Japanese Legend Hayato "Mach" Sakurai Signs With W-1

Japanese legend Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (35-11-2) will make his return to North American soil as he has now inked a deal with Canadian promotion Warrior One.  

Warrior One CEO Jack Bateman confirmed the signing of Sakurai an interview with Cage Potato's Mike Russell.  Sakurai is also expected to make his Warrior One debut in September against former UFC welterweight champion Carlos "The Ronin" Newton

"Carlos will be fighting "Mach" Sakurai in September in Halifax," Jack Bateman said.

Sakurai has been a veteran of the sport for 14 years and has defeated the likes of UFC veteran Frank Trigg, Caol Uno, Joachim Hansen, Jens Pulver, and Shinya Aoki (twice). Over the long career of Sakurai, one of his many accomplishments was holding the Shooto middleweight title for 3 years before losing it to current UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

Currently, the Japanese legend has hit a three-fight slump.  In his last fight, Sakurai appeared to be in great shape, but made a crucial error in bringing the fight to the canvas and was submitted by Strikeforce welterweight champion. 

Sakurai will need to secure the win over former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton just to slightly postpone talks of retirement.  However, a loss to Newton would be detrimental to his career at this point.

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