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By Justin Bolduc
At Sengoku Ninth Battle we will be treated to the featherweight tournament semi-finals and finals. Facing off in the semi-finals are tournament favorite and top ten ranked competitor Hatsu Hioki against Masanori Kanehara and UFC veteran Michihiro Omigawa against undefeated Marlon Sandro.
The card also features a lightweight championship bout between Satoru Kitaoka and challenger Mizuto Hirota. A super fight is also set up between Kazuo Misaki and Kazuhiro Nakamura, with the winner likely to challenge Jorge Santiago for the middleweight championship. Kazuyuki Fujita and Akihiro Gono each appear on the card, while Clay French is also scheduled to compete. Sengoku Featherweight Tournament Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) vs. Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5) Hatsu Hioki has consistently remained in the top ten ranks of the featherweight division for quite some time, despite some lackluster performances. Hioki is currently on a four-fight win streak, with three of the wins ending with a triangle choke. In one of his recent performances he also stopped Rumina Sato with strikes inside the first round.
With a lengthy record in Shooto, Hioki has also found success in a couple other promotions. In his sole PRIDE bout he defeated Jeff Curran 2006. In his first two TKO appearances in 2006 and 2007 he defeated Mark Hominick by submission and majority decision. In his most recent performances he defeated Chris Manuel and Ronnie Mann at Sengoku 7 and Sengoku 8 respectively.
In nineteen career wins Hioki has stopped ten opponents by way of submission. His three losses have come to Jong Man Kim, Antonio Carvalho, and Hiroyuki Takaya. He holds career wins over Joe Pearson and Hideki Kadowaki.
Masanori Kanehara began competing in professional MMA in 2003. His career started off rough with a loss in his debut to Isama Sugiuchi in DEEP, then three consecutive draws in ZST. He lost his fifth career bout in his next appearance before finally winning a pair of fights. After another draw he finally began finding success.
In his longest career win streak Kanehara defeated five opponents, including one in Shooto, with a knockout and three submissions. Most recently Kanehara has found himself on a three-fight win streak, with a win in Pancrase over Kenji Arai as well as two wins in Sengoku over Jong Man Kim and Chan Sung Jung.
Kanehara has won by TKO four times and submission six. In his losses he has been TKO'd once and submitted twice. Kanehara has emerged as a dark horse in Sengoku's featherweight tournament. Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1) vs. Marlon Sandro (14-0) Michihiro Omigawa entered professional mixed martial arts with a background in Judo. Training out of Yoshida Dojo, Omigawa found himself thrown to the wolves early in his career. In his debut he was knocked out in PRIDE by Aaron Riley. He was then stopped by strikes by two-time HERO'S lightweight tournament champion Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante. In his third career bout he won against The Human Weapon host Jason Chambers.
Omigawa then lost his next two bouts, both in DEEP, before picking up three consecutive wins . He then made his UFC debut and lost both bouts there against Matt Wiman and Thiago Tavares. Omigawa then suffered his most recent defeat in August of 2008 to Chan Sung Jung in DEEP.
Omigawa then fought to a draw against Shintaro Ishiwatari in his sole Shooto appearance. In his most recent contests Omigawa upset L.C. Davis then stopped Nam Phan with strikes. Since moving to featherweight the Japanese Judoka has emerged as one of the favorites to win the tournament.
Marlon Sandro began to gain attention with his recent appearances in Sengoku. The Nova Uniao fighter is undefeated in his mixed martial arts career and has been competing professionally since 2004. In his first twelve career bouts he won by TKO twice and submission twice. Additionally, Sandro picked up a win over previously ranked competitor Daiki Hata.
In his two Sengoku appearances, Sandro was able to submit Matt Jaggers and stopped Nick Denis with strikes in only nineteen seconds. Sandro combines a strong jiu-jitsu game with well-rounded striking. Along with Hioki and his upcoming semi-finals opponent Omigawa, Sandro is one of the tournament favorites heading into August 2nd. Sengoku Lightweight Championship Satoru Kitaoka (25-8-9) vs. Mizuto Hirota (11-3-1) Satoru Kitaoka has had his fair share of ups and downs in his lengthy career, but has managed to emerge as one of the premiere lightweights in the world over the last couple years. Currently riding a six-fight win streak, including wins over Clay French, Eiji Mitsuoka, Kazunori Yokota, and former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi, Kitaoka is on the line to break into the top ten ranks.
In twenty-five wins Kitaoka has been able to finish fourteen opponents by way of submission, but has won the other eleven bouts by decision. Otherwise only one career loss has come by way of TKO, and the rest of his losses have been by decision.
Kitaoka earned the right to fight Takanori Gomi to crown Sengoku's lightweight champion, and capitalized on the opportunity with a first round Achilles lock submission victory. He most recently won with another Achilles lock submission against journeyman fighter Yukio Sakaguchi in Pancrase. Kitaoka has career losses to Koji Oishi, Hidetaka Monma, and Katsuya Inoue. He holds notable wins over Paul Daley, former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit, and Hidehiko Hasegawa.
Mizuo Hirota began his professional MMA career with success, winning his first six bouts. Despite going 1-1-1 in his last three bouts, Hirota enters his title fight coming off the biggest win of his career against former top ten ranked lightweight Mitsuhiro Ishida.
Hirota first appeared in Sengoku at Fourth Battle with a win over IFL veteran Ryan Schultz. Hirota returned to Sengoku Sixth Battle and lost to Kazunori Yokota by decision, then fought to a draw against Katsuya Inoue in GCM. In his first contest in Shooto in almost two years he was able to stop Ishida with strikes in only 1:33.
In eleven wins Hirota has stopped seven opponents with strikes. All three losses have come by way of decision.
Sengoku Ninth Battle Superfights Kazuo Misaki (21-9-2, 1 NC) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9) Kazuo Misaki gained popularity fighting in PRIDE and even won the promotion's 2006 Welterweight (183 lbs) Grand Prix. Despite being eliminated in the tournament's semi-finals by former WEC champion Paulo Filho, Filho suffered an injury and couldn't continue. Misaki faced Denis Kang in the finals and won a hard-fought split decision.
Consistently ranked in the top ten, Misaki has gone 3-1 with one no contest since the demise of PRIDE in 2007. In the no contest he knocked out Yoshihiro Akiyama with a head kick, but it was determined that Akiyama's hand was on the mat which made the kick illegal. Since the foul was unintentional the KO win was overturned to a no contest. Misaki then won two bouts in Sengoku over Siyar Bahadurzada and Logan Clark before stopping UFC veteran Joe Riggs with strikes in Strikeforce at the Playboy Mansion. In his most recent appearance Misaki was defeated by Jorge Santiago by submission in the fifth round. The bout was for Sengoku's middleweight championship.
Misaki's career losses have come against Santiago, Filho, Frank Trigg, Dan Henderson, Nate Marquardt, Daniel Acacio, Ricardo Almeida, and Chris Lytle. He does however hold notable wins over Dan Henderson, Denis Kang, Ed Herman, Kiuma Kunioka, and Phil Baroni.
Kazuhiro Nakamura, like Misaki, fought in the now defunct PRIDE organization. With a strong Judo background and training alongside Hidehiko Yoshida, Nakamura found himself thrown to the wolves in his professional MMA debut at PRIDE 25 against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Nakamura was ultimately submitted by an armbar, but rebounded with three wins.
After losing a decision in a rematch to Nogueira, Nakamura defeated former UFC champion Murilo Bustamante. He then lost due to an injury against former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson. In his return to action he was able to defeat K-1 veteran Stefan Leko, then former UFC champion Kevin Randleman. Nakamura continued to find himself paired up with top level competition and was TKO'd by former PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva. He did pick up substantial victories in his next bouts over Igor Vovchanchyn and Yuki Kondo, but was then defeated by Josh Barnett. His final PRIDE appearance was a loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at PRIDE Shockwave 2006.
After the downfall of PRIDE, Nakamura went on to the UFC. In his promotional debut he was defeated by current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida by decision. He then lost to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou after suffering a leg injury, and subsequently parted ways with the UFC. Since then he has gone 2-1, fighting all three times in Sengoku. In his two wins he defeated Paul Cahoon and Yuki Sasaki, but lost his most recent contest by TKO to Jorge Santiago at Sengoku Sixth Battle. Sengoku Ninth Battle Fight Card Hatsu Hioki vs. Masanori Kanehara (Featherweight Grand Prix semi-finals) Michihiro Omigawa vs. Marlon Sandro (Featherweight Grand Prix semi-finals) Matt Jaggers vs. Chan Sung Jung (Featherweight Grand Prix reserve bout) Satoru Kitaoka vs. Mizuto Hirota (Sengoku Lightweight Championship) Ikuo Usuda vs. Koji Ando (Sengoku Gold Cup Lightweight Finals) Toru Harai vs. Shigeki Osawa (Sengoku Gold Cup Featherweight Finals) Takeshi Numajiri vs. Ryosuke Komori (Sengoku Gold Cup Bantamweight Finals) Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Blagoi Ivanov Kazuo Misaki vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Clay French Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Choi Mu Bae Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hornbuckle
Hioki/Kanehara winner vs. Omigawa/Sandrwo winner (Featherweight Grand Prix Finals)
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