World Victory Road Sengoku 10 Results

No Confuseyus this time. Click below for results from today’s World Victory Road Sengoku 10 event in Japan. Because they weren’t posted before, I’ll also include my original main card predictions.

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 9 Results

Confuseyus

Click the link below for results from today’s World Victory Road Sengoku 9 event from Saitama, Japan. The event will air taped in the US Friday night at 10 PM ET on HDNet.

Something To Keep You All Occupied This Weekend

Won’t be doing much if anything here this weekend, on the road tomorrow to get some fresh air then to a birthday party (where hopefully I will make a good first impression on a birthday girl turning 30…knowing me, I won’t, haha, but hopefully it could at least be the start of a nice friendship) then trying to get to the gym before NASCAR at Indy Sunday, so to keep you busy this weekend comes this, courtesy of SportsNavi (the Japanese version of Yahoo Sports) via Japan-MMA.com:

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/photo/2009072401/index.html

Roughly 40-some pictures from DREAM 10 this past week of none other than the lovely DREAM ring girls. And if you missed it a while back (roughly February), the site’s primary author linked to his popular post showing off the World Victory Road Sengoku ring girls-I posted one or two pics a while back because they claim a couple of beauty pageant contestants, models, and bikini idols among their ranks (keep in mind that quite a few gravure/bikini idols do other modeling work on the side, including being ring girls for MMA & K-1 events as well as being among the ranks of the famed “race queens” at motorsports events throughout Japan):

http://www.japan-mma.com/2009/02/sengoku-ring-girls.html

Enjoy. You’re welcome. And of course thanks to “Borre”, the Japan-MMA author/webmaster, for helping to get my Friday off to a nice start.

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 9 Preview & Predictions

Confuseyus

Wow, Confuseyus say el mouthful! Yes, it’s a double feature coming up for MMA fans around the first of August! First, Affliction Trilogy, which has long been rumored to be the promotion’s final PPV, starts things off on August 1 headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett for the WAMMA Heavyweight Title and perhaps a call from UFC. Then after that, the night owls get a break for a couple hours before it’s off to Japan for World Victory Road Sengoku 9, to be headlined by a couple of tournament finals then the promotion’s first champion makes what will be his first title defense. Since the cards are so close to each other time-wise we’ll put them together and do what’ll probably be the biggest preview & predictions post Confuseyus will ever do. Sit back and enjoy.
(Actually, Fedor-Barnett was the plan for Affliction. Plans have changed, so this this is going to be updated before it’s all over)
7/24 UPDATE: No longer a double feature as planned. Affliction Trilogy has been cancelled. Details still coming out. Thus I will be removing that section soon. I’ll also do an Affliction-related thoughts post soon.
(Last-minute note: Sengoku 9 actually WILL NOT air live overnight on HDNet. You’ll have to wait until 10 PM ET Friday)

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 8 Results: Omigawa, More Upsets!

Confuseyus

Click the link below for quick results from today’s World Victory Road Sengoku 8 event from Japan. If you missed it early this morning, the event will replay tonight at 9 PM ET on HDNet.

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 8 Preview & Predictions (Updated)

Confuseyus

Seemingly void so far of the problems and nightmares plaguing fellow Japanese promotion DREAM, World Victory Road continues their getting-consistent schedule with Sengoku 8 on May 2 in Tokyo. Although there currently are no plans to feature their foreign meal ticket, Muhammad Lawal, on this event, the Featheerweight GP Quarterfinals and a match to likely determine Lightweight Champion Satoru Kitaoka’s first challenger highlight another solid-looking card.  Let’s get on the road again and break it down. (Updated 4/30)

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 7 Results

Confuseyus

Click below for results from today’s World Victory Road Sengoku 7 event from Japan as well as results from today’s Shooto Tradition 6 event from Japan, which ran at the same time as Sengoku.

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 7 (Take 2) Preview & Predictions

Confuseyus

First up, about the title…apparently the event we thought was Sengoku 7 at the start of January, well, wasn’t. Nobody told us until it was way too late that it actually was called “Sengoku No Ran” and this event is really Sengoku 7. Anyway, this event features the start of Sengoku’s Featherweight GP, and now that the matchups are official I can do my thing. Let’s get to work…

Random Japanese Bikini Idol Pics Of The Day #19 & 20

To help pass the time before Katsucon (and for other reasons, namely to cheer me up over knowing I won’t see a co-worker who’s leaving for good today…she called in sick…she’s Asian-not sure but I think she’s Chinese, middle-aged but very cute…yes, I fancy all Asian women although I do prefer Japanese, but the others are quite beautiful as well), a couple more before I take off. The first one is a nice reason to try and get HDNet to watch World Victory Road’s Sengoku events:

Yuki Aikawa

One of the promotion’s just-revealed ring girls (they carry the round number cards, pose with the winners, and just look so darn hot) is Yuki Aikawa, 24. On the side she’s also one of the famed “race queens” of Japan, who are those women you see standing by the cars on the track before races start, holding number plates, doing commercial work, and related activities. Actually, it turns out a lot of ring girls are also race queens. Hopefully Sengoku will do a good job of showcasing her and her fellow ring girls in the future.

And, just to get it up to #20…

Maki Hoshino

So all you lonely guys like me don’t have to be lonely on Valentine’s Day tomorrow, consider this nicely-themed Maki Hoshino pic my gift to you. Now I won’t be able to get her out of my head while I’m at Katsucon, haha.

(Click images to see full-size versions. I’ll add them to the Bikini Idol Galleries when time permits)

Confuseyus: World Victory Road Sengoku 7 Preview & Predictions

Confuseyus

IMPORTANT: If you are looking for the 3/20/09 Sengoku 7 preview and predictions, PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW! This post was for the January event, which was later revealed to have been called Sengoku No Ran. They just didn’t tell anyone outside Japan ahead of time.

https://dcrage.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/confuseyus-world-victory-road-sengoku-7-take2-preview-amp-predictions/

This Sunday (January 4) is World Victory Road Sengoku 7 from Saitama, Japan…which has the unenviable task of going up against the biggest puroresu event of the year in Japan-New Japan’s Tokyo Dome Blowout Show (the Japanese equivalent of WWE WrestleMania). Sengoku 7 is headlined by title fights to crown the promotion’s first Lightweight and Middleweight champions, but as always, we must start at the bottom to get to the top:

Standard disclaimer: As is always the case, these picks are strictly for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as the basis for any real life betting/wagering. Also, Sengoku is one of few Japanese promotions, if not the only one, to use the Unified MMA Rules, which are similar to those used by UFC. Most notably, it means that all fights are 3 5 minute rounds. Also, when it appears in a fighter’s records the “NC” stands for No Contest. All records are based on the fighters’ records according to the Sherdog Fight Finder.

Minoru Kato vs. Hidetada Irie
Records: Kato 2-5, 1 NC, Irie 3-3-2
Only in Japan is a sub-.500 record not the touch of death for your career. It’s not uncommon over there to see fighters with more losses and wins or guys with a lot of draws, as evident by the records here. Granted, 2 of Irie’s 3 losses were to guys named Gegard Mousasi & Dan Severn, who are really good fighters, but when you also beat guys with names like Jino Jino & Rikio Rikio (seriously. Look up Irie on Sherdog’s Fight Finder), kinda makes you wonder…then again I do remember there being a fighter named Dong Dong. Kato has actually staged a decent turnaround in his career, after starting 0-3 with 1 NC he’s since gone 2-2. And in his last fight just 9 days ago, it was over before you even settled in-he TKO’d his opponent in just 9 seconds. That being said I have trouble picking the guy with the losing record, so I see Kato being laid out fairly quickly and Irie going above .500.
Prediction: Irie by 1st round KO/TKO.

Maximo Blanco vs. Seigo Inoue
Records: Blanco 1-1, 1 NC, Inoue 5-5-1
These guys have fought their entire careers for their respective promotions-Blanco for DEEP, Inoue for Japan excluding 1 fight for the M-1 Challenge. Since they both seem like average guys, this is where I go with experience and that favors Inoue. I’ll overlook his beating a guy named Mike Mike (don’t you just love Japanese MMA?) and say Inoue will make a guy whose name translates loosely as “Maximum White” see Maximo Negro y Azul (Spanish for Black & Blue) in the 1st round.
Prediction: Inoue by 1st round submission/tapout.

Muhammad Lawal vs. Yukiya Naito
Records: Lawal 2-0, Naito 15-4-2
On paper this almost looks like a “booked to win”. Lawal, or “King Mo” as he’s nicknamed, has made a giant impact on the scene since debuting earlier this year. A collegiate wrestling standout, Lawal debuted for Sengoku in September and made a statement by TKOing Travis Wiuff in under 3 minutes. In his second fight it took until the 3rd round but eventually he TKO’d Fabio Silva. I don’t expect Naito to be such a pushover, he’s a veteran tho can TKO you or make you tap. He rarely goes the distance. Naito is a heavy underdog in the MMAPG game, but he’s hot right now-6 straight wins, 9 of his last 10, so I’m feeling like he’s got a shot to dethrone the King. I’m rolling the dice, going for the underdog bonus, and picking Naito to stop Lawal midway through the fight.
Prediction: Naito by 2nd round submission/tapout.

Dave Herman vs. Mu Bae Choi
Records: Herman 13-0, Choi 7-3
With EliteXC’s apparent demise, Herman heads to this event to show why he’s considered one of the top Heavyweight prospects outside of UFC. He’s been a machine to date-only one of his fights has lasted longer than 3 minutes (that fight went to a 3rd round) and when he beat Ron Waterman in EliteXC it gave him serious legitimacy. Choi has fought twice this year after being inactive in all of 2007, compiling a 1-1 record this year. He’s a wrestler with a good ground game even though he probably will give up a good 15 pounds to Herman. This could be a trip-up fight for Herman, but I don’t see Choi giving “Pee Wee” too many problems. Herman should lay Choi out early, just a question of how fast. Over/under: 2 minutes.
Prediciton: Herman by 1st round KO/TKO.

Sergey Golyaev vs. Eiji Mitsouka
Records: Golyaev 12-6, Mitsuoka 14-6-2
Both guys took very different paths from Sengoku 6 to this fight. Golyaev was booked to lose, and lose convincingly, to top Lightweight Takanori Gomi en route to Gomi getting a title shot…only Golyaev shocked Japanese MMA to the core by stealing a split decision win in a fight where Gomi clearly wasn’t himself. Mitsuoka faced Satoru Kitaoka in the Sengoku Lightweight GP Semifinals but came up short, being submitted in 76 seconds. This fight is the “Hot Bout” on MMAPG right now, and with pretty good reason. Both guys have identical 7-2 records in their last 9 fights, but Golyaev has won 5 straight while Mitsuoka’s loss snapped a 3-fight win streak. This one could go the distance and will be a technical fight more than anything. Golyaev has a lot to prove coming off the Gomi fight, so the pressure is really on him. I think he’ll be able to make Mitsuoka tap late in the fight, the question is will it really happen. We’ll see.
Prediction: Golyaev by 3rd round submission/tapout.

Sanae Kikuta vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Records: Kikuta 27-6-3, 1 NC, Yoshida 8-6-1.
Another one that ‘s something of an “old-timers” fight, Kikuta has been fighting since 1996, Yoshida is going on 40 and has been fighting since 2002. Both have fought exclusively in Japan, Kikuta even has a UFC fight to his credit from when they visited Japan years ago as well as having competed once on the Japanese game show “Sasuke” (which airs in the US as “Ninja Warrior”).  Yoshida, with one fight being an exception, fought exclusively for PRIDE until it folded in 2006, then came back earlier this year for Sengoku. This is a classic grappler vs. grappler/judoka fight, Yoshida has won all his fights by submission while Kikuta has won 15 of his by tapout. That makes this one a safe bet to go the distance, based on experience, and admittedly to a degree age (Kikuta is 2-3 years younger than Yoshida), I’ll go with the former King Of Pancrase here and take Kikuta in a close decision.
Prediction: Kikuta by unanimous/majority decision.

Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Antonio Silva
Records: Nakao 7-1, 2 NC, Silva 10-1.
This fight is more about the back stories than the fight himself as both have histories. Nakao is infamous for being the fighter who actually legit kissed Heath Herring before their fight at K-1 Dynamite 2005, Herring returned the favor by kissing him goodnight with his fists. It was ruled a No Contest before it even began. Silva has been something of a lightning rod in the US, he’s the first (and possibly only) EliteXC Heavyweight Champion, a victory tainted by the revelation that he tested positive for, to put it in plain english, horse steroids, in a test by the CSAC. It got him suspended for 1 year which the CSAC head, Armando Alejandro Estrada…oops, wrong Armando-I meant Garcia…expected him to uphold. When you’re suspended for a drug test you’re expected to honor the suspension and not fight ANYWHERE in the world or you risk never fighting in the state again-or if you’re Garcia, anywhere in the US period. So Silva is defying the suspension and fighting in Japan because, like everyone else, a fighter’s gotta eat. And this is equal booked-to-win and freakshow because, by MMA standards, I can only think of one fighter that’s in Silva’s league in terms of height and weight: Hong-Man Choi. Silva is a freak at 6’4″ and 300 pounds. Nakao may be big in his own right but I have a feeling he’s going to just do best by get in there, take a quick fall, then head out and cash his paycheck and enjoy some good living for a while. Silva should finish Nakao quickly then we’ll see what the backlash from the CSAC might be, that’s gonna be the bigger story to a degree.
Prediction: Silva by 1st round KO/TKO.

Takanori Gomi vs. Satoru Kitaoka for the inaugural Sengoku Lightweight Championship
Records: Gomi 29-4, 1 NC, Kitaoka 23-8-9
Gomi is the #7 Lightweight in the World according to MMAWeekly.
OK, let’s start with the bizarre: This fight should not be happening. Gomi was guaranteed this fight if he beat Golyaev at Sengoku 6. As noted above, he didn’t, but Sengoku decided it was best for all involved to make the match anyway, specifically best for Kitaoka, who won the Sengoku Lightweight GP to earn his title shot. Sengoku helped bring Gomi out of a hiatus he was forced into by the collapse of PRIDE, and perhaps offered a chance to move on after his final PRIDE fight-a loss to former UFC star Nick Diaz…but Diaz would fail a post-fight drug test when it showed marijuana in him, and the result was changed to No Contest. Gomi won his first 2 Sengoku fights before the Golyaev loss. Kitaoka, meanwhile, had all but one of his previous career fights in Pancrase before joining Sengoku, where he won his first 4 fights with the first 3 being by submission all in under 77 seconds. Kitaoka has won 9 of 10 going into this fight and, although he’s the clear underdog, I see a lot of variables working for him. He’s hot, he’s earned his shot, and Gomi may not be all there after not being his old self in the Golyaev loss, which may still leave him less than 100% mentally. Gomi clearly has more to lose here as he’s one of the faces of Japanese MMA, but a dice roll says make way for a new face and a new champion in the form of Kitaoka by a razor-thin nod.
Prediction: Kitaoka by split decision.

Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Santiago for the inaugural Sengoku Middleweight Championship
Records: Misaki 21-8-2, 1 NC, Santiago 20-7
Misaki is the #5 Middleweight in the World according to Weekly.
Both took similar paths to this fight withwinning streaks spanning both Senoku and Strikeforce. Misaki has won 3 straight since a NC at the 2007 NYE event in Japan (KO’d Yoshihiro Akiyama with an illegal soccer kick) while Santiago has won 8 straight since a 2-fight losing streak that got him dropped by UFC, a streak punctuated by an indescribably brutal KO of Sean Salmon in Strikeforce’s One Night Middleweight Tournament that Santiago won. This is another tough one to call, and I’m fairly certain it’ll go the distance. This one’s a coin flip to me, my flip came up Misaki so that’s who I’m going with to take the title. Should either one go back to Strikeforce next year, the winner could go to the top of the short list of challengers for Middleweight Champion Cung Le’s title when Le returns from shooting movies in spring. If he does-it’s not definite.
Prediction: Misaki by unanimous/majority decision.

Results & recap coming January 4.