Sengoku 10: Kazunori Yokota vs Ryan Schultz announced for Sept. 23

World Victory Road (WVR) recently announced the first match-up for its Sengoku 10 event, setting up Kazunori Yokota (9-2-3) to do battle against Ryan Schultz (20-11-1) in a lightweight showdown on Sept. 23 from the Saitama Community Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Schultz, an International Fight League (IFL) veteran, will look to turn his luck around after a disappointing succession of losses within the promotion.

In his debut he was knocked out by Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1), who managed to land a devastating Superman punch on Schultz at Sengoku 4 last August. Then just one month after that he was disposed of quickly by Jorge Masdival (18-4) after he landed a barrage of strikes to claim victory at Sengoku 5.

Schultz has not competed since then, which will equal a one year layoff come September.

Yokota will likely look for a crack at the Sengoku lightweight title with another win and could be granted a shot if he has a good outing come September. He also holds a recent win over the current champion Mizuota Hirota (12-3-1).

Therefore, a second encounter between the two could go down soon. He last competed at Sengoku 8 this May, squeaking a split decision victory over jiu-jistu ace Leonardo Santos (6-3).

Sengoku 10 will feature the first (and last) Elite XC heavyweight champion Antonio Silva (12-1), UFC veteran Joe Doerksen (41-12) and a pair of Olympians in 2004 Olympic Judo silver medalist Hiroshi Izumi (0-0) and 2000 Olympic Judo gold medalist Makoto Takimoto (5-5).

However, their opponents will not be announced until a later date.

Here is the current line-up for Sengoku 10:

Antonio Silva (12-1) vs. TBA
Hiroshi Izumi (0-0) vs. TBA
Makoto Takimoto (5-5) vs. TBA
Joe Doerksen (41-12) vs. TBA
Kazunori Yokota (9-2-3) vs. Ryan Schultz (20-11-1)

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