Just as MMA Weekly did last week with DREAM’s welterweight tourney matchups, Brazilian news site Tatame has spoiled Sengoku’s plans to announce the pairings for the final round of its Featherweight Grand Prix later this week. (Still to be announced: Satoru Kitaoka’s opponent for the same show.) Undefeated Featherweight King of Pancrase Marlon Sandro (14-0) has drawn a bout with the tournament’s surging dark horse, Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1), for the August 2nd show. Sandro has absorbed little damage thus far in the tournament, easily handling Matt Jaggers in the first round, and demolishing the previously unbeaten Nick Denis with a 19-second knockout at Sengoku VIII. Sandro tells Tatame:
“It was wonderful… My goal is to end the fights the faster possible in every fight. The faster the fights end, better to me. With two fights in the same night, I need to be fast in the first one. I want to knock him out or submit fast, I’m training to fight eight rounds in two fights”
But the scrappy Omigawa hasn’t been finished since his first two professional fights back in 2005, and has seemingly been reborn as a featherweight (or “bantherweight”) while running this bracket. Despite entering the tournament in a 0-3-1 skid, Omigawa upset a heavily favored L.C. Davis before mugging Nam Phan in the second round.
This news means the other semifinal match will pit WVR poster boy Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) against Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5). Most agreed that Hioki was handed a #16 seed in the opening round, matched against the relatively green ATT product Chris Manuel, whom Hioki armbarred in the first round. The “Son of Shooto” was expected to have a slightly tougher time against Ronnie Mann in the quarterfinals, but ended that fight even more decisively than the first. The ZST veteran Kanehara, meanwhile, has decisioned two Korean fighters: first Jong Man Kim in a somewhat one-sided affair, then “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in a decision which some fans are still questioning weeks later.
No reserve fight was announced, but Jung, Denis and Jaggers have been mentioned as possible participants.
Sengoku IX
August 2, 2009
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
Sengoku Lightweight Title Bout
Satoru Kitaoka (24-8-9) vs. TBA (Mizuto Hirota?)
Sengoku Featherweight GP Semifinals
Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) vs. Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5)
Marlon Sandro (14-0) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1)
Hioki/Kanehara vs. Sandro/Omigawa
Sengoku Gold Cup Finals
Bantamweight (60kg / 132 lbs) Finals
Featherweight (65kg / 143 lbs) Finals
Lightweight (70kg / 154 lbs) Finals