A bout between Eddie Alvarez and Katsunori Kikuno is under consideration for Dream 12 on Oct. 25 in Osaka, MMAWeekly.com has learned from a source close to Alvarez.

Alvarez (20-2) took the last half of the summer off after defeating Greg Loughran, Eric Reynolds, and Toby Imada to win the lightweight title in the first season of Bellator Fighting Championships. He began training last month in preparation for his appearance on MTV’s “Bully Beatdown,” which aired Aug. 27 and stayed in the gym for a possible fall fight.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney last week told MMAWeekly.com that Alvarez was one of four Bellator champions he was currently trying to place in “different markets around the world.” Rebney looked to place a fighter from an outside promotion in Bellator’s second season in exchange for a Bellator champion’s one-off appearance in that show.

According to the source, Bellator is currently waiting to see the fighter Dream offers in exchange for Alvarez before signing off on the trade. Unclear at this point is the weight class an Alvarez vs. Kikuno bout would be contested at, as Rebney said he wished Alvarez to fight above his usual lightweight class.

Bellator matchmaker Matt Stansell said on Thursday afternoon that he’d “heard a rumor” of the bout, but had received no recent correspondence from Dream officials.

Kikuno (12-1-1) recently made a successful transition to Dream after an extended stint in Deep, defeating Chute Boxe product Andre “Dida” Amade by TKO at Dream 10 in July.