World Victory Road’s Sengoku Raiden Championships, the new version of the event series formerly known as Sengoku, is beginning to make some headway in regards to some of the match-ups we’ll be seeing at the first event of the new year. The event will take place on March 7th, 2010 from Ryogoku Kokugikan venue in Tokyo, Japan, and it will be the first of the six to seven events planned for 2010.
According to Nightmare of Battle, the SRC website is now confirming that Lightweight King of Pancrase Maximo “Maxi” Blanco (3-2-1) and current SRC Middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (21-8) will participate in the event. Although World Victory Road has yet to confirm any actual opponents, there is talk that Jorge Santiago will battle Kazuo Misaki for the SRC Middleweight title in what would be a rematch of their January 4th, 2009 showdown at Sengoku No Ran 2009. Santiago won the contest via a rear-naked choke in the fifth and final round.
A title eliminator match-up between Mamed Khalidov (20-3-1) and Joe Doerksen (43-12) has also been rumored to be taking place on the card. KSW confirmed that the fight has been contracted, but World Victory Road has yet to officially confirm it.
Ultimately, this should set up a title showdown between Mamed Khalidov and Jorge Santiago instead of the non-title fight we saw at Sengoku XI in which Khalidov beat down Santiago in one minute and forty-five seconds. The title eliminator isn’t that interesting, but Misaki has the opportunity to upset the scenario of a rematch between Khalidov and Santiago.
Nothing else has been confirmed at this time, but the absence of Yoshida Dojo from World Victory Road’s plans will take fighters such as Michihiro Omigawa, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Makoto Takimoto, and Hidehiko Yoshida himself out of the mix as potential participants.