Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:48
by Dallas Winston
For a sub-par card, fireworks ensued. World Victory Road's "Sengoku" promotion has taken a bit of a backseat to the DREAM organization, even more substantially now that DREAM will be co-promoting in the states with M1 Global and Strikeforce. The acquisition of Takanori Gomiproved to be somewhat of a bust. Jorge Santiago has established himself as a premiere 185 pound fighter, but he, much like rising HW star "King Mo" Lawal, is faced with extremely slim pickings on the Sengoku roster.
The announced line-up for Sengoku X lacked that substantial "oomph" that fans feed upon in order to swirl a buzz of excitement andanticipation around an event, and following a week punctuated by two UFC events, this show snuck under the proverbial radar. We should have known that this writing on the wall set the stage for a great night of fights, as Mother MMA smacks us in the face yet again with a left hook full of irony. There was no lack of action or momentum, as out of 11 fights, 8 were finished, and 5 of those 8 were stopped in the 1st round.
Although not the main event, the outcome dominating the MMA scene is lanky left-hander Dan Hornbuckle TKO'ing Nick "The Goat" Thompson early in the 2nd round for Hornbuckle's second consecutive stellar performance. Hornbuckle exuded confidence after dishing out one of the most devastating knockouts in MMA history in his last fight versus Akihiro Gono (
gif here), taking the center of the ring and showing Thompson he would not rely solely on his striking by rushing into the clinch and snatching a strong body lock, eventually taking Thompson's back and attempting a rear-naked choke after "The Goat" released the kimura he was using to counter.
Thompson calmly escaped back to his feet, where he uncharacteristically seemed to display a sloppy and open stance that allowed Hornbuckle's quick, straight right jabs and long lefts to land far too easily against a fighter that more than held his own standing against star-striker Paul Daley. After securing the first round on the cards, Hornbuckle hunted Thompson down and capitalized on his opponents erratic footwork by finding his range once again with a quick right jab/left straight combination that dazed Thompson, allowing Hornbuckle to pounce for the finish. Dan Hornbuckle solidifies himself as the man to beat at 170 lbs outside of the United States by blasting two highly esteemed welterweights in a row.
ATT's own Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva made quick work of Jim York by securing an arm triangle in the opening moments of the bout for another convincing win, bringing his record to 13-1. Bigfoot is rumored to have a very handsome fork in the road ahead of him: one path leading to a Sengoku HW championship fight with Josh Barnett, for which I cannot resist the obvious correlation that both were banished to Japan for positive steroid tests stateside, but nevertheless, Barnett is still a top HW and would immediately legitimize Bigfoot as the same should he defeat Barnett; Silva also allegedly has contracts in hand to compete in the U.S. now that his suspension is over, with Strikeforce being the most logical and likely destination.
The main event of the evening was catered to the Japanese audience as Hiroshi Izumi, an Olympic silver medalist in Judo, made his MMA debut against Antz Nantsen. Despite having a name that rolls nicely off the tongue, Nantsen the New Zealander stole Izumi's thunder by rocking him with combinations sharpened from his extensive kickboxing experience, methodically ending Izumi's night with a barrage of punches in what was also Nantsen's professional MMA debut.
Joe Doerksen looked fantastic on the feet against Takenori Sato, chaining punches together and almost putting Sato away early in the first, only to delay the same outcome to the 2nd round. Doerksen experienced showed as he imposed his will on Sato throughout the fight, dictating the pace andstaying in the driver's seat from the get-go, wielding impressive striking to compliment his adroit ground skills.
In retrospect, signing with Sengoku seems to have spelled doom for Ryan "The Lion" Schultz, who has wins over Roger Huerta, Mike Aina, Gil Castillo, Aaron Riley, Savant Young, and fought to a draw with JZ Cavalcante. This was Schultz's 3rd fight in Sengoku after being KO'din the first round by Mizuto Hirota and Jorge Masvidal, and lightning struck thrice as Kazunori Yokota had nothing but the same to offer. Badboy Maximo Blanco used pure strength to escape Tetsuya Yamada's slick submission attempts and swarmed the young fighter incessantly with massive left and right hands throughout the fight until the 19 year old Yamada folded in the 2nd round due to Blanco's punching power.
Full results:
Antz Nansen (1-0) def. Hiroshi Izumi (0-1) via TKO (Punches) in R1
Antonio Silva (13-1) def. "Big" Jim York (11-3) via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) at 3:51 of R1
Makoto Takimoto (6-5) def. Jae Sun Lee (2-4) via unanimous decision
Kazunori Yokota (10-2-3) def. Ryan Schultz (20-12-1) via KO (Punch) at 2:31 of R1
Fabio Silva (12-5) def. Ryo Kawamura (10-5-2) via TKO (Punches) at 2:28 of R1
Dan Hornbuckle (19-2) def. Nick Thompson (38-12-1) via TKO (Punches) at 1:30 of R2
Joe Doerksen (43-12) def. Takenori Sato (9-7-4) via KO (Punches) at 4:27 of R2
Maximo Blanco (4-2-1, 1 NC) def. Tetsuya Yamada (3-2) via TKO (Punches) at 1:12 of R2
Ikuo Usuda (6-0) vs. Woo Hyun Baek (1-1) via TKO (Punches) at 4:59 of R1
Shigeki Osawa (4-0) def. Ki Hyun Kim (0-1) via unanimous decision
Jae Hyun So (3-6) def. Ryosuke Komori (4-2) via unanimous decision
