On Sunday, August 2, 2009, one of the top Japanese MMA promotions World Victory Road will host Sengoku 9 - Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. This will mark the conclusion and crown the winner of WVR’s 16-man featherweight MMA tournament. The WVR featherweight division has a 65 kilograms (143 pounds) weight limit, where the WEC and other North American promotions use a 66 kilograms (145 pounds) weight limit. Sengoku 9 will be broadcast in North America on HDNet via tape delay.


Hatsu Hioki (Japan) vs. Masanori Kanehara (Japan)

Hatsu Hioki was one of the clear cut favorites heading into the Sengoku - Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final. Hioki is a world class jiu-jitsu practitioner that recently spent time training with the UFC lightweight #1 contender Kenny Florian up in Boston, Massachusetts. This 10-day training trip was mutually beneficial as Florian was happy to have a fellow MMA-oriented jiu-jitsu expert help him prepare for his UFC title shot against B.J. Penn on August 8th. Likewise, Hioki jumped at the opportunity to train with one of the best lightweight fighters in the world in preparation for the final two rounds of the Sengoku – Featherweight Grand Prix. Hioki is one of Japan’s top featherweight fighters, after gaining much success in the Japanese Shooto organization, where he made his MMA debut in October 2002.

After fighting for Shooto in Japan in his first 10 bouts, he would trek to Canada to face Canadian star Mark Hominick at TKO 25 in May 2006. Hioki won via Triangle Choke, which is his favorite technique .Many saw this as an upset victory, since Hioki pretty much rained on Hominick’s homecoming after he submitted Yves Edwards at UFC 58 in his most recent fight leading up to his loss against Hioki. From there, Hioki would defeat WEC star Jeff Curran at PRIDE – Bushido 12 in August 2006 and Byon Sho Kim in Shooto in November 2006, before he would return to Canada for a rematch with Hominick at TKO 28 in February 2007. He would defeat Hominick once again, this time via majority decision. He would return to Japan with one more visit and triumph in Canada at TKO 35 mixed in, before he got the call to participate in the Sengoku - Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final. In the opening round at Sengoku 7, he submitted American Top Team black belt Chris Manuel via Triangle-Armbar. In the quarter-finals at Sengoku 8 in May, Hioki would again win by submission. This time he submitted top British prospect Ronnie Mann via Triangle Choke.

Hioki will be facing his fellow Japanese countryman Masanori Kanehara in the semi-finals of the Sengoku - Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 on Sunday. Kanehara fights out of the Musashi-Murayama Dojo. He has been fighting professionally since 2003 and he's earned his stripes fighting primarily in the DEEP, ZST, and Pancrase organizations. He has also fought for Shooto twice in the Baltic northern European counties of Estonia and Lithuania, when Shooto visited the capital cities of those two small nations in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Those two bouts happen to be the only two times Kanehara has fought outside his native Japan in 23 career fights. After dropping a close split decision to DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix participant Takafumi Otsuka in October 2008, Kanehara rebounded with win first round KO of Kenji Arai at Pancrase in February of this year. That earned him an invitation to the Sengoku - Featherweight Grand Prix, which he took full advantage of in the first two rounds of the tournament, where he won unanimous decision victories over two formidable South Korean fighters Jong Man Kim at Sengoku 7 and Jung Chan Sung at Sengoku 8 to earn a trip to the Final Four on Sunday. Kanehara will look to knock off one of the tournament and crowd favorite Hioki to determine who will meet the winner of Sandro vs. Omigawa later in the night to be crowned the Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix Champion.


Marlon Sandro (Brazil) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (Japan)

Marlon Sandro is from Brazil, making him the lone non-Japanese semi-finalist in the Sengoku - Featherweight Grand Prix 2009. He was also one of the favorites heading into this tournament and after earning victories in the first two rounds, he now owns a flawless 14-0 record headed into Sunday’s final two rounds. He is a black belt in jiu-jitsu from Nova União in his native Brazil. Sandro made his MMA debut on November 6, 2004 as part of a 4-man tournament at the Arena Combat Cup in São Paulo, Brazil. He won both of his fights that night via submission to win the tournament. Sandro would win the first 9 fights of his career in Brazil, before coming to Japan where he would win three fights in Pancrase. His third win in Japan over Masaya Takita in October 2008 gave him the title of the featherweight King of Pancrase. His impressive status in Japan, earned him an invitation to the 16-man Sengoku – Featherweight Grand Prix. At Sengoku 7 in March, Sandro submitted KOTC veteran Matt Jaggers via Arm-Triangle Choke in the opening round of the Sengoku - Featherweight Grand Prix. At Sengoku 8 in May, Sandro would face KOTC-Canada bantamweight champion Nick Denis in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Unfortunately for Denis, Sandro would use this fight to make a serious statement to the rest of the tournament field, as he won via KO in 19 seconds.

Sandro will be facing Michihiro Omigawa in the semi-finals. Omigawa is noted for being PRIDE star and Judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida’s protégé and more recently, the clear underdog story of this 16-man tournament. He was a world class judoka prior to making his MMA debut at PRIDE Bushido 7 in 2005. Some of his Judo accolades include being a gold medalist at the 1999 Summer Universiade, a silver medalist at the 2001 Asian Judo Championships, and a bronze medalist at the 2002 Asian Games. However, Omigawa had a rude welcome to the world of MMA with a first round KO via Kick to seasoned MMA veteran and Aaron Riley at PRIDE Bushido 7. From there he would drop 4 of his first 5 bouts with his lone victory coming at Icon Sport over Jason Chambers, who is a MMA veteran best known for his role as a co-host on Human Weapon on The History Channel. Omigawa would then rebound after joining the DEEP organization picking up three wins, which earned him an invitation to the UFC. After dropping decisions to Matt Wiman and Thiago Tavares in the UFC, he would lose to Chan Sung Jung in DEEP and draw with Shintaro Ishiwatari at Shooto, bringing his overall record to 4-7-1, which is why many considered him the least likely to succeed at the beginning of the tournament in March. However, he would go on earn a pair of back-to-back upset victories over heavy favorites L.C. Davis and Nam Phan in the first two rounds and now finds himself in the Final Four. He will look to upset another tournament favorite in Marlon Sandro to determine who will meet the winner of Hioki vs. Kanehara later in the night to be crowned the Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix Champion.


Matt Jaggers vs. Chan Sung Jung

Also in the mix Sunday, in case their is an injury in the Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix semi-finals is a reserve bout, scheduled between two of the tournament's earlier participants in Matt "Jagger