Sengoku 9: Results and Quick Review

*Note: These are just the quick results and a few notes. I will have a more in-depth review of the entire event up very soon!

Quick Results

•Mizuto Hirota def. Satoru Kitaoka via TKO (strikes)—Round Four, 2:50

•Masanori Kanehara def. Michihiro Omigawa via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29 "Must Decision: Omigawa"

•Kazuo Misaki def. Kazuhiro Nakamura via submission (guillotine choke)—Round One, 3:03

•Blagoi Ivanov def. Kazuyuki Fujita via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-29 "Must Decision: Ivanov"

•Dan Hornbuckle def. Akihiro Gono via knockout (kick)—Round Three, 2:50

•Eiji Mitsuoka def. Clay Franch via submission (guillotine choke)—Round One, 1:51

•Yoshihiro Nakao def. Mu Bae Choi via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-28, 30-29)

•Chan Sung Jung def. Matt Jaggers via submission (triangle choke)—Round Two, 1:25

•Michihiro Omigawa def. Marlon Sandro via split decision (29-30, 30-30 "Must Decision: Omigawa," 30-30 "Must Decision: Omigawa"

•Hatsu Hioki def. Masanori Kanehara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-28)

Quick Review

The Japanese events, which include the semifinals and finals of a tournament, tend to turn into wild and crazy nights in a hurry. Sengoku 9 proved to be no different. 

Only weeks ago, we saw Marius Zaromskis shock the mixed martial arts world when he defeated Japanese legend Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and Jason High in a dream matchup to take the Welterweight Grand-Prix Championship. 

Sengoku 9 presented quite a few upsets of its own, and provided a few shocking finishes to both the Grand-Prix final and the Lightweight Championship fight.

Despite a victory over Kanehara in their semifinal bout, Hatsu Hioki (a favorite in the tournament) was unable to continue because of numbness in his back and weakness in his arms and legs. It was reported that he was thought to have suffered a concussion, despite a very dominating performance over Kanehara.

Marlon Sandro (the other favorite in the tournament) was also unable to book himself a trip to the finals, as Japanese journeyman Michihiro Omigawa pulled off a shocking split decision victory in what appeared to be Sandro’s fight throughout. 

Despite having a reserve bout, in which Chan Sung Jan defeated Matt Jaggers, Kanehara was advanced to the finals of the tournament where he defeated Omigawa via split decision to take the crown. It is assumed that Hioki will be the first to be given a chance to dethrone Kanehara, considering his dominating victory earlier in the night. 

Dan Hornbuckle put his name on the proverbial MMA map with a knockout victory of Japanese star Akihiro Gono late in the third round. 

In what might have been the biggest shock of the night, Mizuto Hirota stopped Satoru Kitaoka by strikes late in the fourth round to take the Lightweight Championship. Despite a Hirota victory over Ishida in May, Kitaoka was a heavy favorite going into this fight because of his victory over Takanori Gomi in January.