Jorge Santiago

Countdown to Trilogy: Belfort vs. Santiago

Here is a preview of Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago released by Affliction Entertainment as part of their “Countdown to Trilogy” series. Affliction: Trilogy is scheduled for August 1 at the Honda Center in Anahiem, California.

Four Bouts Announced for “Ninth Battle”

World Victory Road today announced four fights scheduled for their Sengoku “Ninth Battle” event on August 2 in Japan, including the pairings for the one-night semifinal tournament that will crown the promotion’s first-ever featherweight champion.

Undefeated Brazilian prospect Marlon Sandro will be facing upstart Japanese veteran Michihiro Omigawa in one semifinal bout, while tournament favorite Hatsu Hioki will go up against Masanori Kanehara in the other. The winners will end up fighting in the show’s main event.

In addition, Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka will defend his title against slick striker Mizuto Hirota and Kazuo Misaki and Kazuhiro Nakamura will collide in a battle of former PRIDE Fighting Championships standouts that will have the winner face middleweight title holder Jorge Santiago later in the year.

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Santiago, Kitaoka Win Belts at Sengoku; Gomi Falls Again

Jorge Santiago and Satoru Kitaoka each claimed vacant belts in their respective divisions while former lightweight king Takanori Gomi continued his fall from grace, losing his second straight fight at World Victory Road’s “Sengoku No Ran 2009” event in Japan on Sunday.

Santiago choked former PRIDE Grand Prix winner Kazuo Misaki unconscious in the third round of their fight and picked up his ninth straight win. Kitaoka meanwhile, was victorious in arguably the biggest fight of his career, quickly submitting Gomi with a heel hook just over a minute into the show’s main event.

Complete results from the event:

Jorge Santiago def. Kazuo Misaki - Submission (Rear-Naked Choke)
Satoru Kitaoka def. Takanori Gomi - Submission (Heel Hook)
Sanae Kikuta def. Hidehiko Yoshida - Split Decision
Antonio Silva def. Yoshihiro Nakao - TKO (Injury)
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Sergey Golyaev - Submission (Armbar)
Muhammed Lawal def. Yukiya Naito - TKO (Strikes)
Mu Bae Choi def. Dave Herman - TKO (Strikes)
Maximo Blanco def. Seigo Inoue - KO (Foot Stomps)
Hidetada Irie def. Minoru Kato - TKO (Strikes)

CKA for November 29, 2008

Antonio Silva to fight in Sengoku No Ran

World Victory Road announced Friday that heavyweight Antonio Silva is set to compete on the Sengoku No Ran show on January 4, 2009.  His opponent is scheduled to be Yoshihiro Nakao.  Silva, the current EliteXC heavyweight title holder, is currently under suspension in the US due to a failed steroid test in California.  Silva has disputed the results of the testing and since Japanese promotions are not compelled to honor suspensions in the US, he will compete here.  It may have long term effects on his obtaining licensure in the future in the US, but Vitor Belfort may have set a precendent by being allowed to compete after fighting in England while under steroid suspension.

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Misaki-Santiago, Gomi-Kitaoka Announced for Sengoku VII

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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Gomi Upset; Santiago and Kitaoka Win Tourneys at Sengoku VI

Despite being one of the world’s top-ranked lightweights for a number of years, Takanori Gomi fell victim to World Victory Road’s mediocre roster of 155 lb. fighters as he lost a split decision to M-1 veteran Sergey Golyaev at Sengoku IV on Saturday morning in Japan.

“The Fireball Kid” was unable to get past Golyaev’s swift striking, which earned the Russian points early and often during their battle. Golyaev used his reach advantage to keep Gomi at a distance throughout their battle and even dropped him with a left hook in the second round. Despite the loss, Gomi will likely challenge WVR lightweight tournament winner Satoru Kitaoka at the organization’s January 4 event. Kitaoka bested Kazunori Yokota and Eiji Mitsuoka to win the inaugural tourney.

UFC and Strikeforce veteran Jorge Santiago continued his run through the middleweight division by stopping Siyar Bahadurzada and former PRIDE light heavyweight standout Kazuhiro Nakamura en route to winning the middleweight grand prix.

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Middleweight GP for Sengoku V Finalized

World Victory Road today announced two additional bouts that finalize the first round of the organization’s inaugural middleweight grand prix at Sengoku V, which takes place on September 28 at the Yoyogi National First Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

Former PRIDE light heavyweight standout Kazuhiro Nakamura will take on Paul Cahoon while Strikeforce tournament winner Jorge Santiago will face World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Logan Clark.

The two bouts join Yuki Kondo vs. Yuki Sasaki and Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos as the matchups taking place in the tournament’s first round. Former UFC welterweight title challenger Frank Trigg, who defeated Makoto Takimoto at Sengoku IV on August 24 is being discussed a possible late entrant to the bracket by WVR officials.

It was also announced Thursday that heavyweight grappling wizard Alexandre “Xande” Ribeiro will go up against professional wrestler Takashi Sugiura at the show.

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Evening News and Notes - August 9, 2009

Report: Rothwell-Rizzo to Happen at Affliction II

Former IFL heavyweight champion Ben Rothwell will attempt to bounce back from his first loss in three years when he reportedly takes on three-time UFC heavyweight title challenger Pedro Rizzo at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” event on October 11th in Las Vegas according to MMANews.com, which cites Affliction VP Tom Atencio as confirming the fight.

At Affliction’s debut show last month, Rothwell suffered a third-round knockout loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski while Rizzo was defeated in a rematch against Josh Barnett, another former UFC title holder. Barnett knocked Rizzo out with a left in the second round of their fight.

WVR Announces Middleweight GP Participants

World Victory Road has announced four of the fighters that will compete in their inaugural middleweight grand prix, which will begin at “Sengoku V” on September 28th at the Yoyogi National First Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, Jorge Santiago, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Siyar Bahadurzada will all compete in first-round bouts.

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Sasaki-Santiago Set for Sengoku II

World Victory Road has announced that Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans Yuki Sasaki and Jorge Santiago will clash in a middleweight bout at the organization’s upcoming second “Sengoku” show on May 18th at the at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.

The two were originally booked to face each other in the first round of Strikeforce’s middleweight tournament in November but Sasaki was pulled from the event after failing an an MRI exam. Santiago would go on to defeat both Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley and win the tourney.

Sasaki has not fought since submitting Bo Guk So with an armbar at a DEEP event in July of last year. Before that the longtime Pancrase and Shooto veteran was unsuccessful in his lone bout inside the UFC, dropping a lackluster unanimous decision to Dean Lister.

After suffering consecutive knockout losses in 2007, Santiago bounced back in a big way last year. His Strikeforce middleweight tournament victory was preceded by a surprising submission win over Jeremy Horn. It was the first time that Horn had been forced to tap out in seven years.

The promotion announced yesterday that former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman and prospect Jim York would both be in action at the event.

A pair of lightweight fights were also already announced for the show: Satoru Kitaoka vs Ian James Schaffa and Eiji Mitsuoka vs Kwang Hee Lee. Roger Gracie, Yuki Sasaki, and Yoshihiro Nakao, who was originally reported as facing Mirko Cro Cop at last month’s DREAM event, are all expected to be in action.

Santiago Rolls to Tournament Victory

Jorge Santiago needed less than three minutes in order to capture the state of California and Strikeforce’s first-ever four-man mixed martial arts tournament last night.

Santiago scored victories over Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley in front of 8,233 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA.

Both Santiago and Prangley headed into the tournament in relatively good shape considering they had each fought earlier in the evening. They decided to keep the bout on the feet during the opening moments of their fight. Santiago battered Prangley with a flurry of leg kicks early on, connecting with one that knocked Prangley to the ground.

Santiago continued to stalk Prangley connecting with a number of unanswered punches and kicks. Santiago connected with a knee to the body and followed it up with a right hand that sent Prangley to the canvas. Santiago pounced on him and following up with another right hand but referee Jon Schorle decided that Prangley had enough and stopped the fight.

After the fight, Santiago admitted that sticking to his game plan ultimately won him the fight:

“I’ve been studying his game for a long time and I knew that he was a tough guy,” said Santiago. “I knew that he was probably going to try and take me down and drop some bombs. I just stuck to my game. I saw the best time to go and I took over.”

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