Latest Sengoku Stories

Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago will meet Mamed Khalidov in a rematch at Sengoku 12 -- this time with the belt on the line.

The title bout was one of three bouts announced Wednesday for Sengoku 12 happening March 7 in Tokyo. The other bouts made official are Shigeki Osawa vs. Kyung Ho Kang and Yuji Hoshino vs. Wilson Reis.

Sengoku 12, celebrating the promotion's two-year anniversary, will take place March 7 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

Two participants announced Wednesday for Sengoku's first card of 2010 are King of Pancrase lightweight titleholder Maximo Blanco and Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago.

New Year's Eve is the biggest day on the Japanese MMA and kickboxing calendar, and then the month of January is when the Japanese fight scene takes its biggest respite. So that makes now a good time to take a breath and consider what 2010 will bring in Japan.

Today I'm taking a look at Japan in 2010 with Michael Schiavello, the voice of K-1 and Japanese MMA on HDNet.

Michael David Smith: Let's start with K-1. I think 2010 will be the year Badr Hari finally wins the K-1 World Grand Prix after losing in the final the last two years. What do you think? Is this going to be the year of Badr Hari?

Sengoku is calling for Shinya Aoki be punished for his behavior following his New Year's Eve win at Dynamite!! 2009 in Saitama, Japan.

World Victory Road, the parent company of the Sengoku Raiden Championship, and the Japan Association of Athletics Federations urged DREAM Thursday at a press conference to prevent such unsportsmanlike conduct to happen in the future by taking disciplinary action against the DREAM lightweight champion.

We're 10 days away from a very important featherweight card at WEC 46, where three of the best five featherweights in the world will fight: Urijah Faber vs. Rafael Assuncao in a bout that should determine the No. 1 contender, and Mike Brown vs. Anthony Morrison in a bout that should give Brown a relatively easy win after the loss of his featherweight title.

But before we get too deep into that card, let's take a moment to re-shuffle our featherweight rankings in the wake of the New Year's Eve Dynamite 2009 card. Both Masanori Kanehara and Michihiro Omigawa had impressive victories on New Year's Eve, and as a result they've both moved into my featherweight Top 10, which is below.

When you're a professional athlete and you hear a competitor's bone snap, that should be enough to draw you out of whatever testosterone- or adrenaline-fueled action you're engaged in.

That disgusting, unmistakable sound serves as a reality check that the sport you're participating in has real-world consequences that extend far beyond the arena or stadium.

When that sound doesn't give way to the humanity in you, there's a problem.

Shinya Aoki defeated Mizuto Hirota in the final DREAM vs. Sengoku showdown, lifting DREAM to victory 4 to 3 at Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year's Eve in Saitama, Japan.

But unfortunately, the focus won't be on how impressive the submission was, or how convincingly Aoki dominated Hirota. The attention will be on Aoki's disgraceful actions following the fight.

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Strikeforce champions Alistair Overeem and Gegard Mousasi scored easy wins at Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year's Eve in Saitama, Japan.

Overeem predicted a knockout in less than three minutes against Kazuyuki Fujita and it took him less than half that time. Overeem nailed Fujita with a left knee so powerful that it crumbled the man famous for his "Ironhead" between the ropes and required Fujita to be stretched out.

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The legendary Japanese mixed martial artist Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto returned to the ring on New Year's Eve at Dynamite 2009, but he still can't get back in the win column: Yamamoto lost a unanimous decision to Masanori Kanehara.

At times Yamamoto showed flashes of the striking prowess that made him one of the best fighters in the world a few years ago. But he also showed a lot of ring rust, and it's fair to wonder whether the soon-to-be 33-year-old Yamamoto will ever be a Top 10 featherweight again.

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Melvin Manhoef landed a powerful flurry that dropped Kazuo Misaki and caused the referee to jump in prematurely and stop the fight quickly, handing Manhoef a first-round technical knockout victory at Dynamite 2009 on New Year's Eve in Japan.

Manhoef's combination in the first round backed Misaki into the corner and caused him to fall down, and as soon as he did, the ref stopped it. Misaki was upset and confronted the referee, but the result stands: Manhoef won by TKO at 1:50 of the first round.

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Dynamite!! is Japan's biggest annual combat sports event, and Dynamite 2009 is finally upon us. The New Year's Eve event takes place Thursday night in Japan, which means the wee hours of Thursday morning in the United States, and we'll have live results right here at MMAFighting.com.

All the results of the 11 MMA fights (including nine featuring Dream fighters taking on Sengoku Raiden Championship fighters) and the seven K-1 fights are below.

K-1 Dynamite is Japan's biggest annual martial arts event, with 11 mixed martial arts fights and seven kickboxing fights, and we've got a full preview and prediction of the New Year's Eve Dynamite!! 2009 show below.