On this day three years ago, this epic first meeting between Kazuo Misaki and Jorge Santiago took place at Sengoku no Ran 2009 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The-back-and-forth battle that saw Santiago win the Sengoku middleweight strap after catching Misaki with a rear naked choke at 3:26 of the fifth round would set up arguably one of the top five MMA bouts of all time when the pair met again 19 months later at Sengoku Raiden Championships 14.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/GenghisConFilms)

If you’ve been reading the site for a while, you know we’re big fans of Genghis Con’s work. The dude has put together some of the slickest MMA highlights and recently began filming, editing and producing some incredible web documentaries including Miami Hustle, which follows the trials, tribulations and triumphs of former Sengoku champ Jorge Santiago.

The latest short from the series by GC follows Santiago on a typical day relaxing and training in Miami for his upcoming UFC 130 bout with Brian Stann in May. Making a special appearance in the episode is Santiago’s new training partner, former Team Jackson fighter and ex-UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans.

If you missed the prequel to Miami Hustle, check out “The Sengoku King” after the jump. If you enjoy Genghis Con’t work, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.

By Ryan Ventura

“The Max Murderer” Maximo Blanco is a star in the world of Japanese Mixed Martial Arts. The 27-year-old Venezuelan first made his name in the world of Combat Sports as a freestyle wrestler. He won a bronze medal in the 60kg division at the 2007 Pan American games and earned a scholarship to wrestle at the college level in Japan.

After failing to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic games, Blanco made the jump into Mixed Martial Arts by being recruited by Sengoku, and began training at the legendary Yoshida Dojo in Japan. He became an instant star and has won over fans worldwide with his brutal and exciting brand of fighting, which has produced five knockout victories in his last six fights. Maximo Blanco was able to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk exclusively to our readers about his wrestling background, life in Japan, and career aspirations…

Continue reading on Lowkick.com/MMA

(Sadly, the Sengoku Girls have already been disassembled and sold for scrap.)

Well, it’s not like we expected something miraculous to happen after Sengoku started granting releases to their biggest stars. The Japanese promotion posted an “urgent report” on its website yesterday, saying that primary sponsor Don Quijote has pulled all of their financial support from the company, and if they can’t find another sponsor to replace DQ, Sengoku’s collapse will be unavoidable. More details via FightOpinion:

The note says that Don Quijote was backing the company fully, including office headquarters. The note says that a lot of money was lost and that rather than stay in the ball game, Don Quijote left and that the ‘heartless mass media’ comments made about them didn’t help matters. Sengoku’s note claims that Don Quijote will continue sponsoring other MMA organizations but that everything is under further review.

(If you thought we were going to pass up the opportunity to post a Wu Tang-infused Marlon Sandro highlight vid, well, you must be new around here. Vid: YouTube/Meyer124)

Former Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro – believed to be the second-best 145-pounder not currently under the UFC umbrella – has signed a deal with Bellator Fighting Championships and will make his American debut sometime in 2011, according to multiple internet reports out on Wednesday. Sandro’s exodus comes amid news that Sengoku is granting releases to fighters who ask for them, probably signaling that the Japanese promotion’s prolonged death spasm is nearing its end.

Sandro is currently ranked in the featherweight Top 10 on any list worth its salt. Though he lost his Sengoku title to Hatsu Hioki in late December he’ll make a stellar addition for the newly MTV-friendly Bellator. The promotion crowned Joe Warren it’s 145-pound champ after his come-from-behind victory over Joe Soto in September and you’d have to think Sandro immediately becomes No. 1 contender. Some pontificating on what it all means after the jump.

(“I used to take steroids. I still do, but I used to, too.” Photo courtesy of MMAonTap.)

Though he’s not allowed to fight in the U.S. again until July 26, 2009 because of his steroid suspension, Antonio Silva is close to signing a deal that would have him fight at Sengoku‘s January 4th event in Saitama, Japan. I guess this means that Sengoku plans on being the highest bidder when Silva’s contract is auctioned off on Monday. According to Tatame, Silva is “entering the common justice against the athletic commission” that upheld his suspension, which may be their way of saying he’s taking the law into his own hands. Fair enough; we didn’t really put much faith in Armando Garcia‘s rulings anyway.

Nightmare of Battle wonders if Sengoku’s recent pursuit of heavyweights — Dave Herman and Roger Gracie have reportedly received offers, and a fight between Josh Barnett and Kevin Randleman is rumored for the January event — indicates that a heavyweight Grand Prix could be in the works. How badass would that be? We’d say that’s worth defying the CSAC over — though there’s the risk that American MMA organizations would hold a permanent grudge against Bigfoot for fighting while under suspension, and refuse to work with him after the suspension is over. But it’s hard to resist the competitive urge when you’re an athlete. Maybe Silva hopes that everybody in the U.S. will have forgotten about his little horse-steroid misunderstanding by next summer?

(GSP is not impressed. Props: MMA Mania.)

- Is Shonie Carter trapped in a foreign land? (Fightlinker)

- Talking WEC meltdown, Pro Elite antics, and more on internet radio. (MMA Rated)

- Matt Hughes is not a white supremacist. (Bloody Elbow)

- Randy Couture scoffs at your insults. (Las Vegas Sun)

- Gina Carano and “Cyborg” Santos to sign together as package deal? (Fighters Only)

- Gomi reloading to headline Sengoku 7. (MMA Junkie)

- Mike Massenzio looking to use CB Dollaway as a stepping stone. (Fight Hype)

- The 10 best bourbons you’ve never heard of. (Holy Taco)

- How the iPhone beat the Blackberry. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Milla Jovovich to play alcoholic stripper…finally. (Screen Junkies)

- Dry ice bomb owns dad. (Nothing Toxic)

(The Fireball Kid returns on Saturday; Diaz may be ringing in ’09 overseas.)

— Though most of us want to see him return to the UFC eventually, Nick Diaz‘s next fight will likely be in Japan. Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie told MMA Weekly that he’s already been contacted by Fight Entertainment Group (Dream’s parent company) and Sengoku, and Diaz will be competing either on FEG’s K-1 Dynamite! card on New Year’s Eve, or Sengoku VII on January 4th. Diaz’s EliteXC contract states that he can compete in Japan as long as it doesn’t interfere with his EliteXC duties — so, no problems there.

— According to MMA Fighting, former IFL lightweight standout Chris Horodecki will return to action on November 24th at the Shootboxing “S-Cup 2008,” a one-night eight-man tournament that will go down at the Saitama Super Arena; the tournament will also feature PRIDE vet Luiz Azeredo. Known as “standing vale tudo,” Shootboxing doesn’t incorporate ground-fighting, although throws and standing submissions are allowed. Horodecki is still penciled in to compete at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” show on January 24th.

(Oh. No. She. Didn’t.)

- Matt Lindland’s MMA career now fodder for political smear campaign. (MMA Payout)

- Dana White says Anderson Silva could fight GSP, but never B.J. Penn. (The Sun)

- Little Nog is headed to Japan again, this time for Sengoku. (Fight Ticker)

- Chris Horodecki considering a fight in Japan while he waits for Affliction II. (MMA Weekly)

- Tim Sylvia headed to Dream or Sengoku? Really? (Nightmare of Battle)

- Fedor could fight Arlovski next, or Barnett. Who knows!? (MMA Fanhouse)

- Chuck Liddell turned away from big shot nightclub, and he’s not pleased. (TMZ)

- Robert Drysdale talks MMA debut. (Tatame)

- A movie trailer that is better than most actual movies. (Holy Taco)

- Life after Lehman Brothers. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Seven most underrated hot chicks on TV. (Screen Junkies)

- Brtual broken bottle beatdown. (Nothing Toxic)

(Jorge Masvidal vs. Ryan Schulz; more videos here.)

From today’s Sengoku show at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan…

Middleweight GP 1st Round:
Yuki Sasaki def. Yuki Kondo via submission (rear-naked choke), round 2
Siyar Bahadurzada def. Evangelista Santos via TKO (injury), round 1
Jorge Santiago def. Logan Clark via submission (arm triangle choke), round 1
Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Paul Cahoon via unanimous decision

Lightweights:
Jorge Masvidal def. Ryan Schultz via TKO, round 1
Kiuma Kunioku def. Sol Kwon via unanimous decision

Heavyweights:
Muhammed Lawal def. Travis Wiuff via TKO, round 1

Light-Heavyweights:
Xande Ribeiro def. Takashi Sugiura via TKO, round 3

In other weekend fight news…

– Phil Baroni scored his third-straight win as a welterweight on Friday with his unanimous decision victory over WEC vet Olaf Alfonso at Palace Fighting Championships 10 in Lemoore, California. Baroni later apologized for his performance, saying he couldn’t find his rhythm in the fight.

– Jeff Monson choked out MMA cautionary tale Mark Kerr in the first round of their bout at Don King Productions’ debut Vengeance FC card, held last night in Concord, North Carolina. It was Kerr’s ninth loss in his last 11 fights.

(Rashad Evans looks very happy about clocking Steve Cofield one.)

- Rashad Evans can’t even escape Chuck Liddell at the movies. (Yahoo! Sports)

- Talking Shamrock, Kimbo, Noons and more on the radio. (MMA Rated)

- “The Secret” explained, in a manner of speaking. (Fightlinker)

- Ryan Schultz to get another shot at Sengoku 5. (MMA Mania)

- Thiago Alves has a lesson he wants to teach Diego Sanchez. (Tatame)

- Dana White promises UFC will be bigger than NFL and World Cup, then discusses a near-death experience. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

- “Day of Reckoning” official website. (Affliction)

- UFC in talks with CBS to supplant Elite XC? (Fightline)

- Sammy Hagar rocks great moments in history. (Holy Taco)

- Tough beer choices this Labor Day weekend. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Eight awesome movie prisoners. (Screen Junkies)

(Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Rodrigo Damm)

(Satoru Kitaoka vs. Clay French)

(In Trigg’s defense, he had just gotten out of the pool.)

Sengoku’s “Fourth Battle” went down today in Saitama, Japan, featuring the long-awaited returns of Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg, and the first round of their lightweight grand prix. In a non-tourney main event bout, Gomi faced 5-1 Korean DEEP vet Seung Hwan Bang — who should have been steamrolled by the legendary “Fireball Kid” — but Bang hung in for all three rounds. Eventually, Gomi’s accurate striking and control of the fight’s pace convinced the judges to unanimously give him the win. Trigg’s opponent was Makoto Takimoto, a judoka and PRIDE vet who came into the fight with a 4-4 MMA record, and as with Gomi, the fight was a little more difficult than it should have been. Trigg dominated the standup and inflicted major damage from top positions on the ground, but Takimoto nearly caught Twinkle Toes in a kimura in the second round, and spent a lot of the third on top; still, it wasn’t enough to prevent the judges from giving Trigg the decision after the fight went the distance.

The first round of Sengoku’s lightweight tournament held some surprises as three big names were unceremoniously bounced out of the competition. The HIT Squad’s Clay French was tapped in 31 seconds via achilles lock by former Pancrase mainstay Satoru Kitaoka, and jiu-jitsu ace Rodrigo Damm also suffered a first-round submission at the hands of Eiji Mitsuoka. Former IFL lightweight champ Ryan Schultz, who was the biggest favorite to win his first GP match, got his lights put out by a superman-punch from Cage Force champ Mizuto Hirota in the second round of their fight. Full results after the jump; videos to come.

(“Conviction” returns in October.)

— Thales Leites and Dean Lister will reportedly meet in a middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th; Omaha, NE), while lightweights Thiago Tavares and Kurt Pellegrino are slated to fight at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta); both Tavares and Pellegrino are coming off losses in their last fights, to Matt Wiman and Nate Diaz, respectively. The UFC has also confirmed widely rumored UFC 88 matches between Rich Franklin and Matt Hamill, Dan Henderson and Rousimar Palhares, and Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida.

— Gina Carano will fight next at an EliteXC event on October 4th. According to Sherdog, the event is likely to be televised on CBS, and her opponent may be Kelly Kobald, a Minnesota Martial Arts Academy product who started her career on a 16-0-1 tear before dropping her last two fights to Tara LaRosa and Julie Kedzie.

— This may help explain why Affliction’s attendance was so good: All tickets in all sections were discounted to $39.95 on the day of the show.

— Sengoku’s lightweight grand prix — which will go down August 24th in Saitama, Japan — will include IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz, King of the Cage lightweight champion Clay French, Cage Force lightweight champion Mizuto Hirota, and former DEEP lightweight champion Kazunori Yokota. Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg will also be fighting, in separate non-GP bouts.

Earlier today lightweight prospect Chris Horodecki shot down the rumor that he will soon be fighting Takanori Gomi in Sengoku, though he remarked that he would certainly accept the bout if offered to him.

The internet has been abuzz with the news since MMA Weekly listed the Gomi-Horodecki bout in their rumors section regarding the August 24 Sengoku offering, though it still seems a long way from official at this point.

When reached for comment earlier today, Horodecki told Cage Potato that there have been no real discussions regarding a fight with Gomi. Horodecki said he’s still waiting for a fight, and would welcome the chance to take on a top ten lightweight like Gomi.

“Of course I’d fight him,” said Horodecki. “Why wouldn’t I?”

If the bout is eventually signed, the timing would likely work out well since Horodecki was previously preparing to fight on the IFL’s August event prior to its cancellation.

(Kazuo Misaki cracks Logan Clark a good one. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Far less publicized or attended than their first two cards, Sengoku held its third event yesterday at a half-full Saitama Super Arena, marked by former PRIDE star Kazuyuki Fujita’s upset by YAMMA heavyweight champ Travis Wiuff (who is now riding a nine-fight win streak), as well as Kazuo Misaki and Nick “The Goat” Thompson coming away with victories, and MMA elder statesman Maurice Smith’s comeback bid hitting a painful speed bump at the hands of Hidehiko Yoshida. Full recap is at Japan MMA; quick results are below.

Hidehiko Yoshida def. Maurice Smith via submission (neck crank), 2:23 of round 1
Travis Wiuff def. Kazuyuki Fujita via KO, 1:24 of round 1
Kazuo Misaki def. Logan Clark via unanimous decision
Nick Thompson def. Michael Costa via submission (kimura), 4:13 of round 2
Sanae Kikuta def. Chris Rice via submission (armbar), 3:54 of round 1
Marcio Cruz def. Choi Mu Bae via submission (triangle choke), 4:37 of round 1
Rodrigo Damm def. Jorge Masvidal via TKO, 4:38 of round 2
Fabio Silva def. Kazuo Takahashi via KO, 0:24 of round 2

At the event, it was announced that Sengoku IV (August 24th) will mark the beginning of a lightweight GP, with the winner to face Takanori Gomi. Satoru Kitaoka, Eiji Mitsuoka, Kazunori Yokota, Duane Ludwig, and Rodrigo Damm have already been booked for the tourney.

In other MMA news from the Far East…

(Babyface Barnett sticks it to the Snowman.)

World Victory Road’s “Sengoku II: Second Battle” event was held today in Tokyo, with Josh Barnett dominating Jeff Monson to a decision victory, Kevin Randleman winning a decision in his first fight since October 2006, and heavyweight rising star Roger Gracie scoring a first-round submission win in his second pro MMA bout. Props to Sherdog. More vids after the jump.

Josh Barnett def. Jeff Monson via decision
Roger Gracie def. Yuki Kondo via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1
Kevin Randleman def. Ryo Kawamura via decision
Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao def. Jim York via KO, round 2
Jorge Santiago def. Yuki Sasaki via submission (armbar), round 3
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Kwang Hee Lee via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1
Mike Pyle def. Dan Hornbuckle via submission (triangle choke), round 1
Satoru Kitaoka def. Ian Schaffa via submission (guillotine choke), round 1

(“Hey, my name’s Josh and I’m a sex addict.”)

— A heavyweight superfight between Josh Barnett and Jeff Monson has been announced as the main event of Sengoku II (May 18th, Tokyo); the card will also feature fights between Kevin Randleman and Ryo Kawamura, and Roger Gracie taking on an opponent to be named later. In recent weeks, Monson has also been reportedly booked to face Mike Russow at Adrenaline MMA’s debut event (June 14th, Chicago), as well as Kevin Randleman at a Global Fighting event on June 21st in Charlotte, N.C. With those three fights so close together, expect at least one to fall apart. Monson most recently defeated Hakim Gouram at a Ring of Fire event last December.

— Speaking of Adrenaline MMA, Monte Cox has been scurrying around trying to fill its first card. Besides Monson/Russow, the June 14th show is expected to feature IFL vet Bart Palaszewski taking on King of the Cage/UFC vet Jeff Cox, and ex-UFC fighter/boxer Terry Martin taking on Daiju Takase.

— The UFC officially added three fights to UFC 86 (July 5th, Las Vegas): Josh Koscheck vs. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida, and Cole Miller vs. Jorge Gurgel. Lytle and Almeida are coming off of impressive stoppage wins at UFC 81 in February, where Lytle picked up the “Knockout of the Night” bonus. UFC 86 will be headlined by the light-heavyweight title scrap between Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin, and is also expected to feature bouts between Joe Stevenson and Gleison Tibau, Frank Mir and Justin McCully, and Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins.

— As for the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st, the UFC has confirmed that Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove will be the show’s main event — not Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti, which will get secondary status. Also officially booked are Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett, Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries, and Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister. And of course Tim Credeur vs. CB Dollaway (one would assume).

Nightmare of Battle passes along the news that Sengoku II — which is scheduled for May 18th at Tokyo’s Ariake Colosseum — will feature a bout between Kevin “The Monster” Randleman and “Big” Jim York. You may remember Randleman as the former UFC heavyweight champion who got a suplex-variation named after him in 2004 and went through a nasty bout of staph last year. York is a New Zealand-based vet of the MARS and Spartan Reality Fight clubs, who’s won all nine of his fights since getting choked out in his pro debut. By comparison, Randleman has only won two of his last nine fights (though they’ve been against much, much tougher competition than York’s).

The match joins already-booked bouts between Satoru Kitaoka and Ian Schaffa, as well as Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Kwang Hee Lee; Roger Gracie, Yoshihiro Nakao, Yuki Sasaki are still expected to compete, against fighters to be names later.

In other semi-interesting fighter news, Affliction’s nascent MMA promotion has picked up Mark Hominick for its debut card, slated for July in Texas. Hominick most recently competed as a featherweight for WEC, and has also fought for TKO and the UFC; his opponent hasn’t yet been named. Hominick’s manager Shawn Tompkins confirmed that Affliction is no longer doing business with Golden Boy Productions: “I heard there was a conflict between HDNet and HBO wanting the TV rights to the shows.”

Hey man, it’s like John Thor said — everybody wants a piece of the action.

(Evan Tanner, eating what appear to be testicles.)

While you were watching Cro Cop beat up a helpless Japanese boy…

— Evan Tanner announced that he’ll be returning to the Octagon this summer, but hasn’t revealed the date or his opponent yet. Tanner was most recently knocked out by Yushin Okami at UFC 82, but then defeated the urge to drink that came immediately afterward.

— Pancrase/PRIDE vet Kazuo “Grabaka Hitman” Misaki signed a two-fight deal with the San Jose-based Strikeforce organization; his first fight is expected to happen this summer. Since he’ll be fighting as a middleweight, Misaki could potentially face Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, or Joe Riggs. Misaki’s last two fights ended in a guillotine choke victory over Shooto champ Siyar Bahadurzada at Sengoku 1 (3/5/08), and a soccer-kick KO victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama at Yarennoka! (12/31/07) that was later ruled a no contest.

— Tito Ortiz sent Takanori Gomi a bunch of garbage in honor of his victory at Sengoku 1. Also, Rumina Sato just became a father.

— Dan Severn won his 106th match on March 9th, against Colin Robinson. JarryPark has an audio interview with the living legend about his “Kiss My Ass” retirement tour, YAMMA Pit Fighting, and his MMA legacy.

— Seven participating fighters in DREAM’s upcoming middleweight grand prix were announced on Saturday, including Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Ikuhisa “The Manboob Hunter” Minowa. Kiyoshi Tamura and Denis Kang are on the event poster, so they’ll likely be fighting as well. The first round of the DREAM middleweight tourney goes down April 29th at the Saitama Super Arena.

The Sengoku submission party…

Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Graham — Their pre-fight-beef gets squashed quickly in the ring as Fujita takes Graham down and chokes him out in 83 seconds.

Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Makoto Takimoto — ‘Borg comes out swinging in his usual style, but is even more dominant on the ground and gets the better of Takimoto in a heel-hook war.

Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada — Bahadurzada dishonors his Shooto belt by succumbing to a guillotine choke in the second round.

Earlier: Highlights from Gomi/Ludwig and Barnett/Yoshida.

(Mach Sakurai works over Mac Danzig at PRIDE 33.)

A lot of news coming from Japan in the wake of Sengoku’s first show and the run-up to next week’s DREAM debut…

— Nokaut.com reports that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has finally gotten an opponent for the first DREAM show, with only nine days to spare. As Mirko wrote on his official blog: “A little over an hour ago I was contacted by DREAM officials. They informed me that my opponent on March 15 will be Yoshihiro Nakao from Japan. It was very important for me to fight as soon as possible and I’m happy that DREAM was able to find the opponent for me.” You may remember Nakao as the dude Heath Herring knocked out after a tender expression of affection was misinterpreted as an insult; hopefully Nakao won’t make that mistake again. DREAM1 goes down next Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

— Hayato “Mach” Sakurai has also locked down an opponent for the DREAM show. As SukiMMA translates from his blog: “I fight Hidetaka Monma from Keisyukai. One foreign fighter and one Japanese fighter canceled and finally I got an opponent!” Monma has a 14-7-3 record, with notable wins over…well, basically nobody. The Sakurai/Monma fight doesn’t seem to be a part of the lightweight Grand Prix that’s also going down at DREAM1, but it should be an ugly rout just like the Cro Cop/Nakao feature.

From Sengoku. Props to BloodyElbow. More photos here.

(Takanori Gomi poses with one of the characters from Cabin Fever.)

(This wouldn’t turn out very well for Hidehiko Yoshida.)

(Told you.)

Here’s some footage of Gomi turning Bang Ludwig’s face into pasta sauce, and Barnett working over Yoshida en route to a heel-hook tapout. Gomi and Barnett’s fights at Sengoku were their first MMA matches in over a year, but both looked like they’d never left the ring. 100% dominance…

— Josh Barnett def. Hidehiko Yoshida via submission (heel hook), 3:23 of round 3
— Takanori Gomi def. Duane Ludwig via doctor’s stoppage TKO (cut), 2:28 of round 1
— Kazuo Misaki def. Siyar Bahadurzada via submission (guillotine choke), 2:02 of round 2
— Kazuyuki Fujita def. Peter Graham via submission (north-south choke), 1:23 of round 1
— Evangelista Santos def. Makoto Takimoto via submission (heel hook), 4:51 of round 1
— Ryo Kawamura def. Antonio Braga Neto via unanimous decision
— Nick Thompson def. Fabricio Monteiro via unanimous decision

We’ll get up some photos and videos when they become available…

(Props: Sherdog)

(Peter Graham, doing his best Vanilla Ice at the “Sengoku” press conference.)

World Victory Road’s debut event, “Sengoku”, is slated for tomorrow at 2:30 in the morning (ET). Fight vids will start being available shortly after the show because they know we’re all too lazy to stay up – or get up – at 2:30 a.m. to tune in. The card is a solid start to WVR and as expected, Takanori Gomi and Josh Barnett are big favorites, as is Nick “The Goat” Thompson. Kazuyuki Fujita is also favored big over kickboxer Peter Graham, who is making his MMA debut. Graham, known in kickboxing for his “rolling thunder” cartwheel kick, said some shit about Fujita back at a December press conference for DYNAMITE!! 2007:

One minor surprise took place at the DYNAMITE!! press conference held at a hotel in Osaka. When the MC began taking questions from the reporters, all of sudden a man wearing a red T-shirt stood up. His name is Peter Graham, a K-1 fighter who was there as Nicolas Petas’ teammate. While all the reporters were stunned by this abrupt interruption Graham yelled, “Where is my opponent who was supposed to fight me tomorrow! Chicken!” The MC didn’t know what to do but the interpreter softened a bit and translated what this big man from Australia had just said. Then no one knew how to react to this sudden speech by Graham, so it was basically ignored for then the press conference continued.

Graham revealed after his outburst that Fujita was supposed to fight him at the DYNAMITE!! show, but refused the fight. The Vanilla Ice-doubling big man then decided to publicly embarrass Fujita. This all came out at the “Sengoku” press conference (go here for more pics) and the two fighters had to be separated. Word is Fujita wasn’t so much upset about the remarks Graham had made about him as he was for the kickboxer’s human race-embarrassing sense of fashion.

Video of cartwheel kick attempts by Graham is after the jump. Notice I said “attempts”.

(…and the card holders for Barnett’s next fight.)

When Josh “The Babyface Assassin” Barnett fights for World Victory Road in Japan on March 5th, it’ll be the first time we’ve seen him in action in 15 months. Hidehiko Yoshida will be his opponent in the main event at “Sengoku” – WVR’s debut event. Barnett says this fight makes for a good headliner – on an already exciting card – and he’s glad to be back in action.

World Victory Road became the winning horse in the Barnett race after a messy contract situation left by the dismatling of PRIDE. The brand new WVR has been snatching up fighters lately, including top guys like Nick “The Goat” Thompson, Takanori Gomi, and Kazuyuki Fujita – all fighting in the debut event.

Barnett mentioned that although he is now with WVR, he wouldn’t rule out signing up with DREAM, which is run by several former PRIDE suits in conjunction with some K-1′s parent company. Barnett says the deal would be up to DREAM and the execs know what the issues were in PRIDE, so the conflicts can be avoided if they wanted. That could set up a possible fourth fight with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic who recently signed up with DREAM. Cro Cop accounts for three of Barnett’s five career losses. Are we over that match-up or not? Me? I could probably be coerced into tuning in, but would complain about it being boring the next day.

Josh also recently spoke about the talk of him possibly fighting Fedor Emelianenko.

“Honestly, I don’t think much about it at all. I’m not Randy (Couture),” he said about the Fedor fight. “I’m not going to chase after this fight. For me, I need to be out there fighting my fights, creating my own merit. Fedor is the No. 1 guy out there based on his past performances; he’s an incredible fighter and a cool guy. At this point people need to go their own ways.

“I’ve been waiting way too damn long to get a fight because of the turmoil that came of Pride folding, so at this point I’m not going to do anything that could possibly stall or hold up my career anymore in hopes in putting one specific (fight) together.”

(Dude does a mean Truffle Shuffle.)

— The fight card for Sengoku‘s first show has been announced. Scheduled to go down March 5th in Tokyo, the event is headlined by Josh Barnett’s fight against champion judoka/mediocre MMA fighter Hidehiko Yoshida, which Barnett should win handily. Sengoku 1 also features bouts between Takanori Gomi and Duane “Bang” Ludwig, and Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada.

— Jens Pulver choked Cub Swanson directly into the minor leagues. Swanson faces Donny “Eagle Eye” Walker at IFBL Fight Night 11 tomorrow night in Niles, Ohio. Sucks to be you, brah!

— TUF 6 castmember Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver will receive no jail time for that little shirtless misunderstanding he had last September.

— Did we hear that right? Did Bob Sapp say he can actually run for ten straight minutes?

— Chuck Liddell proves he’s no less intelligent than the average American during his disastrous performance on highbrow NPR quiz show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” Not sure who advised him that this would be a good idea, but they should be taken off the payroll immediately. (To save yourself a whole lotta boredom, skip past the first five minutes.)

(Every girl’s crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man.)

World Victory Road has announced that “Sengoku” – their March 5th show – will feature Takanori Gomi and Duane “Bang” Ludwig squaring off at the National Yoyogi Stadium Gymnasium No. 1. It’s both a stadium and a gymnasium and apparently the first of several like it. You’ll recall that Gomi signed with WVR after the UFC couldn’t come to terms with the superstar lightweight. Gomi earns around $190k per fight – not quite Brock Lesnar money, but still a payday I wouldn’t kick out of bed.

Gomi last fought a year ago when he was submitted by Nick Diaz, but that one was changed to a no-decision after Nick was busted for tokin’. Ludwig beat Shinya Kumazawa via submission last year, then lost to Paul Daley via TKO. He rebounded by beating Mario Stapel with a KO in less than two minutes. He’s 16-7 compared to Gomi’s 27-3 record.

Two other fights were also revealed for WVR’s March 5th event. BodogFight champ Nick “The Goat” Thompson is set to do battle with Fabricio “Pitbull” Monteiro. Ryo Kawamura will face Antonio Braga Neto. The Goat is 34-9-1 and Monteiro is 16-6. His last fight was a TKO loss to Mohamed Khacha, while Thompson is on a ten fight win streak. Kawamura is 7-2-2 in his young career, but went 2-2 in 2007. Neto is undefeated in four professional fights, three of them from last year.

WVR signed Kazuyuki Fujita last week and they have also slated him for “Sengoku”, although an opponent has not been named. Other fighters that are to be involved in the show are:

-Kazuo Misaki v Siyar Bahadurzada
-Makoto Takimoto v Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos
-Hidehiko Yoshida v Roger Gracie (rumored)

With these new additions to who they already have, WVR looks poised to put on a solid fucking show. The UFC’s inability to sign or resign top fighters has certainly been the gain of other organizations. WVR has been one to capitalize quickly.