World Victory Road is back with its fourth installment featuring a lightweight grand prix and the return of its prized acquisition Takanori Gomi. Sengoku 4 will take place on August 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
“The Fireball Kid” is looking for his second straight win under the upstart promotion after stopping Duane “Bang” Ludwig at Sengoku: First Battle back in March.
Opposing him will be current DEEP lightweight champion Sung Hwan Pang. The South Korean debuted in 2007 and is the winner of five straight.
Also headlining the card will be former UFC welterweight Frank Trigg. “Twinkle Toes” last competed at HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon back in December when he submitted Edwin “Babyface” DeWees by kimura.
It will be interesting to see how fans receive the Sengoku lightweight grand prix considering how soon it’s being held after the DREAM lightweight GP.
While I’ve yet to hear any fans complain about having too much MMA, there may be an unspoken expectation for the Sengoku participants to try and outshine their crosstown rivals.
Here’s how the card is shaping up thus far:
Main Card:
Takanori Gomi (28-3) vs Sung Hwan Pang (5-1)
Makoto Takimoto (4-4) vs Frank Trigg (16-6)
Peter Graham (0-1) vs Moise Rimbon (12-7-3)
Takahashi Kazuo (0-1) vs Valentijn Overeem (25-22)
Lightweight GP:
Clay French (16-2) vs Satoru Kitaoka (20-8-9)
Rodrigo Damm (8-1) vs Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2)
Bojan Kosednar (6-1) vs Kazunori Yokota (6-1-3)
Mizuto Hirota (9-2) vs Ryan Schultz (20-9-1)
The GP may not have any household names, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on Clay French, who has wins over some tough competitors like Jason Ireland and Mac Danzig. Also watch out for Brazilian black-belt Rodrigo Damm, winner of eight straight including his last match at Sengoku: Third Battle.
Stay tuned for updates as the Sengoku 4 card is finalized in the coming weeks.
48 Comments »
Sung Hwan Pang via upset!!!Yeah!!
MMA CONVERT.COM is reporting that tim sylvia will be fighting on the 2nd affliction card. they had a video of tim himself confirming it. he said he knew who he was fighting, but wouldnt say. he said that he would wait and let affliction announce it. i think its gotta be either buntello or rizzo. him and rothwell fight in the same camp so i dont see them fighting and i havent heard anything about barnett. i would like to hear what barnett has to say about a.a. getting the title shot before him after his equally impressive performance and fighting in pride all those years and never getting a chance to fight fedor. i know fedor and him are friends, but this guy has a huge ego imo. hopefully affliction will announce the entire 2nd card soon, i think they probably already have the match-ups in place.
Fedor via murder!!
I think Sylvia will be fighting Barnett…And maybe Buentello/Rizzo could fight each other..But if Affliction is wanting to secure an easier fight for Barnett and Tim?, then they could have Rizzo fight Tim, and Barnett could face off agianst Buentello..
Buentello vs. Rizzo is actually a great idea. Stylistically they are perfect for each other. Boxer vs. Muy Tai, and neither has a lick of ground game. I actually really like this match up
I read last week that Affliction already has all the match ups in place and they are just waiting to announce them.
B.W: Sylvia actually already holds a KO win over Rothwell.
I will be very surprised if Tim vs. Barnett isnt the co main event. Affliction has the rare opportunity of providing us with fights betwqeen top 5 HW’s that fan’s only dreamed of til now….Sytlvia makes a loto f money and I dont think he will be wasted in a match up against anyone other than JOsh Barnett!
I am probably the biggest fan of Japanese mma on tghis entire site, but I am sorry to say that I am not too excited about this event.
I must disagree john…For I am the “biggest fan of Japanese MMa” on this site…lol
I agree with you dude..This card is not that great..
But I am looking forward to Gomi’s fight…I have always been a big fan..
NEWS FLSAH:
Rampage Update: A few days after loosing to Forrest Rampage had a falling out with Juanito. Rampage now thinks he is God…they think he either has skizefrenia or bipoloar disorder….Basically its very hard to have a conversation with Rampage because he is dilusional.
My Prayers go out to Rampage and his Kids!
Also, Mazzaggatti appologized to Rumble Johnson at the ElitexC event on Saturday. Maz admitted that it was a bad call and Rumble graciously accepted his apology….they then held hands and sang Coombaya!
Yeah, I read that Rampage update earlier this morning..I posted it, but it hasn’t come up yet..
-Get well Rampage..
I did not know about Mustach-Mazz apologized to Rumble..
Thats good of Mazz to do that..He knew it was a B/s call, and I am glad he owned up to it..We need more ref’s owning up to mistakes…
(cough cough) Mirglibadcalla (cough cough)
Thx for the update John..
I hope they reverse that “Bad Call”.. and why not have instant repaly in MMA.. like Goldberg and Rogan are like 4 steps from the octagon and always have the replay up and ready to go. So if there is a iffy call..just open the cage door..walk down the steps.. take a lookat hte screen.make the right call.. a ref will not always be in the best position to see and make the right call. This case is a perfecct example.
Damn..Rampage.. My prays go out to you and your fam.. I hope he gets his life together..he has been such a great personnality in MMA thus far.. it would suck for him to go out like this.
Yeah, at some point, Instant replays need to be implemented in mma! Since we have the technology to get the calls correct maybe its tuime we start using it. Fighters work to hard and losses really downgrade their careers, so we owe it to the hardworking fighters who lay it all on the line, to at the very least get the calls right!
JOHN. i like tim vs barnett as the co-main as well. i knew that tim had already beaten rothwell ealier in their careers, but i dont know if they were training partners back then. buentelo/rizzo makes sense but where does that leave rothwell? maybee against aleks (if his hep-b gets better, i dont know how that works) or goodridge. as for rampage i think juanito may have been his problem all along. i read somewhere that before all the melee, that rampage went on some kinda crazy fast where he didnt eat or sleep for 2 days, he just drank water and tons of energy drinks, very bizzare. but im with you guys i wish the best for him and his family. he was on the cusp of being a cross-over star, maybee the pressure and underlying issues are what pushed him over the edge. instant replay is a must for the ufc cuz it is easy to catch everything on camera that the refs cant always see. at least mazagotti apologized this time (unlike the lesnar/mir fight).
yeah, I am still waiting for him to abologize to Brock for costing him the fight. maz also needs to appologize to the fans because we will now have to sit through another title match thats a mismatch….Come on, Mir has no business fighting Nog for the title. I would much rather see werdum vs. Nog 2, then Mir vs. nog!
they have some good fighters on this card but are going to have a hard time living up to dreams event, they should have just copromoted with dream and had there fighters in that tournement
lol, costing lesnar the fight? what are you talking about? he took a point away and the fight didnt even go to a decision…
Man I saw Clay French in Springfield, IL last August fighting for Midwest Extreme Challenge. This kid gets around. I hope he does well.
I want to see Peter Graham KO somebody with a rolling thunder in mma. Would probably be a dumb idea to try it but damn it looks sweet whenever he pulls it off.
I wish diaz was in the tourny.
me too. but he’s got to many irons in the fire right now. i read that dreams ratings are starting to improve. thats good news cuz there have been some sick a$$ fights so far and i hope to see them stick around for awhile. they are not in any real competition with the ufc, so they can thrive without having to worry about the ufc breathing down there neck. i dont know anything about pang, but i would love to see gomi go against better competition or someone with more experience. im still holding out hope for the chance that he might come to the ufc,but with the money he makes in japan along with the endordements, the ufc cant compete for his services right now.
Gomi is one of my favorite fighters in the world, but like you said, it makes no sense for him to leave Japan for America. He is a freaking GOD in japan, He cant make half the money in the USA that he makes over there.
Fighting in America is not whats best for Gomi, so Iunderstand staying in Japan, but i want him to get away from WVR, and sign with DREAM. If Gomi signs with DREAM…look out, we will get to see some awesome fights:
Gomi vs. Aoki
Gomi vs. Alvarez
Gomi vs. Diaz 2
Gomi vs. Hellboy 2
Could u image the lightweight grand prix thatthey just had if Gomi would have been involved? WOW!!!!
Anyone know how many fights Gomi has left on his world Victory Road contract? If not, does anyone know how I can find out? I desperately want him to get out of WVR and jump ship over to DREAM, cause thats where its AT!
This is a very weak LW Grand Prix. They should just name it “The Gomi tournament”
I do think that its a dumb idea to hold a LW Grand Prix one month after your competing organization just held one. There is no way that WVR’s line up of LW fighters will be able to stack up to DREAM’s.
AGREED! TH3e Gomi grand prix…lol Win the tournament and get your ass kicked by Gomi, doesnt sopund too appealing to me~
Whats up with the “Figting Fedor” or whatever that reality show is called?
Have they begun filming??
NO idea. I know nothing about the show. I dont even know if it will air in the USA or Russia! I hope they just eliminate the idea all together!
I heard somewhere that Fedors traditional New Years eve fight will be agianst the winner of Fighting’Fedor(TV show)..
I think they are airing the show in Japan, and having Fedor fight his fight in Dream..I cant remember where I heard that, but I hope it is not true..
yeah, I heard that too, but recently I heard that he is fighting cro cop. If Randy wins his court case, he iwll fight Fedor in March, and would leave open the possability of Fedor vs. Barnett on New Years eve in Japan, since boith Fedor and Barnett are gods in Japan!
Is Ryan Schultz the guy that put a whoopin on Chris Hordecki in the IFL?
yup!
yes. he was!
haha that’s what i thought. I think I’ll be rooting for him to win the tourney
Why is Gomi not in the grand prix?
Gomi is not in the Grand Prix because the winner of the Grand Prix will fight Gomi in a later event. Kind of sucks that he isn’t in the GP, but oh well.
BTW does anyone know what Chris Hordecki’s situation is now that the IFL has gone under? With all the organizations around (and yes I know that competition can be good), the MMA world is in danger of becoming fragmented (like boxing with all their belts). There needs to be a happy medium.
i’m visiting japan at the end of august, my friend there has got me a ticket for this event - i can’t wait. not only will i see the fights, but the saitama super arena also houses the john lennon museum. i’ll be humming give peace a chance during the fights!!!
I think their tournament “outshining” DREAM’s (which had Hansen, Calvan, Aoki, Boku, Kawijiri, Ishida, Uno, Alvarez, & Dida) is laughable.
What happened to Duane Ludwig fighting in that tourney? I had heard he was going to.
I like my Sengoku deep-fried with a little wasabi on the side.
any chance this will be telecast on hdnet?
How am I going to view this card?
Via internet…
I’m stoked to see Gomi back in action!
The only companies Gomi should belong in is DREAM or the UFC.. There’s just no point of him fighting elsewhere..
yeah, I wish sengoku would fold so he could just go to dream. preferably he would be in the UFC but they can’t afford him compared to his value in japan.
that said, from what I hear gomi enjoys life more than fighting these days and barely trains unless it’s weeks out from a fight
Hopefully Gomi fights someone ranked in the top 50 soon.
Once again the main card is full of lopsided fights.
Gomi may never fight a top 10 fighter ever again…
Sad?