Sengoku: Ninth Battle Predictions & Fight Previews

Sengoku: Ninth Battle is fast arriving, beginning Sunday, August 2, 2009 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The main attraction is the conclusion of the featherweight grand prix, which is whittled down to four remaining participants at Sengoku's Eight Battle. Tournament favorites Hatsu Hioki and Marlon Sandro are on opposite sides of the bracket, possibly setting up a solid final bout.

On the non tournament side of the card will be Satoru Kitaoka battling Mizuto Hirota for the Sengoku lightweight title. Other notable fighters to appear are former UFC fighters Kazuhiro Nakamura and Akihiro Gono, Strikeforce’s Kazuo Misaki and Americans Clay French and Dan Hornbuckle. Blagoi Ivanov, the man to knock off pound for pound champion Fedor Emelianenko in his last Sambo match will also be making his MMA debut.

This event can be seen live, starting at 3:00 AM EST on the all high definition channel HDNet.

Satoru Kitaoka vs. Mizuto Hirota – Sengoku Lightweight Title

Satoru Kitaoka (24-8-9) will put his lightweight belt up for grabs for the first time against Shooto veteran Mizuto Hirota (11-3-1). In his most recent bout in June, Kitaoka returned to Pancrase and easily defeated Yukio Sakaguchi with an Achilles lock. Hirota’s last action was in May, stopping PRIDE, DREAM and Strikeforce vet, Mitsuhiro Ishida with a 1st round TKO.

Kitaoka, a longtime Pancrase fighter, has been on a roll as of late, winning 6 in a row and 11 of his last 12 bouts overall. The 29 year-old is known as an expert submission grappler as is evidence of his 5 submissions in his last 6 bouts. He became the lightweight champion in January, defeating Takanori Gomi early in the 1 st round with an Achilles lock at Sengoku: No Ran 2009. He has many impressive victories over his 8+ year career, including defeating Elite XC veteran, Paul Daley and UFC vets, Carlos Condit and Kurt Pellegrino.

Hirota, a four year MMA veteran, has spent the majority of his time fighting for Shooto but has also fought for GCM and recently for Sengoku. He is strictly a stand up fighter with a tendency to drag opponents along into a decision, taking almost half of his bouts the duration. He last appeared for Sengoku in November, losing to Kazunori Yokota by unanimous decision. Prior to that bout he knocked out IFL vet Ryan Schultz at Sengoku: Fourth Battle. Hirota has never been finished throughout his career.

Prediction - Kitaoka over Hirota via unanimous decision

Hatsu Hioki vs. Masanori Kanehara – Sengoku Featherweight GP Semifinal

Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5) will try and pull the upset against tournament favorite, Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) and earn his way into the featherweight grand prix final. Hioki made a statement with his tournament victories, submitting Chris Manuel in the opening round then Ronnie Mann in the second round two months ago. Kanehara earned his semifinal berth by spending considerable time in the cage, defeating Koreans Jong Man Kim and Chan Sung Jung in consecutive bouts both by unanimous decision.

Hioki has seven years of experience, spending most of his time fighting for Shooto but also appearing on PRIDE, Heat, and TKO cards. The 26 year-old owns career victories over Mark Hominick, Rumina Sato, Jeff Curran and TUF 5 fighter, Brian Geraghty. Known as a finisher, stopping 14 opponents in his career, he has never been finished himself, only losing three times all by decision. His success has been apparent as of late, winning his last four and not losing a bout over his last eight (7-0-1).

Kanehara, 26, made his debut six years ago while fighting for the DEEP organization. Over the course of his career he has appeared for the majority of the major Japanese MMA promotions. While he has gone the distance in his last two fights, he has finished 10 bouts out of his 13 career victories. Prior to entering into the featherweight grand prix, Kanehara also picked up a victory against Kenji Arai while fighting for Pancrase in February.

Prediction – Hioki over Kanehara via 1st round submission

Marlon Sandro vs. Michihiro Omigawa – Sengoku Featherweight GP Semifinal

The surprise of the tournament so far has got to be the success of Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1), who will try and hand Marlon Sandro (14-0) his first career defeat. Omigawa outlasted LC Davis in the opening round; winning via unanimous decision, then stopped Nam Phan by TKO in May to advance to the semifinal round. Sandro was more decisive throughout the tournament, stopping Matt Jaggers and Nick Denis in succession to get into the final four.

Omigawa, a Judo specialist, has fought in 8 different organizations in a little more than four years in MMA. Debuting in 2005 for the PRIDE organization, he lost four of his first five matches. He then won three in a row for the DEEP promotion, and earned a UFC contract. His up and down career continued, losing both of his UFC bouts by decision. Since his departure from the world’s largest organization, he has compiled a 2-1-1 record. The 33 year-old Yoshida Dojo fighter has been to 8 decisions in his 14 career fights.

Marlon Sandro, 32, began his career in 2004, fighting for small promotions in his home country of Brazil. He remained in Brazil until signing with Pancrase in November of 2007. Taking five of his nine bouts the distance prior to fighting in Japan, he has only been to a decision twice since, stopping three of his last four opponents. Primarily a submission specialist, Sandro does have some KO power, finishing 4 career opponents with KO’s.

Prediction – Sandro over Omigawa via 2nd round TKO

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Matt Jaggers vs. Chang Sung Jung – Sengoku Featherweight GP Reserve Bout

Either Matt Jaggers (14-6) or Chang Sung Jung (6-1) will possibly get another chance to advance in the featherweight grand prix if an injury sidelines one of the remaining four participants. Matt Jaggers was eliminated in the opening round in March, losing to undefeated semifinalist Marlon Sandro by arm triangle choke. His reserve bout opponent, South Korean Chang Sung Jung advanced into the second round but was eliminated by Masanori Kanehara by unanimous decision.

The “Jagger Bomb” is a Team Wolfpack fighter who was fighting mostly for the King of the Cage brand, until recently fighting on Sho XC, Sengoku and Bellator FC cards. He compiled a mediocre 5-5 record for King of the Cage from February 2006 to June 2008. Since then he has won 3 of his last 4, his only loss the submission to Sandro. In October he handed previously unbeaten Orville Smith his first loss, knocked out a debuting Chris Boyden at Extreme Challenge in November, and in his most recent bout in May, submitted Peter Dominguez with a 1st round rear naked choke. He has only been to a decision twice in his career.

Korean Top Team product Chang Sung Jung, also known as “The Korean Zombie,” is a former Sambo player turned MMA fighter. He made his debut in June of 2007 while fighting at the Super Sambo Festival event in South Korean, picking up his first submission victory. Since that debut he has fought twice each for Pancrase and DEEP, stopping 3 of the 4 opponents that he faced. He was a big surprise in the opening round; submitting Shooto vet Shintaro Ishiwatari then was out pointed by Kanehara in May.

Prediction – Jaggers over Chang Sung Jung via unanimous decision

Kazuo Misaki vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura – Non Tournament Bout

Two former Judo players go head-to-head in a 183 pound non tournament bout. Kazuo Misaki (21-9-2) has only fought once this year, a January loss to Jorge Santiago at Sengoku: No Ran 2009. Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9) last fought almost nine months ago, also losing to Jorge Santiago at Sengoku: 6th Battle.

Misaki, 33, began his eight year career as a competitor for the Pancrase organization, fighting Jake Shields to a draw, losing twice to Nate Marquardt and submitted Ed Herman. In 2005, the “Grabaka Hitman” moved to the PRIDE organization where he earned victories against Phil Baroni, Dan Henderson and Paulo Filho. Since leaving PRIDE in February of 2007, he has fought for three different promotions, winning three of five bouts. He was defeated by Santiago in Sengoku for the middleweight championship, in his most recent bout.

Kazuhiro Nakamura is probably known mostly for his two fight stint in the UFC, although he has been active since 2003, fighting 17 times in PRIDE. He owns victories against Murilo Bustamante, Kevin Randleman, Evangelista Santos, and Yuki Kondo while in PRIDE. Moving to the UFC in September 2007, Nakamura was defeated in the 205 pound division by both LHW champion Lyota Machida and Sokoudjou. Cut shortly after his UFC 84 loss to Sokoudjou, he returned to Japan to fight for Sengoku where he has compiled a 2-1 record.

Prediction – Misaki over Nakamura via unanimous decision

Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Clay French – Non Tournament Bout

Two Sengoku veterans that are heading in different directions will face off in a 154 pound bout. Japanese native, Eiji Mitsuoka (15-6-2) has won 3 of his last 4 bouts, while his opponent Illinois resident, Clay French (17-5) has lost 3 of his last 4. Mitsuoka set up a slick submission against Sergey Golyaev in January at Sengoku: No Ran 2009 in his most recent action. French lost his only Sengoku match, a submission loss to Satoru Kitaoka last year.

Mitsuoka debuted for the Midwest based King of the Cage organization in 2001 then bounced around PRIDE, DEEP, TPI FC, until finally finding a stable home for GCM – Cage Force in 2004. He went 6-2 while fighting for GCM, defeating notables Samy Schiavo and Brian Cobb. Since leaving GCM, he has won 4 of 5 including a decision victory over Joachim Hansen in Shooto. His last three victories have all been ended in 1st round submissions, all three coming in Sengoku.

French is a journeyman fighter who began his career with 8 consecutive wins while fighting in six different organizations. Two straight losses, courtesy of Justin James and Shinya Aoki temporarily ended his streak of good luck. However, in January 2007 he started another 8 fight win streak, defeating notables Mac Danzig and current WEC fighter Jameel Massouh. His up and down career continued after signing with Sengoku, losing by stoppage in three consecutive bouts. He did win his most recent bout last month, submitting Bryan Neville in 28 seconds at a KOTC event.

Prediction – Mitsuoka over French via submission

Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hornbuckle – Non Tournament Bout

Akihiro Gono (29-14-7) fights for the first time since being released from the UFC. The first opponent he will face will be American Dan Hornbuckle (17-2), who is on a two fight win streak, defeating Joe Alexander by KO in 46 seconds his last time out six months ago. Gono lost a decision to UFC welterweight, Jon Fitch at UFC 94 in January.

Although only 34 years old, Akihiro Gono has fought for fifteen years, beginning in the Lumax Cup in 1994. Also competing for Shooto, Superbrawl, Pancrase, DEEP, ZST, PRIDE and UFC, Gono has always been a tough out. He has fought top welterweights and middleweights in his career, losing to Matt Hughes, defeating Bellator’s Hector Lombard, UFC’s Tim McKenzie and handed Gegard Mousasi one of his two career losses. While fighting for the UFC, he lost two of three, winning his debut over Tamdan McCory then losing back to back bouts to Dan Hardy and Fitch.

Dan Hornbuckle has flown under the radar since debuting three years ago at Total Fighting Challenge. He started his career with a 2-1 record, losing by a Nate Homme submission in his third bout. Since that time he has only lost once, winning 15 of his next 16 fights. His only loss was in his only Sengoku bout, losing to current UFC fighter Mike Pyle via submission. He has rebounded with two straight stoppage victories, making it 14 stoppages out of 17 career wins.

Prediction – Gono over Hornbuckle via submission

Full Sengoku 9 Fight Card

• Satoru Kitaoka vs. Mizuto Hirota – Sengoku LW Title
• Hatsu Hioki vs. Masanori Kanehara – Sengoku FW GP
• Marlon Sandro vs. Michihiro Omigawa – Sengoku FW GP
• Matt Jaggers vs. Chang Sung Jung – Sengoku FW GP Reserve Bout
• Kazuo Misaki vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura – Non Tournament
• Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Clay French – Non Tournament
• Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hornbuckle – Non Tournament
• Blagoi Ivanov vs. Fujita – Non Tournament
• Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Choi Mu Bae – Non Tournament
• Ikuo Usuda vs. Koji Ando – Sengoku Gold Cup LW Final
• Toru Harai vs. Shigeki Osawa – Sengoku Gold Cup FW Final
• Takeshi Numajiri vs. Ryosuke Komori – Sengoku Gold Cup BW Final

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer