Sengoku 6 presented by World Victory Road (WVR) took place earlier today from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and featured the conclusion of its lightweight and middleweight grand prix and the return of popular fan favorites Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Takanori Gomi.

"Little Nog", the twin brother of current UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, made his return to Japan a successful one after outpointing the very tough Moise Rimbon to take home the unanimous decision win.

This victory, Minotoro's third straight, should help re-establish his position as one of the world’s top 205-pound fighters. That standing was called into question after the rugged Brazilian was knocked stiff by the recently-fizzled Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou back at PRIDE 33 in 2007.

Headlining the show and coming up short was one of Japan’s most popular fighters, Takanori Gomi. "The Fireball Kid" looked like his old self with dominant position and repeated submission attempts throughout the first round.

Unfortunately a well-placed jab in the second frame folded him up like a Trapper Keeper - though he was able to stay alive after Sergey Golyaev inexplicably failed to follow up for the finish.

A recovering Gomi was tentative in the third but turned up the heat towards the end of the round. It wasn't enough in the judge's eyes. Golyaev was not overly aggressive but did look the fresher fighter and took home the split decision when all was said and done.

Former UFC middleweight Joe Doerksen returned to the win column with a gritty TKO win over Izuru Takeuchi in round three of their middleweight grand prix reserve bout.

"El Dirte" was released by the UFC after a technical knockout loss to Jason MacDonald at UFC 83 last April — his third straight defeat under the Zuffa umbrella but proved himself today in an exciting back-and-forth battle.

WVR didn’t waste any time bringing Team Quest product Muhammed Lawal back into action and it's easy to see why.

"King Mo" obliterated the very talented Chute Boxe fighter Fabio Silva after three rounds of brutal ground and pound. Silva had no answer for the strength and wrestling of Lawal who found the TKO finish early in the third.

Rounding out the card was of course the semifinals and finals of the lightweight and middleweight grand prix.

Satoru Kitaoka looked like he was in for an easy night after submitting Eiji Mitsuoka just over a minute into the first round of the semifinals, but Kazunori Yokota wasn't going to just hand over the bout, even after going to a decision against Mizuto Hirota.

Yokota went for the tried-and-true rope-a-dope style of fighting and stalling, but Kitaoka saw through him like used Neutrogena. Kitaoka was dominant from the opening bell and used a battery of strikes to secure the decision and the grand prix title.

Much like Kitaoka, Jorge Santiago went home as champion of the middleweight grand prix after barely breaking a sweat in the semifinals with a quick submission win over Siyar Bahadurzada. He had a little tougher time against Kazuhiro Nakamura in the finals but a crushing right from the Brazilian in the third round gave him the gold.

Here are the complete results for Sengoku 6:

Main Card:

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (15-3) defeated Moise Rimbon via unanimous decision (13-8-3)
Muhammad Lawal (2-0) defeated Fabio Silva (11-5) via TKO (strikes - 0:41:R3)
Sergey Golyaev (11-6) defeated Takanori Gomi (29-4) via split decision

Lightweight Grand Prix semifinals:

Kazunori Yokota (8-1-3) defeated Mizuto Hirota (10-3) via unanimous decision
Satoru Kitaoka (22-8-9) defeated Eiji Mitsuoka (14-6-2) via submission (heel hook - 1:16:R1)

Lightweight Grand Prix reserve bout:

Jorge Masvidal (15-3) defeated Seung Hwan Bang (5-3) via unanimous decision

Lightweight Grand Prix finals:

Satoru Kitaoka (23-8-9) defeated Kazunori Yokota (8-2-3) via unanimous decision

Middleweight Grand Prix semifinals:

Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-8) defeated Yuki Sasaki (22-15-1) via unanimous decision
Jorge Santiago (19-7) defeated Siyar Bahadurzada (14-4-1) via submission (heel hook - 1:10:R1)

Middleweight Grand Prix reserve bout:

Joe Doerksen (41-12) defeated Izuru Takeuchi (25-10-6) via TKO (strikes - 0:41:R3)

Middleweight Grand Prix finals:

Jorge Santiago (20-7) defeated Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9) via TKO (strikes - 0:49:R3)