World Victory Road and K-1. Previous rumors had both men meeting in a kickboxing match which Mousasi holds a 1-0 record, while Goodridge sports a 12-21-2 record.

Mousasi has won 14 straight bouts, including two Strikeforce victories over Renato Sobral for the light-heavyweight title in August, and a win over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in a non-title fight at the “Fedor vs. Rogers” event on Nov. 7.

The “Dreamcatcher’s” career also includes winning last years DREAM middleweight championship. Mousasi is expected to return to Strikeforce in April during the televised CBS event.

The 14 year veteran, Goodridge, has lost four bouts in a row and will look for a win against Mousasi. His last bout was against Alistair Overeem on Nov. 9th, a match he lost via submission to the Strikeforce heavyweight champ in the first round.

Over his career, the 43 year old has victories over Dan Bobish, Frye, Jan Nortje, Valentijn Overeem, Bob Schrijber and Oleg Taktarov, as well as losses to Fedor Emelianenko, Heath Herring, Ricco Rodriguez, Marco Ruas, Igor Vovchanchyn and Gilbert Yvel, among others.

The “Dynamite!! 2009″ event is being held on Dec. 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will be broadcast live by HDNet.

UPDATE: Mousasi’s manager, Echteld has confirmed his fighters Jan. 8th boxing debut as well as provided details on a spring schedule.

“We’ve been working on a (New Year’s Eve) fight for [Mousasi] for a long time,” Echteld said. “From our side, we didn’t believe it (was going to happen), so we went to a boxing fight on Jan. 8. Two days ago, the Japanese gave me a call and asked me if he could fight. Then they come up with a kickboxing match, and they came up with some other things. Finally, we accepted Gary Goodridge as an opponent to fight.

“Kickboxing is what they proposed to do, and we asked for it to be an MMA fight.”

It also appears that Mousasi will take part in DREAM’s light-heavyweight tournament for this upcoming year. ‘The Dreamcatcher’ will take this fight after making an appearance at the next CBS broadcast for Strikeforce which will feature Fedor Emelianenko. The event will happen in April but no exact date has been given.

“After that, the 30th of May, he will have a fight in Japan – the first round of the light heavyweight championship. Then in July, he will have his second round of the light heavyweight championship.”

Following this fight, Echteld told MMAjunkie.com that Mousasi will look at continuing his boxing career by taking other matches in 2010.

“After [the April fight, Mousasi] has to make one more fight with Strikeforce,” Echteld said. “Because we don’t know the schedule yet, we are seriously thinking of making him do boxing fights in the second part of the year because it’s still something he wants to do.”