Sengoku 10: World Victory Road adds Silva, Doerksen and Schultz to Sept. 23 fight card

World Victory Road (WVR) recently announced the first handful of participants for it’s Sengoku 10 event, which takes place at the Saitama Community Arena in Saitama, Japan, on September 23.

The first (and last) Elite XC heavyweight champion Antonio Silva (12-1), UFC veteran Joe Doerksen (41-12) and former IFC lightweight champion Ryan Schultz (20-11-1) are the participants scheduled for Sengoku 10, though all pending opponents are to be announced at a later date.

Silva last competed at Sengoku "Rebellion" this January, where he picked up a quick and easy win over Yoshihiro Nakao who came up lame with a knee injury just one minute into the bout and had to forfeit.

"Bigfoot" has been targeted as one of the focal points (along with Josh Barnett) for a yet to be announced mini-heavyweight tournament, so a good outing at Sengoku 10 should keep him in the running for that while a loss may not.

Since washing out of the UFC in April of 2008 after a loss to Jason McDonald at UFC 83: "St. Pierre vs. Serra 2", middleweight Joe "El Dirte" Doerksen has gone on to win three straight, including picking up a victory in his debut for WVR at Sengoku 6 last November, where he pummeled Izuru Takeuchi late into the third round, winning by technical knockout (TKO).

IFC veteran Ryan Schultz will be looking to turn his luck around after a disappointing succession of losses within the promotion. In his debut he was knocked out by Mizuto Hirota who managed to land a devastating superman punch on Schultz at Sengoku 4 last August.

Then just one moth after that in his second outing for WVR he was disposed of quickly by Jorge Masdival after he landed a barrage of strikes to claim victory at Sengoku 5. Schultz has not competed since than, which will equal a one year layoff come September.

First up though for the promotion will Sengoku 9 which takes place from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on August 2.

For more on Sengoku click here.