Japan is currently reeling from the devastation the recent 8.9 earthquake in the north eastern region of the country, and it’s effects have been far reaching. Several planned mixed martial arts events have been canceled and may be a foreshadowing of what is to come for the sport in Japan.
Today Sengoku Raiden Championship announced […]
Japan is currently reeling from the devastation the recent 8.9 earthquake in the north eastern region of the country, and it’s effects have been far reaching. Several planned mixed martial arts events have been canceled and may be a foreshadowing of what is to come for the sport in Japan.
Today Sengoku Raiden Championship announced that their primary sponsor for events, Don Quijote, has officially ended their relationship with the promotion spelling very bad news. Without the type of funding that Don Quijote provided SRC, it’s possible that this is the last we’ll see from this company.
The company has also been releasing fighters from its stable over the past few months after letting go of middleweight champ Jorge Santiago, ex-featherweight champ Marlon Sandro, heavyweight Dave “Pee Wee” Herman, among several others.
No events have been planned for this year by SRC, or DREAM, who are experiencing their own financial issues at this time which includes failure, or partial payment to fighters from previous events.
One of the smaller promotions in Japan, Shooto has their own issues related to scandals and a push to reform the product of the company by using the unified rules and adopting a cage for events. Tony Loiseleur of Sherdog.com, put together a great article covering Shooto’s current issues and is worth the read in order to get a proper feel for the companies current state.
A report from last Saturday noted that former Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (23-8) had signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and would likely make his debut against Brian Stann at UFC 130.
In a recent interview with Tatame.com, the American Top Team fighter denied the story about signing with the top promotion and says that […]
A report from last Saturday noted that former Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (23-8) had signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and would likely make his debut against Brian Stann at UFC 130.
In a recent interview with Tatame.com, the American Top Team fighter denied the story about signing with the top promotion and says that a fight with Stann is just people talking right now.
Santiago was recently released by the Sengoku Raiden Championship promotion despite holding being their middleweight title holder, the champ cited a lack of opponents as one of the reasons he wanted to get released by the Japanese promotion so he could fight in America again. The promotion also recently released heavyweight Dave “Pee Wee” Herman who signed with the UFC soon afterwords.
People are talking a lot about you leaving Sengoku for UFC… What’s true about it?
The truth is that I asked to be dismissed from Sengoku, because there were no reasons to be there anymore, I didn’t have opponents to fight. The time is going by and I wanted to come here because the top athletes are here, I want to belong to this crew. It’s not a total lie what they’ve been saying, me and UFC are almost getting to an agreement, we’ve also talked a lot with Strikeforce and, these days, we’ll decide with whom we’ll sign up.
On the United States you had offers from Strikeforce and UFC. Why are you more likely to sign with UFC?
Man, I can’t yet confirm it because I haven’t signed. The fact I came to the United States was because the market here is huge, the athlete gets more recognition.
People were speculating about a bout between you and Brian Stann…
There was a talk about when I could fight, they realize I could be on this card, so people started talking… I haven’t signed anything. And I believe he also hasn’t. They’ve removed this fight from their website, because it was supposed to be him against Wanderlei, so let’s see. Maybe, if I sign with UFC, I fight this guy, since people has started talking about it.
Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (23-8) has been released by World Victory Road promotion according to MMAFighting.com and is now free to pursue a contract with other companies.
It’s likely that Santiago will look to sign with Strikeforce for his next fight. In a recent comment on Twitter (@SantiagoMMA), a fan said that he wanted […]
Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (23-8) has been released by World Victory Road promotion according to MMAFighting.com and is now free to pursue a contract with other companies.
It’s likely that Santiago will look to sign with Strikeforce for his next fight. In a recent comment on Twitter (@SantiagoMMA), a fan said that he wanted to see Santiago face middleweights “Jacare” Sousa, “Mayhem” Miller and Robbie Lawler.
Santiago replied “I hope that happen too bro…. Let’s see it.” He also posted this message “… on my way to New Jersey with my big boy “Big foot Silva” for Strike Force..” in reference to Strikeforce’s media event for their World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament in New York this week. His appearance could certainly be part of a strategy to get signed by Strikeforce.
Santiago has already fought for Strikeforce participating in their one night Strikeforce: Four Men Enter, One Man Survives event back in November of 2007. He would win both fights to win the one night tournament and then head off to Japan.
While in Japan he fought eight times under the Sengoku banner going 7-1 earning the Sengoku middleweight title after winning the Sengoku Middleweight Grandprix in 2008. He’d defend his title twice, with his only loss coming to Mamed Khalidov in a non-title fight. Santiago would face Khalidov immediately afterwords for the title and would earn a unanimous decision win. He’s 11-1 in his last twelve fights.
Select video from Thursday nights Sengoku: Soul of Fights event has surfaced and we’ve got some of the bouts here for you to check out.
Yoshiro Maeda lays out Masanori Kanehara in the first round at 1:27. This is a great stand up fight with both fighters swinging for the fences, too bad it only […]
Select video from Thursday nights Sengoku: Soul of Fights event has surfaced and we’ve got some of the bouts here for you to check out.
Yoshiro Maeda lays out Masanori Kanehara in the first round at 1:27. This is a great stand up fight with both fighters swinging for the fences, too bad it only lasted the first round.
Taisuke Okuno, who replaced Dan Hornbuckle on just three days notice, lays out opponent Ryo Chonan with a wicked right in just 19 seconds of the first round.
Another great first round knockout brought to you by Jadamba Narantungalag who laid out Kazunori Yokota in the first round at 2:03. Nite, nite Mr. Yokota.
(photo and results courtesy of SRC-Official.com)
Weigh-ins for World Victory Roads upcoming “Sengoku: Soul of Fight” event took place on Wednesday in Japan at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, the same venue for Thursday’s event.
The event features a total of twenty eight bouts of various martial arts matches which include kickboxing, grappling, as well as mens […]
(photo and results courtesy of SRC-Official.com)
Weigh-ins for World Victory Roads upcoming “Sengoku: Soul of Fight” event took place on Wednesday in Japan at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, the same venue for Thursday’s event.
The event features a total of twenty eight bouts of various martial arts matches which include kickboxing, grappling, as well as mens and womens mma bouts.
A total of 56 fighters hit the scales with only one fighter missing weight.
Late replacement Taisuke Okuno was 1 kilogram over the limit for his welterweight match with Ryo Chonan. Okuno was a last minute replacement for an ill Dan Hornbuckle and has been issued a red card surrendering 20% of his fight purse to Chonan.
SRC featherweight champion Marlon Sandro (65.4kg) was on target for his title defense against Hatsu Hioki (65.7kg).
The full weigh-in results are as follows:
SRC16 featherweight championship – five minutes 5R SRC – Marlon Sandro 65.4kg vs. Hatsu Hioki 65.7kg
Soul of Fight at Sengoku 5 minutes SRC 3R middleweight One Match – Misaki Kazuo 83.6kg vs. Mike Seal 83.8kg
Soul of Fight at Sengoku Sengoku rules kickboxing class three minutes 3R 70.0kg – Buakao Poe. Pramuk 69.6kg vs. Nakashima Takahiro 69.8kg
Soul of Fight at Sengoku SRC Rule Women 53.5kg Class 3R 5 minutes – Megumi Fujii 52.9kg vs. Emi Fujino 53.3kg
SRC vs. DREAM single match against AC 5 minutes featherweight 3R – Kanehara Masanori 65.0kg vs. Yoshiro Maeda 64.2kg
*** The rest of the results after the jump ****
SRC vs. DREAM single match against AC 5 minutes Welterweight 3R – Taisuke Okuno (1kg overweight no official weight given) vs. Ryo Chonnan 77.1kg
SRC vs. DREAM single matches against five-minute exchange – Lightweight 3R – Maximo Blanco 70.3 kg vs. Won Sik Park 70.0 kg
SRC16 5 minutes; SRC Welterweight GP Final 2010 3R Series – Keita Nakamura 76.5kg vs. Yasubei Enomoto 76.9kg
SRC16 One Match – Lightweight 3R SRC 5 minutes – Kazunori Yokota 70.2kg vs. Jadanba Narantongaragu 70.1 kg
SRC16 One Match – Middleweight 3R SRC 5 minutes – Mamed Khalidov 83.5kg vs. Yuki Sasaki 83.6kg
SRC16 One Match 5 minutes; SRC heavyweight 3R – Yoshihiro Nakao 100.3kg vs. Dave herman 108kg
SRC16 – Bantamweight SRC Tournament semifinals five minutes 2R ASIA – Akitoshi Tamura 61.2kg vs. Taiyo Nakahara 61.1kg
SRC16 five minutes – ASIA SRC Bantamweight Tournament Semi 2R – Manabu Inoue 61.1kg vs. Shunichi Shimizu 61.2kg
SRC Rule 15 – Match – Women 61.0kg Class 2R 5 minutes – Hitomi Akano 60.7kg vs. Roxanne Modafferi 60.2kg
VALKYRIE 3 – three minutes the game open division provides R – Rin Nakai 63.4kg vs. Mika “Hari” Harigai 64.7kg
SRC Rule – Women’s games – five minutes 48.0kg Class 2R – Misaki Takimoto 48.0kg vs. Amy Davis 47.7kg
Muetairuru Sengoku Mini Flyweight (47.62kg) 2 5R minutes – Erika Kamimura 47.61kg vs. Chiharu 47.61kg
Heavyweight fight at Sengoku Muetairuru (86.18kg) 3 3R minutes – Cyclone Fabiano 100.0kg vs. Andrew Peck 113.0kg
Heavyweight kickboxing rules (86.18kg) 3 3R minutes – Ozawa Kazuki 88.0kg vs. Chang Lee 96.0kg
Muetairuru game Sengoku 3 3R minutes 73.0kg – Yuushi Miyamoto 72.64kg vs. Komata Hiroshi 72.83kg
Muetairuru game Sengoku 3 5R minutes 60.0kg – Uirasakurekku Kanonsukku 60.0kg vs. Genki Yamamoto 59.9kg
Muetairuru game Sengoku 3 5R minutes 52.0kg – Storm Fujiwara 51.85kg vs. Ebata Atsushi 52.0kg
Kickboxing match at Sengoku 3 3R minutes 70.0kg – Yuu Taro Yamauchi 69.35kg vs. Yokoyama Takeshi 70.0kg
Kickboxing match at Sengoku 3 3R minutes 70.0kg – Ikei Yuu 69.5kg vs. Matsukura Shintarou 70kg
An upcoming bout for this Thursday’s World Victory Road’s Sengoku: Soul of Fight event has saw a change as Bellator welterweight season 3 finalist Dan Hurnbuckle (22-3) has been forced off the card and replaced by Japanese fighter Taisuke Okuno (10-5-2).
Hornbuckle had been set to face Ryo Chonan (18-11) at the event but came down […]
An upcoming bout for this Thursday’s World Victory Road’s Sengoku: Soul of Fight event has saw a change as Bellator welterweight season 3 finalist Dan Hurnbuckle (22-3) has been forced off the card and replaced by Japanese fighter Taisuke Okuno (10-5-2).
Hornbuckle had been set to face Ryo Chonan (18-11) at the event but came down with a bout of influenza and was forced off the card. Chonan posted the update via Twitter on Dec. 25th and has since been made official by event staff today.
Chonan, a former UFC veteran, is 3-1 in his last four bouts coming off a TKO win over Jun Hee Moon last October at a Deep 50th Impact event. Before that he suffered a knockout loss to Jung Hwan Cha in April at the ASTRA event in Japan. Chonon is one of only four fighters to have ever defeated UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, he did it back at a PRIDE event in 2004 by submission.
Okuno is 3-1 in his last four bouts and is a veteran Shooto fighter. He recently lost a unanimous decision to Yasubey Enomoto at a Sengoku Raiden Championship 15 event in October ending a three fight win streak. Those three wins came in various promotions such as Sengoku, DEEP, and Shooto.
Sengoku: Soul of Fight takes place this Thursday, Dec. 30th, at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan and features a 28-bout all day event. The event is expected to air in North America via tape delay on HDNet.
