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 is the review of the 9 non-tournament bouts, including the Sengoku lightweight title bout. Check back tomorrow for the review of the bouts involved in the Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final.



Satoru Kitaoka vs. Mizuto Hirota (Lightweight Title Bout)

The main event of the evening will be a lightweight title match featuring Sengoku lightweight Grand Prix and current Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka. Kitaoka is known as one of the world's most feared leg-lock experts. He has 25 career wins, 14 via submission, and 8 of those submissions were in the form of some type of leg-lock, which is how he won the Sengoku lightweight title in January. He applied a fight-ending Achilles Lock on former PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi at 1:41 of Round 1 to become the Sengoku lightweight champion.

He will look to defend his lightweight title against another formidable Japanese fighter in Cage Force lightweight champion Mizuto Hirota. Over the past 12 months, Hirota has earned a repuation of upsetting former champions with impressive wins over former Shooto welterweight champion Mitsuhiro Ishida and former IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz, as well as earning a draw with the King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue. This will be Kitaoka's first title defense, since winning the belt from Gomi in January, and Hirota will look to add Kitaoka to the lsit of former champions he's beat, while becoming the next Sengoku lightweight champion.


Blagoi Ivanov vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (Heavyweight Bout)

Sengoku 9 will also mark the MMA debut of Combat Sambo world champion Blagoi Ivanov of Bulgaria. Ivanov gained a lot of notoriety in MMA and Sambo circles last November after winning the 2008 Combat Sambo World Championships, as he became the first man to decisively earn a victory over four-time World Combat Sambo Champion and the world's consensus top heavyweight MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko in competition.

Fedor's only recorded loss in MMA to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in RINGS was a controversial loss where Kohsaka cut Fedor with an illegal strike. The bout would have ended as a "no contest" or DQ win for Fedor under normal circumstances, but under the tournament format a winner needed to move on to the next round and Fedor could not due to the injury.

Thus, Ivanov is widely regarded as the only man to truly hold a decisive victory over Fedor and he will face one of Fedor’s previous opponents in PRIDE and Sengoku veteran Kazuyuki Fujita. Fujita is a heavy-handed heavyweight who holds notable wins over Ken Shamrock, Gilbert Yvel, Mark Kerr, James Thompson, and Bob Sapp. Fedor also acknowledges Fujita as the only man to hit him flush, when Fujita dazed him during their PRIDE fight in 2003.


Kazuo Misaki vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (Middleweight Bout)

This is another bout at Sengoku 9 that has received plenty of pre-fight attention is the middleweight bout featuring former PRIDE welterweight Grand Prix champion Kazuo Misaki, as he takes on PRIDE and UFC veteran Kazuhiro Nakamura. The winner of this bout was set to earn a title shot later this year against Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago. However, Misaki’s recent legal troubles have changed that.

In June, Misaki pled guilty to interfering with the duties of a public official. Officers pulled over Misaki on March 19th for driving while using his cell phone, which is illegal in Tokyo. However, after he pulled over, Misaki fled the scene and injured an officer's wrist when it was struck by the mirror on his car door. WVR officials stated at a press conference that Misaki will receive no pay for his bout with Nakamura, he no longer will earn a title shot with current champion Jorge Santiago if he wins, and an indefinite suspension goes into effect immediately after the fight.

Nakamura trains out of the dojo of Hidehiko Yoshida, alongside Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix finalist Michihiro Omigawa. He has also experienced his own disciplinary issues, when he was fined $500 and suspended three months by the CSAC, after he failed a drug test due to marijuana following his decision loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 76 in September 2007. Nakamura will still receive a title shot against Santiago if he defeats Misaki at Sengoku 9.


-Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hornbuckle (Welterweight Bout)

In welterweight action, the enigmatic showman Akihiro Gono a.k.a. The Magic Man will be back in action for the first time, since leaving the UFC earlier this year. He is teammate of Kazuo Misaki at Grabaka that is well known for his creative and deceptive fighting style. However, he's perhaps better known for his hilarious ring entrances that he and his corner men choreograph to the crowd's delight on the way to the ring before his fights. These entrances usually include funny wigs, sun glasses, and the catchy beats of Japanese pop star DJ Ozma.

His fighting style is characterized by skillful counter striking, setting the pace of his fights, and fancy submissions that he often secures when it looks like he has nothing available. This was evident in his first UFC fight against Tamdan McCrory at UFC 78 in November 2007, where he tapped his much lankier opponent with a creative armbar. He would then lost a close split decision 11 months later at UFC 89 in the UK to British star Dan Hardy. His final fight was at UFC 94, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Top 3 welterweight Jon Fitch.

Gono will face off against the formidable John "The Handler" Hornbuckle, who brings his impressive 17-2 record with him back to Japan. Where Gono hasn't fought in Japan in over 2 years, Hornbuckle hasn't fought in Japan, since having his 13-fight win streak snapped in May 2008 by Mike Pyle during his Sengoku debut. Hornbuckle hails from the Midwest fighting out of Jack McVicker's Martial Arts Academy in Terre Haute, Indiana. McVicker is a black belt in jiu-jitsu under Wellington "Megaton" Diaz and Hornbuckle has used this submission training to earn half of his victories. However, his aggressive style has been susceptible to triangle chokes, which is the way he was beat in both of his losses.


-Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Clay French (Lightweight Bout)

Eiji Mitsuoka is a 5-time veteran of PRIDE, who holds victories over UFC veterans Anthony Macias, Gerald Strebendt, Gleison Tibau, Brian Cobb, as well as wins over Strikeforce interim-lightweight title challenger Rodrigo Damm and DREAM lightweight champion Joachim Hansen. He