Hatsu Hioki

Sengoku 10 Notes: Hioki-Omigawa, Sandro-Hoshino Likely for November

A featherweight bout between Sengoku grand prix participant Hatsu Hioki and UFC veteran Michihiro Omigawa has been booked for the promotion’s next scheduled show, “Sengoku 11th Battle” at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan on November 7.

Sengoku officials announced the matchup during the intermission of Wednesday’s “Sengoku Tenth Battle” event at the Saitama Super Arena. Hioki and Omigawa were originally slated to face each other in the tournament’s finals in August, but Hioki was forced to withdraw from bout after suffering a concussion in his unanimous decision win over Masanori Kanehara earlier in the night.

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Sengoku 9 Live Results

We will be going live with results of Sengoku 9, which takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The card will be headlined by a lightweight title bout between Satoru Kitaoka and Mizuto Hirota. Also on the card is the featherweight tournament semifinals featuring Michihiro Omigawa vs. Marlon Sandro and Hatsu Hioki vs. Takeshi Numajiri.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments throughout the evening. Live results are after the jump.

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Sengoku 9 Weigh-In Results

All of the combatants for World Victory Road’s Sengoku 9 card successfully made weight in preparation for their bouts on Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The card will be headlined by a lightweight title bout between Satoru Kitaoka and Mizuto Hirota. The card will also feature the featherweight tournament semifinals and the return of Japanese star Akihiro Gono.

Main Card:

Satoru Kitaoka (153.8 lbs) vs. Mizuto Hirota (154 lbs)
Kazuo Misaki (182.6 lbs) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (182.6 lbs)
Kazuyuki Fujita (247.5 lbs) vs. Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov (242 lbs)
Dan Hornbuckle (165.7 lbs) vs. Akihiro Gono (167.2 lbs)
Clay French (154.1 lbs) vs. Eiji Mitsuoka (154.3 lbs)
Choi Mu Bae (240.7 lbs) vs. Yoshihiro Nakao (220.7 lbs)

Featherweight Grand Prix:

Michihiro Omigawa (142.8 lbs) vs. Marlon Sandro (142.3 lbs)
Hatsu Hioki (143 lbs) vs. Masanoru Kanehara (143 lbs)
Matt Jaggers (142.1 lbs) vs. Chan Sung Jung (142.6 lbs) – Reserve Bout

Gold Rush Finals:

Koji Ando (153.7 lbs) vs. Ikuo Usuda (154.3 lbs)
Toru Harai (143.3 lbs) vs. Shigeki Osawa (143.3 lbs)
Ryosuke Komori (132.2 lbs) vs. akeshi Numajiri (132.1 lbs)

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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Report: Sandro vs. Omigawa, Hioki vs. Kanehara Set for Sengoku GP

The pairings for the one-night semifinal tournament that will crown Sengoku’s first-ever featherweight champion have reportedly been set for the organization’s “Ninth Battle” event on August 2 in Japan.

According to Tatame.com, undefeated Brazilian prospect Marlon Sandro has revealed that he 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.

Sandro has won all fourteen of his professional bouts to start his career. After scoring a second-round submission of Matt Jaggers in the opening round of the tourney, Sandro needed only 19 seconds to knock out previously undefeated Nick Denis earlier this month.

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Hioki, Omigawa Advance in Sengoku Tourney

Hatsu Hioki continued his winning ways with a quick submission win over Ronnie Mann and UFC veteran Michihiro Omigawa scored a surprising victory over Nam Phan in the second round of World Victory Road’s inaugural featherweight grand prix tournament at Sengoku: Eighth Battle on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

Also moving on to the next round of the featherweight tourney will be undefeated Nova Uniao product Marlon Sandro who knocked out a previously undefeated Nick Denis in just 19 seconds as well as Masanori Kanehara, who won an exciting unanimous decision over Chan-Sung Jung in a “Fight of the Year” candidate.

Grappling wizard Alexandre Ribeiro earned his second straight professional victory Keiichiro Yamamiy via an ironic third-round KO and Bulgarian prospect Stanislav Nedkov kept his perfect resume intact with a late stoppage of seasoned veteran Travis Wiuff in other action.

Complete results from the event are below.

Featherweight Grand Prix:

Hatsu Hioki def. Ronnie Mann - Submission (Triangle Choke), R1
Michihiro Omigawa def. Nam Phan - TKO (Strikes), R1
Marlon Sandro def. Nick Denis - KO (Punches), R1
Masanori Kanehara def. Chan-Sung Jung - Unanimous Decision

Non-Tournament Bouts:

Alexandre Ribeiro def.  Keiichiro Yamamiya - KO (Punch), R3
Stanislav Nedkov def. Travis Wiuff - TKO (Strikes), R3
Kazunori Yokota def. Leonardo Santos - Split Decision
Makoto Takimoto def. Michael Costa - Submission (Heel Hook), R1
Akihiko Mori def. Maximo Blanco - DQ (Illegal Kick), R1
Shigeki Osawa def. Kota Ishibashi - Unanimous Decision
Hirotoshi Saito def. Yoshitaka Abe - Submission (Armbar), R1

Fight of the Day: Hatsu Hioki vs Rumina Sato

From Shooto’s “Tradition 4” event in November 2008, here’s former TKO featherweight champion Hatsu Hioki going up against longtime Japanese veteran Rumina Sato.

Hioki, Four Participants Announced for Sengoku GP

World Victory Road has officially announced five participants for the organization’s upcoming inaugural featherweight grand prix, which is slated to take place at Sengoku VII on March 20 in Japan.

Former TKO featherweight champion Hatsu Hioki was the most high-profile fighter named by the promotion today. Hioki, who briefly struggled in 2007 after a bright start to his career, has since gotten back on track, going undefeated in his last six fights. The longtime Shooto veteran last fought on November 29, scoring a first-round stoppage of Rumina Sato.

In addition, current featherweight King of Pancrase Marlon Sandro, Chris Manuel, Nick Denis, and Ronnie Ushiwaka were also confirmed as competing in the tournament today. World Extreme Cagefighting veterans Chase Beebe, Alexandre Franca Nogueira, and Hiroyuki Takaya have all announced their participation in the tourney as well.

Hioki Signs to Fight Sato in November Shooto

Reigning TKO featherweight champion Hatsu Hioki has signed to take on longtime Japanese veteran Rumina Sato in what will likely be the main event of Shooto’s scheduled “Tradition 4” card on November 29 at Korakuen Hall in Japan. The organization officially announced the bout earlier today.

After losing consecutive fights in the middle of last year, Hioki has bounced back to go on a five-fight undefeated streak. He most recently submitted Thierry Quenneville in the first round to retain his TKO featherweight title at TKO 35 on October 3. Hioki’s last Shooto bout saw him fight to a draw against Hiroshi Nakamura in August.

Sato will be competing in his 35th Shooto fight at the event. “Moon Wolf” has struggled as of late, losing four out of his last five bouts. He was last submitted by Akitoshi Tamura at Shooto’s 20th anniversary show in May. His last victory inside the promotion came against Augusto Frota at Shooto’s “Back to our Roots 2” event in March of last year, where Sato stopped Frota early in the first round due to a cut.

HT: Japan-MMA

Weekend Recap: Hioki, Taylor Victorious

In recapping other events besides EliteXC and Strikeforce that took place this past weekend, Hatsu Hioki retained his TKO featherweight championship with a first-round submission of Thierry Quenneville at TKO 35 Saturday night in Montreal.

The win was Hioki’s first inside the confines of TKO since he earned a majority decision over Mark Hominick at TKO 28 back in February of last year. Also victorious on the main card were “Ultimate Fighter” contestant Noah Thomas who submitted Adrian Wooley to claim the vacant TKO bantamweight belt and former hockey enforcer Steve Bosse, who scored a first-round TKO of Sebastien Gauthier.

Just like Don King, boxing mainstay Sycuan Ringside Promotions co-promoted it’s first-ever mixed martial arts event Saturday night in San Diego along with local organization Total Combat. Jesse Taylor stopped fellow UFC veteran Drew Fickett in the first round with strikes in the show’s main attraction.

Complete results from both cards are after the jump.

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