MMA Sengoku

In a big upset and a bad decision, Michihiro Omigawa defeated Hatsu Hioki by split decision Saturday at Sengoku 11 in Tokyo.

Hioki clearly controlled the pace of the fight, especially in the first and second round. Omigawa wouldn't quit and had his best round in the third, but it's very surprising that two of the three judges awarded him the fight.

In a major MMA upset, Mamed Khalidov defeated Jorge Santiago by first-round TKO Saturday at Sengoku 11.

The Polish Khalidov came out aggressively, trying and missing a spinning back kick in the early going before Santiago took him down. On the ground, Khalidov stunned Santiago with a punch to the jaw, and as soon as he smelled blood he pounced, unleashing a series of hard strikes to the head that had Santiago dazed and hurting. The referee stepped in and stopped it at the 2:45 mark of the first round.

Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago and top contenders in the promotion's featherweight and lightweight divisions are set for action on Saturday at Sengoku 11 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

Sengoku 11 is World Victory Road's final show before it changes its name on New Year's Eve to "Sengoku Raiden Championship," tacking on a word meaning thunder (rai) and lightning (den). Below are the results from Friday's weigh-ins and the final lineup in reverse order .

I've been banging the drum for a couple years saying the UFC needs to give Yushin Okami a shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva. You won't be hearing that from me anymore.

After Chael Sonnen thoroughly dominated Okami with a unanimous decision win on Saturday night at UFC 104, Okami took a tumble in my rankings of the top 10 middleweights in mixed martial arts. So how far did Okami fall, and what does the middleweight picture look like now? My rankings are below.

World Victory Road has named 10 participants for its New Year's Eve Sengoku Raiden Championships 12 event at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

Sengoku middleweight champ Jorge Santiago will face Mamed Khalidov in a non-title fight and Kevin Randleman will take on Stanislav Nedkov at Sengoku 11 on Nov. 7 in Tokyo, World Victory Road announced today.

Santiago (21-7), who last fought in January when he captured the Sengoku title over Kazuo Misaki, has been on a tear the past two years after leaving the UFC late 2006 on two knockout losses. Since, the American Top Team fighter has won Strikeforce and Sengoku tournaments and would have looked to extend his win streak to ten in August against Vitor Belfort until the cancellation of the Affliction "Trilogy" event.

Tim Sylvia got back on the winning track in September, defeating the over-matched Jason Riley at Adrenaline MMA 4. "The Maine-iac" broke his hand early in the fight, but according to his agent Monte Cox, the former UFC heavyweight champion got his cast removed on Thursday and will be ready to fight again in December.

In fact, Cox said he has been involved in serious negotiations with both DREAM and Sengoku, and believes Sylvia will fight next on New Year's Eve for either organization.

Fifteen months ago, Joe Doerksen was handed his walking papers from the UFC, but since he's racked up four straight victories and has become a top player in Sengoku's middleweight division.

Doerksen spoke with FanHouse on Friday about his TKO win over Takenori Sato at Sengoku 10 and updates us on his injured hands that will count him out of middleweight title fight against Jorge Santiago in November.

World Victory Road announced Wednesday during Sengoku 10 that it's New Year event this year will happen on New Year's Eve -- directly against its No. 1 competitor FEG's event, "Dynamite!! 2009."

The promotion had been deciding between New Year's Eve or Jan. 3, and last year avoided going head-to-head against Dynamite!! by booking "Sengoku No Ran" on Sunday, Jan. 4. Perhaps the big name signing of 2008 Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii has given the promotion the confidence to run a show on the most important television date of the year in Japan. Ishii will make his MMA debut at the event against 1994 gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida.

Japan's Sengoku mixed martial arts organization thought it had a star in the making in Hiroshi Izumi, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist in judo who's a popular athlete in one of his country's most popular Olympic sports. But Izumi's debut did not go well: He was knocked out in the first round by a kickboxer from New Zealand named Antz Nansen.