(Marlon Sandro vs. Nick Denis; props to MMA Scraps.)
After a shaky start that saw Maximo Blanco get DQ’d after misinterpreting the "foot stomps yes, soccer kicks no" rule, and Travis Wiuff getting kneed in the balls about two dozen times before losing via TKO, Sengoku managed to put on a pretty damn entertaining show yesterday (or late Friday for us). The focal point of "Eighth Battle" was the quarterfinals of their featherweight grand prix, and unsuprisingly, top-ten featherweights Hatsu Hioki and Marlon Sandro advanced to the semis; Hioki was able to submit Ronnie Mann in the opening round, while Sandro needed all of 19 seconds to flatten Nick Denis with punches.
Elsewhere in the bracket, Michihiro Omigawa continued his career comeback, stopping Nam Phan with ground-and-pound late in the first round; after entering the tournament with a 4-7-1 record, Omigawa now holds back-to-back wins over two very credible featherweights. Korean fighter Chan Sung Jung wasn’t so fortunate, as he dropped a decision to Masanori Kanehara in what many fans felt was a race-based robbery.
Complete results from the event and more fight videos after the jump…
– FWGP: Hatsu Hioki def. Ronnie Mann via submission (triangle choke), 3:09 of round 1
– FWGP: Michihiro Omigawa def. Nam Phan via TKO, 4:52 of round 1
– Kazunori Yokota def. Leonardo Santos via split decision (30-28, 30-29, 29-28)
– Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro def. Keiichiro Yamamiya via KO, 2:20 of round 3
– FWGP: Masanori Kanehara def. Chan Sung Jung via unanimous decision (30-29, 30-29, 29-28)
– FWGP: Marlon Sandro def. Nick Denis via KO, 0:19 of round 1
– Makoto Takimoto def. Michael Costa via submission (heel hook), 3:31 of round 1
– Stanislav Nedkov def. Travis Wiuff via TKO, 0:42 of round 3
– Akihiko Mori def. Maximo Blanco via DQ (illegal soccer kick), 4:20 of round 1
unaired preliminary bouts
– Shigeki Osawa def. Kota Ishibashi via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-19, 20-19)
– Hirotoshi Saite def. Yoshitaka Abe via submission (armbar), 2:52 of round 1
(Akihiko Mori vs. Maximo Blanco)
(Hatsu Hioki vs. Ronnie Mann)
(Michihiro Omigawa vs. Nam Phan)
(Masanori Kanehara vs. Chan Sung Jung)


Sorry…to avoid confusion about the different last names thing, it’s like in Joe Dirt: “That’s why Daddy named you Joe Dirt instead of Nunnemaker”.