Kazunori Yokota and Maximo Blanco featured on latest edition of 'Sengoku Gold'

Sengoku Gold, a sort of weekly half-hour digest produced by Sengoku, airs on Japanese TV late Sunday night and features fighter interviews, behind-the-scene footage, and event recaps.

The latest episode briefly assesses Sengoku's Lightweight title picture in the wake of Mizuto Hirota's ascent to the title.

Mizuto Hirota earned an upset victory over the incumbent title holder, Satoru Kitaoka, at Sengoku: Tenth Battle last month.

While the World Victory Road has yet to determine the date and the opponent for Hirota's first title defense, two fighters have emerged as the front runners for a title shot: Kazunori Yokota and Eiji Mitsuoka.

The episode features Kazunori Yokota as the centerpiece with an interview and synopsis of his recent achievements in the ring. Yokota, a former DEEP Lightweight champion holds a 9-2-3 record, with 3-1 in Sengoku.

A former collegiate judo team captain and member of the famed Grabaka Gym that has produced numerous standouts such as Sanae Kikuta, Kazuo Misaki, and Akihiro Gono, he has been quietly climbing Sengoku's Lightweight hierarchy.

Yokota has emerged as an unheralded contender with his tenacious, aggressive fighting style. He boasts a heavy hip thanks to his judo background, Grabaka-honed ground fighting, and crisp striking.

As an entrant in Sengoku's Lightweight Grand Prix last year, he defeated Bojan Kosednar and Mizuto Hirota before dropping a hard-fought unanimous decision to Satoru Kitaoka in the final.

In his last fight, he faced a decorated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, Leonardo Santos, at Sengoku: Eighth Battle. Instead of avoiding his foe's vaunted ground game, Yokota went toe to toe in a hostile realm.

At the end of a fight that saw Yokota give up his back to the long-limbed BJJ expert at one point, Yokota edged out Santos with a split decision.

Having previously outworked Hirota en route to a convincing unanimous decision win, Yokota looked on with wistfulness as Hirota defeated Kitaoka to become the newly minted Lightweight champion.

Despite the toughness and versatility that have helped him triumph over a hard-hitting striker (Hirota) and world class grappler (Santos), a nagging blemish in Yokota's game has been his inability to finish fights: Seven of his nine wins have come by decision.

Feeling that he has been passed over for title shot after his win over Leonardo Santos due to his lackluster victory, Yokota reflected in the interview on his "win-at-all-cost" mentality.

Slightly frustrated yet optimistic about winning in decisive fashion, he expressed admiration for Satoru Kitaoka's relentless quest for submission in his losing effort against Hirota: He cited the need for willingness to take a little risk in order to achieve emphatic victories.

Yokota is scheduled to face former IFL Lightweight champion, Ryan Schultz later this month at Sengoku 10. Schultz is currently on a two-fight slide, having suffered back-to-back TKO losses to Mizuto Hirota and Jorge Masvidal.

Yokota hopes to showcase his refurbished fighting style against Schultz and stake his claim to the title shot. He is under pressure to perform, as another lightweight lurks as a potent challenger for the title: Eiji Mitsuoka.

Mitsuoka, a King of Cage/PRIDE/Cage Force veteran, has been on a tear, earning all four of his victories in Sengoku by submission in the first round.

Despite falling to Satoru Kitaoka in the semi-final of the Lightweight Grand Prix last year, he has breezed through Kwang Hee Lee, Rodrigo Damm, Sergey Golyaev, and Clay French since arriving in Sengoku.

Mitsuoka earned the most notable victory of his career against Joachim Hansen in 2007.

Elsewhere, the episode featured another fast-rising lightweight, Maximo Blanco.

Blanco, a fighter under Sengoku's Fighter Development program, became the new Lightweight King of Pancrase with his recent victory over a very game Katsuya Inoue.

A Venezuelan ex-patriot currently training at Yoshida Dojo, Blanco boasts a solid wrestling credential, having represented his home country in international freestyle wrestling tournaments. Despite an erratic start to his MMA career, he has made a huge statement with his victory over Inoue.

The implication of the victory extends beyond the King of Pancrase title: Inoue has defeated former Sengoku lightweight champion, Satoru Kitaoka twice, and fought the newly minted champ, Mizuto Hirota, to a draw earlier this year.

The Sengoku Gold episode showed the highlights of the Blanco-Inoue bout: Blanco pressed the action from the outset with his aggressive wrestling and explosive striking.

Throughout the fight, he overwhelmed Inoue, who also possesses solid wrestling credential that has earned him the nickname, "Japanese Karelin."

The fight came to an end toward the end of the second round, when Blanco stunned Inoue with a right hook and followed up with a flurry of punches until the referee stepped in.

Blanco will face Tetsuya Yamada (3-1) at Sengoku 10. Eighteen year-old Yamada fought in the preliminary round of Sengoku's Featherweight Grand Prix earlier this year against the British prospect, Ronnie Mann.

Fighting a few weeks after his high school graduation, he showed a valiant effort against a much more experienced foe in his unanimous decision loss. At Sengoku 10, he will move up to Lightweight, a more natural weight class for him.

Blanco is a welcome addition to the competitive mix of Sengoku’s lightweight division. With Takanori Gomi still on the roster and a number of veterans and up-and-comers ready to make an impact, keep your eyes out for Sengoku’s lightweights.