Sengoku no ran predictions and fight card order.

Props: Japan-MMA

This Sunday, January 4th (Sautrday night our time in the states), Sengoku’s first event of 2009 will be kicking off.  It’s a huge event for the organization, not only will a lightweight champion be crowned, but a middleweight champion as well.  Headlining the event will be the lightweight title bout between Japan’s poster-boy for MMA, Takanori Gomi, fresh off a split decision loss to Sergey Golyaev at Sengoku 7, and Satoru Kitaoka, a veteran submission fighter who pretty much dominated everyone he fought to win the grand prix earlier last year, earning the shot to fight Gomi for the belt.  There’s been a lot of heat surrounding Gomi and his undeserved title shot.  You’d think that Sengoku officials might have a little more sense to give the shot to Golyaev, the guy who just beat Gomi, but they did and I can assume why:

• Golyaev is a Russian, Sengoku’s a Japanese MMA organization.  Japanese fans want to see a Japanese champion, not a Russian (unless it’s Fedor).
• Gomi is the former PRIDE lightweight champion, a crowd pleaser, a brand name to the MMA world.  He’s going to put asses in seats and bring in more money.  The guy is a huge draw in Japan.  Financially this is the best move for Sengoku.

Now, the guy Gomi will be fighting, Satoru Kitaoka, is a badass.  He’s 23-8-9, and has only been stopped one time (via KO due to a flying knee back in 2002).  His submissions are his bread and butter, no doubt he’s going to do whatever he can do get this fight to the ground early and throw on a heel hook  to get the win.  I don’t think he stands much of a chance trying to trade with Gomi, who we all know can knock pretty much anyone not named Nick Diaz out.  If I were to throw down money on this, I’d take the underdog Kitaoka, for the simple fact that I’m biased and don’t like Gomi at all.  Realistically though, and believing that Gomi is going to want to erase that upset loss he recently suffered, I’d put in on ‘The Fireball Kid”.

Official Prediction:  Takanori Gomi vs. TKO, round 3.

Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Sanitago for Sengoku Middleweight title.

This is a great fight to have for the first Sengoku middleweight belt.  Jorge Sanitago blasted through the Sengoku middleweight grand prix, stopping all of his opponents and doing it convincingly.  He seems to have found himself after his disapointing run in the UFC, where he went 1-2 and suffered two KO losses from Chris Leben and Alan Belcher.  I don’t know what caused him to get so good after that, but whatever it is he needs to keep doing it.

Kazuo Misaki needs no introduction, the guy is an MMA veteran from PRIDE, DEEP, and Pancrase.  He’s also the PRIDE 2005 welterweight grand prix winner which he won by defeating Phil Baroni, Dan Henderson, and Denis Kang (Misaki was originally eliminated from the tournament by Paulo Filho, but Filho injured his knee in the bout and couldn’t continue, Misaki was brought back in as his replacement). He’s a great striker with solid submission skills, and he’s coming off a pretty big win over in Strikeforce, defeating Joe “Diesel” Riggs via TKO in the second round.  On paper these two look pretty evenly matched, and I think it could go either way.  Santiago might have a questionable chin, four of his seven losses have been by KO/TKO, and I can’t seem to get past his losses to Belcher and Leben.  Misaki’s striking is definitely good enough to rock Jorge and finish him up with strikes, but Kazuo has shown  to be very lackluster sometimes and unable to “pull the trigger”.  It’ll be an interesting fight, and I can’t wait.

Official Prediction: Jorge Santiago via submission, round 2.

Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Sanae Kikuta:

Who ordered the judo battle?  That’s what we’re getting here everyone, a battle that no doubt is a highly anticipated bout between PRIDE veteran Hidehiko Yoshida and old school Pancrase badass Sanae Kikuta. Kikuta’s riding a 5 fight win streak coming into this bout, his most recent win was during Sengoku 3, where he submitted Chris Rice late in the 2nd round via armbar.  He’s 37 years old but has still shown that he can kick some ass, and no doubt he’ll give Yoshida a fight.

Hidehiko Yoshida is not only one of Japan’s most poular fighters, he’s one of the most respected.  The guy dominated in Judo during the 1992 Olympic games, and has since found himself on a rollercoaster ride through MMA, gaining big wins over Tank Abbott, Don Frye, Kiyoshi Tamura, and Mark Hunt, while getting mandhandled by Mirko Filipovic, Josh Barnett, and James Thomspon.  He’s also 0-2 against Wanderlei Silva, but mind you he took “The Axe Murderer” to decisions both times.  He can take a punch, and to nobodies surprise, loves to fight on the ground.

I see this fight going one of three ways:

• Yoshida via submission
• Kikuta via submission
• A long boring ass fight where neither guy does anything productive, resulting in a draw or unanimous decision to either one.

I’m excited about this bout for the simple fact that I’m a fan of Pancrase, and Sanae is a big representative from that organization.  Both guys can win this fight decisively, I think it’ll come down to who comes better conditioned, and who gets the better position when the fight goes to the ground.  In the end I think that Sanae is a little more well-rounded and fresh, and I think he’ll come out on top.

Official Prediction: Sanae Kikuta via unanimous decision.

Muhammed Lawal “King Mo” vs. Yukiya Naito:

King Mo burst onto the MMA scene at Sengoku 5, where he destroyed MMA journeyman Travis Wiuff via KO in the first round.  It was Mo’s first pro MMA fight, and Wiuff’s 65th.  That says a lot about the guy as far as potential goes, and he followed that victory with a TKO win over Fabia Silva at Sengoku 6.  He trains out of Team Quest with Dan Henderson, is a great wrestler who’s obviously shown KO power.  He’ll get another stern test taking on Yukiya Naito, who sports a 15-4-2 pro record is currently riding a 6 fight win streak.  Naito’s fought all over Japan, competing in DEEP, GCM, and Pancrase.  He loves to strike and has finished all out of all his victories, only one has gone to a decision.  It should be a great battle between two young fighters.

Official Prediction: King Mo via unanimous decision.

Antonio Silva vs. Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao:

Antonio Silva is still apparently saying “F U” to the California State Athletic Commission.  If you remember, Silva popped for steroids after his EliteXC heavyweight title fight with the recently deceased Justin Eilers. The CSAC banned him from fighting for a year, and that includes seeking fights out of the country.  Bt hey, a guys’ gotta eat rigth?  At least that’s what Silva says, and it looks like he doesn’t give two squirts of piss on what some American businessman over in the US says.  Will it affect him from getting fights in the states once his suspension is removed?  Maybe….but Josh Barnett did it so why can’t he?

Yoshirio Nako got his nickname “kiss” from an incident involving Heath Herring, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go here to get sped up.  It’s pretty sad when your “fame in MMA” comes from that, but whatever, it’s his life and he made the decision to do it.  He sports a pretty decent record of 7-1-0 (with 2 no-contests), and has won fights by both submission and KO.  I think it’ll be a pretty easy victory for Antonio though, I think he’s going to be tailor made for the Sengoku heavyweight division…

Official Prediction:  Antonio Silva via TKO, round 1.

Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Sergey Golyaev:

Eiji’s coming off a quick submission loss to Satoru Kitaoka, Sergey’s coming off the biggest win of his life, a split decision victory over Takanori Gomi.  It might be safe to say the winner of this fight will be the first to contend for the Sengoku lightweight title, that right there should be enough reason to train your ass off and give a good performance.  I honestly haven’t seen much of Sergey to give a legit prediction, but I think a victory over Gomi speaks for itself.  Eiji’s a veteran and very skilled in both striking and grappling, and he also holds a decision victory over DREAM lightweight champion Joachim Hansen.  I’ve followed Mitsuoka for a while, and although I know it’s biased, I think he’ll come out on top.

Official Prediction: Eiji Mitsuoka via submission, round 2.

Dave Herman vs. Choi Mu Bae:

Dave Herman’s 13-0 as a pro and has never had a fight go to a decision, he’s also only had one fight go past the first round.  He’s a brute, a massive scary brute with striking, power, wrestling, control, and hunger.  Choi Mu Bae is a well rounded fighter who hold victories over Gary Goodridge and the ultra-popular Giant Silva, and that’s about it.  I see this fight playing out about the same as Choi’s fight with Sergei Kharitonov did, click here to watch it.  That’s about all I can offer, simply put I’m 99% sure that Dave Herman’s going to beat him down fast and hard.

Offical Prediction: Dave Herman via TKO, round 1.

Fight Card Order:

1) Lightweight: Maximo Blanco 1-1-0 (1NC) vs. Seigo Inoue
2)Light-heavyweight: Hidetaka Irie vs. Minoru Kato
3) Heavyweight: Dave “Pee-Wee” Herman vs. Choi Mu Bae
4) Lightweight: Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Sergey Golyaev
5) Heavyweight: Antonio Silva vs. Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao
6) Light-heavyweight: Muhammed Lawal “King Mo” vs. Yukiya Naito
7) Light-heavyweight: Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Sanae Kikuta
Sengoku Middlweight title fight: Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki
9) Sengoku lightweight title fight: Takanori Gomi vs.  Satoru Kitaoka