World Victory Road (WVR) recently announced the latest match-ups for its next event, Sengoku 9, which are the three tournament finals derived from it’s reality television show "Project Gold Rush" at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on Aug. 2.
"Project Gold Rush" was a new Television show from WVR that aired in Japan and recently came to it‘s conclusion, similar in structure to The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), featuring up-and-coming fighters battling it out in tournament format.
The show featured three weight classes and finalist from each will battle it out at Sengoku 9.
First up will be the lightweight (154lbs) final, which pits undefeated Shooto prospect Ikuo Usuda against Cage Force product Koji Ando.
Next in tournament action will be featherweight (143lbs) competitors, seeing DEEP veteran Toru Harai facing off with Shigeki Osawa, who is the only participant to already have had a bout under the World Victory Road banner, which was a unanimous decision victory over Kota Ishibashi this May at Sengoku 8.
And last but not least the bantamweight (132lbs) final with Takeshi Numajiri taking on Ryosuke Komori.
The pairings for World Victory Road’s featherweight grand prix semifinals are of course also set to go down at Sengoku 9.
The often overlooked Michihiro Omigawa — who earned his spot in the semifinals by dominating and garnering a hard fought decision victory over L.C Davis and then firing off an impressive performance against Nam Phan — will have another tough test when he faces the always dangerous Marlon Sandro.
Sandro — the Featherweight King of Pancrase — has been impressive in his own right throughout the tournament, submitting Matt Jaggers at Sengoku 7 with a standing arm triangle. He then went on to defeat Nick Denis at his own game by knocking "The Ninja of Love" out with a well placed uppercut just 19 seconds into the first round at Sengoku 8.
Tournament favorite and promotion poster boy Hatsu Hioki will collide with Masanori Kanehara. Hioki has been a dominant force thus far in the tournament, submitting American Top Team (ATT) jiu-jitsu coach Chris Manuel by triangle armbar at Sengoku 7. He then went on to submit formidable grappler Ronnie Mann with a triangle lock earlier last month. Kanehara has garnered decision victories over Jong Man Kim also Chang Sung to earn his spot.
The winners from both semifinal matches will meet in the featherweight tournament finals, which will be held later in the same evening.
Here is the current line-up for Sengoku 9:
Sengoku lightweight title bout:
Satoru Kitaoka (24-8-9) vs. Mizuto Hirota (11-3-1)
Sengoku featherweight grand prix semifinals:
Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) vs. Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5)
Marlon Sandro (14-0) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1)
Sengoku featherweight grand prix final:
Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) or Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5) vs. Marlon Sandro (14-0) or Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1)
Sengoku featherweight reserve bout:
Matt Jaggers (11-5) vs. Chang Sung Jung (6-1)
Sengoku Gold Cup Lightweight Final:
Ikuo Usuda (4-0) vs. Koji Ando (2-0-2)
Sengoku Gold Cup Featherweight Final:
Toru Harai (6-2) vs. Shigeki Osawa (2-0)
Sengoku Gold Cup Bantamweight Final:
Takeshi Numajiri (1-1) vs. Ryosuke Komori (3-1)
Non-tournament bouts:
Kazuo Misaki (21-9-2) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9)
Blagoi Ivanov (0-0) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (15-7)
Yoshihiro Nakao (7-2) vs. Choi Mu Bae (9-3)
Eiji Mitsuoka (15-6-2) vs. Clay French (16-5)
Akihiro Gono (29-14-7) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (17-2)
For more on Sengoku click here.
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