Sengoku continues its unique approach to mixed martial arts in Japan as the promotion announced Monday its plans for a 25-plus fight "martial arts festival" to be held on Dec. 30 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.The event is to feature around 10 MMA fights, 10 stand-up rules fights, 4-5 women's fights as well as three mixed martial arts fights between traditional martial artists. Dubbed "Soul of Fight", the event is planned to be a family friendly and festival-like atmosphere.
FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa was also present at the announcement and expressed a desire to continue building the working relationship with Sengoku. Tanigawa and FEG will likely be assisting in putting together the stand-up bouts on the Sengoku card as FEG's Dynamite!! will only be featuring around 10-13 fights this year with the focus on MMA.
Up until this point, the exchanges between SRC and FEG have been one-way traffic. The "Soul of Fight" event will mark the first time an FEG contracted fighter will fight under the Sengoku banner.
New Year's Eve is traditionally the biggest day of the year for Japanese MMA, but Sengoku's end of year event will be held one day prior to that as to not cause unnecessary competition between Japan's leading promotions.
A title bout between Shooto champion Hatsu Hioki and Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro is currently in negotiation for "Soul of Fight," but it has not yet been signed. Kazunori Yokota and Maximo Blanco were initially set to square off for the SRC lightweight title but Yokota's decision loss to Brian Cobb at SRC 15 presumably thwarted those plans.
Former Grabaka stars Kazuo Misaki and Akihiro Gono as well as former SRC featherweight champion Masanori Kanehara, Hiroshi Izumi and Yoshihiro "KISS" Nakao are also set to fight on Sengoku's end of year effort.
FEG have not yet announced any fights for Dynamite!!, but Hayato "Mach" Sakurai has been signed for a catchweight bout above welterweight but he does not have an opponent yet.
Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki and Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez are currently in negotiations for a rematch but contracts have not been signed yet.
Bibiano Fernandes will most likely defend his featherweight strap against Hiroyuki Takaya - much to the disgust of Michihiro Omigawa and Kazuyuki Miyata who will be considering offers from America if they are passed over and not offered an interesting match. Miyata and Omigawa have climbed to the top of the featherweight ladder in Japan over the last year and both feel they deserve the title shot but will not fight each other as they are old friends.
Fellow top featherweight Mitsuhiro Ishida is set to take part in a Shootboxing bout on Nov. 23 against the veteran Hiroaki Suzuki. Ishida is predominantly known as a wrestler and will have a tough time against Suzuki. Miyata was initially planned for the bout was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury.
Bejing judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii said that he wants to become an actor like Ken Watanabe and is refusing to participate on Dynamite!! because Tanigawa made fun of his haircut. As Ishii is currently the biggest draw on the Japanese MMA circuit, he will almost certainly be on either the K-1 Finals card on Dec. 11 or Dynamite!! or perhaps both.
Sadaharu Tanigawa has expressed interest in getting Japanese superstar Masato to come out of retirement to take on K-1 MAX ace Giorgio Petrosyan but admitted that the bout is not likely to happen.
Due to the ratings failure of the K-1 MAX Finals, FEG will be looking to pull in the biggest ratings possible to please broadcaster TBS and new financial partner PUJI. The contract to broadcast DREAM on TBS in 2011 has not yet been renewed and so FEG's movements over the next month will be critical for the future of the promotion so expect stars Kazushi Sakuraba, Ikuhisa Minowa and Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto to be on the card too if they are willing and able.
Sengoku Raiden Championship "Soul of Fight" - December 30, Ariake Coliseum , Tokyo
SRC Welterweight GP Series 2010 Finals
Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura vs. Yasubei Enomoto
SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament 2010 Semi-Finals
Manabu Inoue vs. Shunichi Shimizu
Akitoshi Tamura vs. Taiyo Nakahara
Participating Fighters
Kazuo Misaki
Akihiro Gono
Kazunori Yokota
Maximo Blanco
Masanori Kanehara
Hiroshi Izumi
Yoshihiro "KISS" Nakao
More.
Dynamite!! - December 31, Saitama Super Arena, Saitama
Rumored:
Shinya Aoki vs. Gilbert Melendez
Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
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