World Victory Road / Sengoku News - Page 1

Previously announced Sengoku 7 competitor and longtime PRIDE fighter Hidehiko Yoshida (8-6-1) now has an opponent for the Jan. 4 World Victory Road event: Sanae Kikuta (27-6-3). The event takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Sengoku officials recently announced the light-heavyweight bout.

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Reports that IFL veteran heavyweight Antoine Jaoude is close to being signed by Sengoku for their January event have also started fueling rumblings of a Heavyweight GP in the promotion next year. No opponent named yet for Jaoude at Sengoku 7 should he sign.

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Tatame.com is reporting (in Portuguese, translation via Google): Suspended by the athletic committee of the United States on charges of doping, Antonio (Silva) can not fight in America before July 28, 2009, when it was terminating the suspension. After losing in the courts of the athletic commission, also saw the EliteXC, an event in which Silva was heavyweight champion, close the doors. With that the athlete had to get out of ATT demand for a new home, which has everything to be in Japan "I'm negotiating my way to Japan The Sengoku made me an offer to fight on January 4 and we are seeing that, "said Peza, who is entering the common justice against the athletic commission. Pretty garbled, but the gist is clear. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva is considering violating his California suspension and fighting in Japan as early as January.

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UFC and Pride veteran Kevin Randleman may face Josh Barnett at Sengoku 7 on January 4th, his team have told Fighters Only. Having been forced onto the sidelines by various injuries in recent years, Randleman has recently stated that he intends to have as many fights as possible in 2009. And rumour has it that one of those fights may be with Barnett in January, as Sengoku are struggling to match the Baby-Faced Assassin. Speaking to Fighters Only earlier, a spokesman for Randleman said: “Kevin is going to focus on light-heavyweight for now. “But I can see that Sengoku is having trouble getting opponents for Josh, so it is always a possibility.” Randleman himself said: “After the last few years of setbacks due to injury I just want to fight. I am not picky and not one to turn down an opponent, so I am just looking forward to giving the fans some more great MMA memories to talk about.” He added that he hopes to return to fighting in America in 2009, as he “cannot wait” to get back in a cage.

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Despite his loss to Sergey Golyaev earlier this month, prized World Victory Road lightweight Takanori Gomi (29-4) will meet the organization's grand prix winner, Satoru Kitaoka (23-8-9), at Sengoku 7 for the WVR lightweight title. Additionally, middleweight grand prix winner Jorge Santiago (20-7), who's quietly amassed as eight-fight win streak, will meet stand-out Kazuo Misaki (21-8-2) for the organization's first-ever middleweight championship.

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Despite Takanori Gomi’s upset loss to Russian product Sergey Golyaev at World Victory Road’s “Sengoku VI” event this past weekend, the organization has still decided to match up against lightweight grand prix winner Satoru Kitaoka for it’s vacant lightweight title at their next scheduled show on January 4 in Japan. Golyaev squeaked out a razor-close split decision over the former PRIDE champion on Saturday, handing him a rare loss and his first defeat in over two years, while Kitakoa defeated both Eiji Mitsuoka and Kazunori Yokota to win WVR’s inaugural lightweight tourney and called out Gomi after his victory even though “The Fireball Kid” had already lost his bout earlier in the night. Streaking middleweight Jorge Santiago will hope to continue his rise up the rankings when he faces slick Japanese striker Kazuo Misaki for the promotion’s vacant middleweight title at the event as well.

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TOKYO -- Sergey Golyaev tried to throw a wrinkle into World Victory Road’s plans to have the winner of its lightweight grand prix face Takanori Gomi for the vacant lightweight championship. Despite Golyaev’s split decision victory over Gomi at Sengoku “Sixth Battle” on Saturday, the promotion plans to move forward with a Satoru Kitaoka-Gomi title fight on Jan. 4.

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Jorge Santiago is a fighter that doesn't get a ton of press but has slowly crept his way into the top 10 rankings. This guy has not only won 8 fights in a row but he's finished all of them - all against top level competition. His opponents in that span haven't been "elite" level fighters but they have all been tough and most are UFC or PRIDE veterans. After a disapponting 1-2 run in the UFC Santiago has picked up his game considerably and the results are paying off. He entered the Strikeforce four man tournament and came out on top - finishing both opponents. Then he entered the Sengoku MWGP and acheived the same result. No one in the middleweight division is on the roll that this guy has been on - except for a man by the name of Anderson Silva.

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Main Card: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (15-3) defeated Moise Rimbon via unanimous decision (13-8-3) Muhammad Lawal (2-0) defeated Fabio Silva (11-5) via TKO (strikes - 0:41:R3) Sergey Golyaev (11-6) defeated Takanori Gomi (29-4) via split decision Lightweight Grand Prix semifinals: Kazunori Yokota (8-1-3) defeated Mizuto Hirota (10-3) via unanimous decision Satoru Kitaoka (22-8-9) defeated Eiji Mitsuoka (14-6-2) via submission (heel hook - 1:16:R1) Lightweight Grand Prix reserve bout: Jorge Masvidal (15-3) defeated Seung Hwan Bang (5-3) via unanimous decision Lightweight Grand Prix finals: Satoru Kitaoka (23-8-9) defeated Kazunori Yokota (8-2-3) via unanimous decision Middleweight Grand Prix semifinals: Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-8) defeated Yuki Sasaki (22-15-1) via unanimous decision Jorge Santiago (19-7) defeated Siyar Bahadurzada (14-4-1) via submission (heel hook - 1:10:R1) Middleweight Grand Prix reserve bout: Joe Doerksen (41-12) defeated Izuru Takeuchi (25-10-6) via TKO (strikes - 0:41:R3) Middleweight Grand Prix finals: Jorge Santiago (20-7) defeated Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9) via TKO (strikes - 0:49:R3)

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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the twin brother of the interim UFC heavyweight champion, will square off against Moise Rimbon at Sengoku 6 on November 1 in Saitama, Japan. Nogueira (14-3) last fought at Affliction: Banned, knocking out Edwin Dewees in the first round. Rimbon (13-7-3) from Paris, France will be making his second Sengoku appearance. He submitted K-1 kickboxer Peter Graham with a rear-naked choke at Sengoku 4 in August. ------- World Victory Road: Sengoku 6 Saturday, November 1, 2008 Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan Middleweight Grand Prix Yuki Sasaki vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura Jorge Santiago vs. Siyar Bahadurzada Joe Doerksen vs. Izuru Takeuchi (Reserve) Lightweight Grand Prix Satoru Kitaoka vs. Eiji Mitsuoka Kazunori Yokota vs. Mizuto Hirota Bang Seung Hwan vs. Jorge Masvidal (Reserve) Non-Tournament Bouts: Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Fabio Silva Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Moise Rimbon

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Click on the "MMA Bugle" link below and check out the updated fight card for World Victory Road: Sengoku 6 and Elite XC: Night of Champions

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I wouldn’t post this if it wasn’t for: After being stripped of his title, Noons is no longer under contract with EliteXC and is now going to do freelance boxing while waiting for another opportunity to come. He’s hoping that opportunity comes with the top lightweights in the world, “I am really interested in a Takanori Gomi fight or any top lightweights at the 155lb or 160lb for that matter.” - FightLine and: Dream pays Nick Diaz in full from his last bout in May. Diaz agrees to return to fight in Japan, however at this point it is unclear for which organization. - GracieFighter A quite big Japanese MMA blog made a post today that KJ Noons, Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, and Nick Diaz are going to SENGOKU and that KJ Noons will most likely debut on the New Years Event. Remember that this could be false though. However, the timing of the two articles and the blog post is quite interesting.

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In addition to the previously announced Joe Doerksen vs. Izuru Takeuchi fight added yesterday, Sengoku today announced 2 more fights added to Sengoku 6: Former PRIDE Champion and World #1 Lightweight Takanori Gomi vs. Sergey Golyaev and Muhammad Lawal vs. Fabio Silva.

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Former UFC fighter Joe Doerksen has been added to the upcoming Sengoku 6 card. He'll face Izuru Takeuchi in a reserve bout for that night's Middleweight GP semifinals and finals, meaning Doerksen could find himself in the final if a semifinalist is unable to continue.

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Josh Barnett 'The Watchman' Josh Barnett talks about Andrei Arlovski, Fedor Emelianenko, his fighting future, more video games, movieland, the fall of Kimbo Slice and Randy Couture versus Brock Lesnar. PDG: Since you brought up Kimbo; you have been in the sport for a long time. What are your thoughts on him losing to the first experienced fighter that was not a tailor-made opponent for him? Barnett: I was sitting in the bar and a bunch of people started cheering. The bar had a bunch of other fighters there and everyone was cheering except for me, I was actually upset. I wanted Kimbo to win and I was cheering for him. I wasn't real sure about him fighting Ken Shamrock because I have always been a big fan of Ken. It is really hard for me to watch Ken go out there and under perform like he has as of late compared to when I first started watching him compete. Kimbo is still a relative newcomer to this sport and I don't have any problem with how he has been brought up into the spotlight so fast. I like watching him fight and I wanted to see his ongoing progression fight to fight. I was disappointed because I wanted to see Kimbo do well.

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Former NCAA champ Muhammad Lawal makes a statement with upset over Travis Wiuff at Sengoku A new mixed martial arts star may have been born Saturday night in Tokyo, Japan during World Victory Road’s Sengoku 5 at the National Yoyogi Stadium. Replacing an injured Roger Gracie against former PRIDE and UFC veteran Travis “Diesel” Wiuff on less than a week’s notice, former NCAA Division II freestyle wrestling champion Muhammad “Mo” Lawal pulled off a dramatic upset win over Wiuff following a first round TKO. Training out of Team Quest in Temecula, Calif. on a part-time basis the past year, Lawal had been splitting his time between preparing for his MMA debut while also working out at the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo. in an attempt to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in the 84 kilogram weight class.

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I talked about "Mo" Lawal months ago in relation to him being the next big prospect in MMA and now he's ready to make the jump into the deep end of the MMA pool:

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Travis Wiuff confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that his new opponent for the upcoming Sengoku 5 event in Tokyo this weekend will be recent Team Quest (Murrieta) acquisition Muhammad "Mo" Lawal. Lawal has an impressive freestyle amateur wrestling background, with accolades including the 2002 NCAA Division II National Championship, and First Place finishes at the 2006 U.S. Open and 2007 Pan-American Games. Most recently the native Coloradan finished second at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, just missing out on an opportunity to compete in recent Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

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Travis Wiuff confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that his new opponent for the upcoming Sengoku 5 event in Tokyo this weekend will be recent Team Quest (Murrieta) acquisition Muhammad “Mo” Lawal. Lawal has an impressive freestyle amateur wrestling background, with accolades including the 2002 NCAA Division II National Championship, and First Place finishes at the 2006 U.S. Open and 2007 Pan-American Games. Most recently the native Coloradan finished second at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, just missing out on an opportunity to compete in recent Olympic Games in Beijing, China. This will be Mo’s first MMA bout, as he joins Team Quest (Gresham) lightweight Ryan “The Lion” Schultz on the card.

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