The Independent Voice of Mixed Martial Arts
Sengoku Raiden Championship 15 takes place tonight (this morning) at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. The event features the Sengoku welterweight tournament semifinals and the Asian bantamweigh quarterfinals.
Today, World Victory Road, the parent company behind Sengoku Raiden Championships, finalized the participants in their inaugural SRC Asia Bantamweight tournament.
World Victory Road returns with SRC 14. The card, which will be broadcast live in the U.S. on HDNet, will take place on Sunday at 2 a.m. EST. Headlining the card is a middleweight title rematch. Jorge Santiago will defend his belt against Kazuo Misaki.
World Victory Road’s SENGOKU: SEVENTH BATTLE is live at Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, March 20, 2009. PRO MMA (promma.info) is providing live round-by-round updates and summary of the event. The first round of a Featherweight Tournament is featured as well as two non-tournament bouts featuring James Thompson taking on Jim York and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal taking on Ryo Kawamura in the main event.
Quick Results:
Nick Denis def. Seiya Kawahara by TKO (punches) rd.1
Ronnie Mann def. Tetsuya Yamada by unanimous decision
Chan Sung Jung def. Sinataro Ishiwatari by sub. (RNC) rd.1
Masenori Kanehara def. Kim Jong Man be unanimous decision
Marlon Sandro def. Matt Jaggers by sub. (side choke) rd.2
Michihiro Omigawa def. L.C. Davis by unanimous decision
Jim York def. James Thompson by TKO (punch) rd.1
Nam Phan def. Hideki Kadowaki by KO (punch) rd.1
Hatsu Hioki def. Chris Manuel by submission (armbar) rd.1
Muhammed Lawal def. Ryo Kawamura by unanimous decisoin
The featherweights continue to get a big push. Two weeks ago DREAM held the first round of their featherweight tournament, and this week Sengoku’s participants will take to the ring. This tournament may not have the big names like DREAM, but it remains stocked with plenty of young talent and the winner should make an impact on the world rankings.
Tournament Bouts:
Hatsu Hioki (17-3-2) vs. Chris Manuel (6-0-2)
The literal “poster boy” for the tournament is also the favorite. Hatsu Hioki is a world ranked fighter, and also the TKO champion. Over the course of his career he has defeated top fighters like Hideki Kadowaki, Jeff Curran, and Mark Hominick twice. He is truly an ace on the ground, which was made apparent by his guard passing dominance against Baret Yoshida. Yoshida may not have an impressive record, but he is a multiple time ADCC competitor and one of the best lighter weight grapplers on the planet. Hioki sometimes forgets his ground dominance and stands up too much. If he is going to win the tournament he needs to stick to his bread and butter.
PRO MMA (promma.info) is back with another video cram session. Two weeks ago DREAM had their featherweight tournament, and now it is Sengoku’s turn. The fighters may not be as well known, but that is why it is always alright to cram. In this edition check out a freestyle match from King Mo’s wrestling days, the slam that put Shintaro Ishiwatari on the map, L.C. Davis’ stunning head kick, and more.
Sengoku’s Seventh Battle takes place this Friday, March 20th and will air live on HDNet. PRO MMA (promma.info) will provide a full preview of the fight card, weigh in results, as well as round by round live fight results and updates during the live broadcast.
