Sengoku Raiden Championship promoter World Victory Road unveiled "SRC Welterweight GP Series 2010", an eight-man welterweight tournament to get underway at SRC 13 with two quarterfinal matches on June 20th with the remaining two quarterfinal matches at SRC 14 in late August.
As we have seen with Sengoku's other tournaments, rather than using fighters that are already established within the promotion, the tournament will be drawing from second tier promotions in Japan and abroad, ultimately leading to a welterweight title match in 2011.
As we have seen with Sengoku's other tournaments, rather than using fighters that are already established within the promotion, the tournament will be drawing from second tier promotions in Japan and abroad, ultimately leading to a welterweight title match in 2011.
The second tournament bout at SRC 13 will see the former welterweight King of Pancrase, Takuya Wada, make his promotional debut against Jae Sun Lee. Wada has been undefeated since February 2007, only surrending his Pancrase crown after refusing to grant a rematch to Kengo Ura. Jae Sun Lee is looking to rebound after a loss in his first Sengoku bout - a spirited competitive decision to judoka Makoto Takimoto.
Kengo Ura is now set to face Kei Yamamiya on June 5th for the now vacant welterweight Pancrase title. The winner will go on to a welterweight tournament quarter final bout at SRC 14 where they will face a yet to be named foreign opponent. Also at SRC 14 Shooto mainstay Taisuke Okuno will take on Purebred's Kenta Takagi at SRC 14.
The tournament semifinals will take place at SRC15 to be held towards the end of October and the final will be held at SRC 16 close to New Year's Eve.
Earlier this month, Sengoku also announced an Asian bantamweight tournament to get underway on July 4th. A welterweight tournament reserve fight will take place at this event but the particpants are yet to be named.
Along with the Asian bantamweight series, this is the second tournament that World Victory Road has announced this month with the winner of the welterweight GP going on to face an already established top welterweight for the first SRC welterweight title in 2011.
Sengoku Raiden Championship 13 - June 20th at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo
FW Championship Match: Masanori Kanehara vs. Marlon Sandro
LHW: Hiroshi Izumi vs. Lee Chang Seob
LW: Maximo Blanco vs. Rodrigo Damm
FW: Shigeki Osawa vs. Katsuya Toida
FW: Ikuo Usuda vs. Kang Kyong Ho
WW Tournament Quarter Final: Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura vs. Omar De La Cruz
WW Tournament Quarter Final: Takuya Wada vs. Lee Jae Sun
WW: Sanae Kikuta vs. Yusabey Enomoto
LHW: Ryo Kawamura vs. Hidetada Irie
Sengoku Raiden Championship 14 - Late August
WW Tournament Quarter Final: Kenta Takagi vs. Taisuke Okuno
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