Sengoku 8 3/2/09 Re-Cap

Sengoku - Eighth Battle: Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round

May 2, 2009
Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo

Sengoku is back for their third effort this year. The last show was the first round of the Featherweight Grand Prix. Here is a look at the brackets for the 2nd round:

Hatsu Hioki vs. Ronnie Mann
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Nam Phan
Masanori Kanehara vs. Chang Sung Jung
Marlon Sandro vs. Nick Denis

Lightweight Fight- Akihiko Mouri (6-6-1) vs. Maximo Blanco (2-1-1)

Mouri is a decorated amateur wrestler and a veteran of DEEP, Pancrase and the K-1 Hero promotion. Blanco was a All-Japan freestyle wrestling champion in High School and college. Apparently Blanco looks up to Eddie Alvarez and his backflips.

R1- Blanco got a quick take down in the first thirty seconds of the fight. Mouri caught Blanco with an arm bar but Blanco quickly rolled out of it and regaining top position. Blanco is bleeding from the nose early. Blanco dropped Akihiko with a good punch and then jumped on top in side control but couldn’t finish. Blanco hit a spinning back kick and then nailed Akihiko with a right hand and then a soccer style kick to the head. The kick was illegal based on Sengoku rules because Akihiko was down. Big mistake by Blanco because Akihiko was finished after that right hand.

Winner: Akihiko Mouri by Disqualification (Illegal Kick) R1

Light Heavyweight Fight- Travis Wiuff (54-12) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (5-0)

Nedkov is wearing an “I Love Jesus” T-shirt as he comes to the ring. He is a BJJ black belt, a solid wrestler and is undefeated. 4 of his 5 fights have ended in the first round. Wiuff is 9-1 in his last 10 fights. He fought 16 times in 2003 and 20 of his fights have gone the distance (he is 18-2 in those fights).

R1- Stanislav hits a couple of low blows early and we are in rest mode for the first several minutes of the fight. A red card is issued to Nedkov and that means that means Nedkov gets a point deduction. Nedkov hits another low blow on Wiuff. Pretty much a worthless first round due to three low blows. Nedkov gets another red card so he’s down two points (if he gets one more than he’s automatically disqualified).

R2- Wiuff got a good slam/take down to start the round. They stood back up at the three minute mark and Nedkov nailed Wiuff with a big punch but Wiuff took it well and stayed on his feet. Wiuff grabbed a guillotine but Nedkov slipped out. Wiuff takes this round and is probably up 20-16 due to the loss of points for Nedkov. Nedkov has to finish this fight in Round Three if he wants to win.

R3- Nedkov landed a good punch and jumped on top and landed some Ground and Pound on Wiuff and is destroying him in the ropes and the ref stops the fight and Nedkov kisses the referee. Really impressive come back by Nedkov after a rough first two rounds and he remains undefeated at 6-0.

Winner: Stanislav Nedkov by TKO (Strikes) R3

Welterweight Fight- Michael Costa (9-4) vs. Makoto Takimoto (4-5)

Costa’s last fight was a loss to Nick Thompson on 6/8/08 by submission. Takimoto is also coming off of a loss as his last fight was a loss to Frank Trigg on 8/24/08. Takimoto has fought a high level of competition in his brief career as he also has losses to Gegard Mousasi and Kiyoshi Tamura. This is Takimoto’s first fight at Welterweight since dropping down from Middleweight.

R1- Costa went for a high kick and a high knee early but got taken down by Takimoto. Costa was able to grab a guillotine on the ground but he was eventually able to get out of the submission. Takimoto grabbed an arm bar attempt but Costa blocked the submission. Takimoto instead grabbed a heel hook and got a submission. Pretty good fight although it didn’t last long.

Winner: Makoto Takimoto by Submission (Heel Hook) R1 3:31

Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round Tournament Fight- Nick Denis (7-0) vs. Marlon Sandro (13-0)

Denis defeated Seiya Kawahara in the first round of the tournament by TKO. Denis is the KOTC Bantamweight Canadian Champion. Denis showed some really good striking skills in his first round victory. Sandro is also undefeated and is the Featherweight King of Pancrase. He defeated Matt Jaggers by submission as he finished Jaggers with an arm triangle in the second round of the fight.

R1- Sandro dropped Denis with a punch and jumped on top and just destroyed him with punches. Very unexpected finish as Sandro was supposed to be the ground guy. Tremendous showing by Sandro and if he wasn’t in the Top 10 of Featherweights in the world then I would say that he is now.

Winner: Marlon Sandro by KO (punches) R1 0:19

Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round Tournament Fight- Masanori Kanehara (12-5-5) vs. Chan Sung Jung (6-0)

Jung is undefeated and beat Shintaro Ishiwatari in a fun fight in the first round of this tournament. Jung has won 4 of his last 5 fights in the 1st round. Kanehara won a unanimous decision over Jong Man Kim in his first round fight. Both of these fighters are considered “dark horses” in this tournament.

R1- Kanehara got the first take down of the fight a little over a minute into the round but it ends with the fighters being stood back up after several minutes. Kanehara got another take down with about a minute left in the round but Jung got it back to their feet and then Kanehara forced him through the ropes. Pretty even first round with Kanehara getting two take downs. Jung started to come on at the end of the round but I’ve got Kanehara up 10-9.

R2- Both guys swing wildly at each other during the opening stages of this round and it ends in a Kanehara take down. Jung tried to get an arm bar and looked like he got it but Kanehara slipped out and re-took his guard. Kanehara clamped in a heel hook at then end of the round but Jung held out until the bell. This was another close round with Kanehara dominating control of the ring and both guys almost finishing with a submission. I think Kanehara won this round with his last second submission attempt to go up 20-18 although it’s very close to 19-19.

R3- Jung slipped early and Kanehara took his guard. Jung landed a good knee about half way through the round and then got in a couple of more knees on Kanehara. Jung takes Kanehara’s guard and gets some Ground and Pound in the last minute of the round. Good fight and it was very close. I’ve got Kanehara taking Round One and Jung taking Round Three with both being pretty clear cut winners of those rounds. Round Two is up for grabs, I barely gave it to Kanehara. I could see a split decision here. I think if you were judging on the entire fight as a whole I would give it to Jung but round by round I give it to Kanehara.

Judges score the fight: 30-29 Kanehara, 30-29 Kanehara and 29-28 Kanehara.

Winner: Masanori Kanehara by Decision (Unanimous)

Light Heavyweight Fight- Xlexandre Riberio (1-0) vs. Kei Yamamiya (34-23-9)

Kei has fought 43 fights that have gone the distance and is 21-11-9 in those fights. He has defeated Chris Lytle, Nate Marquardt, Chael Sonnen and Denis Kang and has losses to Guy Mezger, Bas Rutten, Paulo Filho and Akihiro Gono (twice). He is a wrestler and a kick boxer. Riberio is a bjj fighter who has multiple world jiu jitsu championships but only 1 pro MMA fight.

R1- Riberio got a good take down about half way through the round. Riberio took full mount and got in some Ground and Pound. Kei gave up his back and Riberio worked for an arm bar attempt but could not end it before the round ended. Good showing in the first round by Riberio.

R2- Kei did a good job in the first half of this round avoiding a take down and Riberio seemed to tire towards the end of the round. Kei went for a flying knee but he got caught and got taken down with about half a minute left in the round and by the time Kei got mount the bell rang.

R3- Kei moved in and hit Riberio but Riberio countered punch with a strong right hand and knocked Kei out.

Good showing by Riberio. He needs to work on his cardio and if he does that then he will be tough.

Winner: Xlenandre Riberio by KO R2

They show a Ring of Honor commercial featuring Ric Flair during a break in between matches.

Lightweight Fight- Leonardo Santos (6-2) vs. Kazunori Yokota (8-2-3)

Yokota is a former Lightweight Champion from the DEEP promotion. His last fight was a loss to current Sengoku Lightweight Champion Satoru Kitaoka by unanimous decision. Santos is on a 5 fight win streak. Bas says he’s the brother of Wagnney Fabiano (current WEC and former IFL fighter). Both guys are looking for a title fight, so the winner of this fight could be in line for a fight against Kitaoka- especially if it’s Santos.

R1- Santos got a take down about a minute into the fight. Santos had his back but Yokota was able to spin through and take Santos’ guard. Yokota was able to get some decent Ground and Pound in at the end of the round to take the round.

R2- Santos went for a flying knee early and got taken down. With three minutes gone from the round Santos is able to escape and mount Yokota but Yokota rolls him back over. Nobody is really doing much damage in this round. Yokota takes this rather uneventful round to go up 20-18.

R3- Santos got a take down about 3 minutes into the round. Santos tried to take his back but got flipped over and Yokota took his guard. Another lackluster round. I’ve got it Yokota 29-28. Neither guy really looked like they did anything to try and finish this fight. Definitely a disappointing fight and neither guy comes out looking like they are championship contender caliber.

Judges score cards say: 30-28 Yokota, 29-28 Santos, and 30-29 Yokota.

Winner: Kazunori Yokota by Decision (Split)

Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round Tournament Fight- Michihiro Omigawa (5-7-1) vs. Nam Phan (15-5)

In the first round Omigawa defeated L.C. Davis by unanimous decision. Phan defeated Hideki Kadowaki via first round TKO in the first round.

R1- Omigawa got a quick takedown but Phan used a heel hook to take Omigawa’s guard. Phan got caught in a guillotine and ate some knees. Omigawa pulled guard with the guillotine but Phan got out of the move. Omigawa got another take down with one minute left in the round after some fairly even stand up. Omigawa got Phan up against the ropes and threw a ton of punches at him and then got him on the ground and just pounded him and the ref put a stop to the fight. Shocking upset!

Winner: Michihiro Omigawa by TKO (punches) R1

Featherweight Grand Prix Second Round Tournament Fight- Hatsu Hioki (18-3-2) vs. Ronnie Mann (17-1-1)

In the first round Ronnie Mann defeated Tetsuya Yamada by Unanimous Decision. Hatsu Hioki defeated Chris Manuel with a Triangle Choke in the first round of his first round fight. Hioki is the favorite to take this tournament.

R1- Hioki has a large height advantage in this fight. Hioki got a take down after one minute of fighting. Hioki got a mount about half way through the round and locked in a triangle choke and threw hammer fists at Mann and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Another great showing by Hioki.

Winner: Hatsu Hioki by Submission (Triangle Choke) R1 3:09