| Line-up SENGOKU Tenth Battle |
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| Written by ADCC |
| Monday, 24 August 2009 07:23 |
 Wednesday, September 23rd 2009 / Saitama Community Arena, Saitama - Japan
The Road to the Title Continues..... at least, it seems like, Sengoku is doing the right thing. Yet, still, they are keeping their star fighters busy and happy by promoting a few big shows per year, and they are also allowing them to fight in the other shows such as Shooto and Pancrase. In terms of what's taking place in the ring, instead of trying to hype things up with past assets from the PRIDE days, Sengoku actually did go out and sign more than a few interesting names from outside Japan. Roger Gracie, Jorge Santiago, King Mo (Muhammed Lawal), Mike Pyle, Dan Hornbuckle, Xande Ribeiro, Antonio Silva, Dave Herman, Nick Thompson, to name a few. When Sengoku began last year, many people in the industry basically laughed at them, and started to predict, how long are they would last? Some harsh critic even pointed out, how you can enter a sweep stake to win Sengoku tickets at Don Quijoite shops when it seems like more than 90% of the entries wins tickets. Almost all Japanese MMA fans saw an illusion of PRIDE in the DREAM show, and never really took a serious look at Sengoku. But now, about a year and half later, Sengoku is not only around but seems in a much better position than DREAM in the Japanese market. Sengoku has successfully signed Peking Olympic gold medal winning judo-ka, a Japanese national hero, Satoshi Ishii. Along with this prized catch, Sengoku also did establish new Japanese stars such as Mizuto Hirota, Satoru Kitaoka, and Masanori Kanehara in their first two years. In addition, don't forget, the Sengoku Japanese roster is filled with big and popular Japanese fighters in the roster such as Takanori Gomi, Kazuo Misaki, Hidehiko Yoshida, Sanae Kikuta, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Leo Santos, Hatsu Hioki, and Makoto Takimoto. The situation there is that, Sengoku has so many arsenals now but just can't use or utilize them often enough because they only do six to seven shows per year. Therefore, Sengoku is rich in assets, meaning many good fighters under their contract, and solid in terms of corporate sponsor's backing. And, in the ring, Sengoku continues to follow the formula of determining contenders for the title, which is, actually, very similar to what Zuffa is doing. They signs almost all fighters to a multi-fight deal and gives these fighters at least two chances regardless of the result of their first fight, to determine who really has what it takes to stay, and ultimately become the champion. Ryan Schults lost in the first round of the Sengoku GP to the current champion Hirota last August then got an another chance in the GP reserve bout in the following month but again, lost to Jorge Masvidal. But yet, he is still getting a third chance in Sengoku, and this time, he will take on Kazunori Yokota, a fighter from GRABAKA. Yokota also participated in last year's Sengoku lightweight GP, defeating Hirota in the semi but lost to Kitaoka in the final. Yokota then got his second chance in May of this year, and defeated Leo Santos via decision. Yokota is now back in contention for the lightweight title and on the other end, Schultz obviously on the edge because a loss to Yokota probably means three-strikes you are out for a veteran from Team Quest. Another battle for the title is taking place at the welterweight division. Sengoku is planning to crown its first welterweight champ early next year, and for sure, the winner of this fight between Dan Hornbuckle and Nick Thompson, would take a giant step towards this inaugural title. Hornbuckle first got an opportunity in Sengoku last year but came up short to Mike Pyle. After more than a year later, Sengoku finally came through with another chance and Hornbuckle capitalized in a big way. He faced a Japanese super star UFC and PRIDE vet Akihiro Gono in August and caused a big upset by knocking out a celebrity from GRABAKA cold with a right kick to the head. And now Hornbuckle is a known name among the Japanese fans that also appreciate the entertaining character of this Mohican haired fighter from Illinois. Hornbuckle sent the following message to the fans of Japan through the Sengoku office, "Keep the edge of your seats ready for the fight of the night against Nick Thompson. THE HANDLER is coming back to entertain the fans with another great performance. and to continue the journey to becoming the WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION OF SENGOKU!!!"
Lightweight Bout 5 min / 3R Light-heavyweight Bout 5 min / 3R Welterweight Bout 5 min / 3R Middleweight Bout 5 min / 3R Also Scheduled to Fight: Bookmark This! 
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