World Victory Road "Sengoku" Preview
by Robert Sargent
Tomorrow, World Victory Road presents its debut event, "Sengoku," with many exciting fights, featuring #1-ranked lightweight Takanori "Fireball Kid" Gomi and #3-ranked heavyweight "The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett.
In its inaugural event, World Victory Road looks to immediately establish itself as a force in mixed martial arts, and the undercard of "Sengoku" is a very good one.
The main event features Takanori "Fireball Kid" Gomi (27-3-0, 1 ND) vs. Duane "Bang" Ludwig (16-7-0).
Gomi is finally making his return to competition after PRIDE's implosion following his PRIDE 33 battle with Nick Diaz. In that fight, he came in woefully out of shape, having spent more time in the pub than in the gym. Though he brutally battered Diaz, and broke his orbital bone with strikes, Gomi completely gassed in the middle of the first round and succumbed to a gogoplata submission, of all things, in round two. Fortunately for him, the result of the fight was overturned after Diaz tested positive for marijuana.
Regardless of the fact that the loss was "erased," Gomi definitely has something to prove coming into this fight. He was long hailed as nearly unbeatable, prior to a one-sided submission loss to Marcus Aurelio and the fight with Diaz a year later. Now, he seeks only to reaffirm why he is the #1-ranked lightweight in the world.
In the Bas Rutten-trained Ludwig, Gomi has an opponent who is seemingly tailor-made to his fighting style. Ludwig is a striker and Gomi has a chin of granite. No one has been able to do much of anything to Gomi when the fight is standing up, but Gomi has shown a tendency to falter if the fight goes to the ground. That is highly unlikely with Ludwig.
While Ludwig has solid power and very good striking, this should be a one-sided battle for Gomi, assuming that he does, in fact, train for the fight. If he shows up as the same Gomi who threw a sure-win away against Diaz, Ludwig could play the role of spoiler. Let's hope, for the sake of the fans and the fighters, that Gomi puts on a performance that he was known for in the past.
The next fight on the card pits top-10 middleweight Kazuo "Grabaka Hitman" Misaki (18-8-2, 1 NC) against Siyar Bahadurzada (13-1-1), a native of Afghanistan.
Misaki, like Gomi, is coming off of a fight which was later overturned. In his battle against rival Yoshihiro Akiyama at M-1 Global's co-promoted "Yarennoka!" event on New Year's Eve, Misaki recovered from near-defeat by knocking Akiyama out with a kick to the head late in the first round. However, since Akiyama's knees were down at the time of the kick, it was ruled illegal and the fight was later deemed a No Contest.
Misaki looks to establish that his knockout of Akiyama, as well as his past wins over Dan Henderson and Denis Kang, was no fluke. In Bahadurzada, he faces an unknown opponent, but one who possesses a very well-rounded game.
Misaki will look to keep the fight standing, while Bahadurzada, if he is smart in the fight, will look for takedowns. Misaki has solid striking abilities and good takedown defence. Bahadurzada's best chance in the fight is to take Misaki down and look for a submission. His striking is decent, but Misaki's unorthodoxed style can mesmerise even the most established of strikers. Misaki will likely take the win, but he should not take his opponent lightly.
The third fight features the long-awaited return of #3-ranked heavyweight, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion, "The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett (20-5-0), who faces off with PRIDE veteran Hidehiko Yoshida (7-5-1).
Barnett has faced a who's who of the heavyweight division in his career, with wins over Dan Severn, Gan McGee, Semmy Schilt (twice), Randy Couture, Aleksander Emelianenko, Mark Hunt and current UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. His only losses have come against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović (thrice - once due to injury), Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo and the aforementioned Nogueira.
Yoshida has also faced many top fighters in his career, but is considerably undersized to be competing at heavyweight. He has also defeated Mark Hunt, but suffered a loss to Filipović and to Wanderlei Silva (twice) in PRIDE. Perhaps his most demoralising loss came in his last fight, with James "The Colossus" Thompson at PRIDE Shockwave 2006, when he was defeated by TKO in an upset.
Neither fighter has competed since the Shockwave 2006 event, over 14 months ago, and both will look to recover from losses on that night. In Barnett's case, his dedication to remaining among the top of the heavyweight division is often questioned, as he focuses more on training fighters than on himself, or competes in professional wrestling or grappling events.
With Yoshida, the question is not his heart but his ability to compete with fighters who are larger and stronger than he is. The victory over an (at the time) inexperienced Hunt notwithstanding, Yoshida has had endless trouble competing with large heavyweights who possess good wrestling abilities. Barnett will control the fight wherever it goes, and should take the fight easily. However, the question of his dedication to remaining as a top heavyweight may still linger.
The undercard features a battle between veteran welterweight Nick "The Goat" Thompson (34-9-1) and Fabricio "Pitbull" Monteiro (16-6-0).
Thompson has only lost once in his last 19 fights, to Karo Parisyan in the UFC, while Monteiro is coming off of back-to-back losses. Thompson's world of experience should easily carry him to victory in this fight, but Monteiro could pull off an upset. Both are very well-rounded fighters, but Thompson holds the edge in nearly every category.
A middleweight contest will pit feared striker Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (15-11-0) against PRIDE veteran Makoto Takimoto (4-3-0).
Takimoto has won two straight fights - including a Split Decision victory over MMA pioneer Murilo Bustamante at "Yarennoka!" - and he has shown that he has an extremely strong ability to take a punch. He will need that against Santos, who hits incredibly hard.
Santos has had his share of controversy in the past few weeks, having been released from his contract with Hardcore Championship Fighting for taking this fight with WVR, as well as a Strikeforce fight on March 29th. He was defeated by TKO at HCF's "Destiny" event on February 1st by Gegard Mousasi, who also holds a victory over Takimoto.
In this fight, Takimoto will be forced to absorb dozens of punches from the hard-hitting Santos, but he has shown that he can weather the storm and hold his own on the feet. He will then look to take the fight to the ground, and will likely submit Santos in the second round. That is, if he can survive the onslaught in round one.
In another middleweight bout, undefeated Antonio Braga Neto (5-0-0) will take on the once-heralded Ryo Kawamura (7-2-2).
Kawamura was once thought to be the future of the Japanese middleweights, but two losses in his last three fights have served as major setbacks. In Neto, he will take on a very talented grappler who has yet to taste defeat.
Kawamura's best (and, likely, only) chance in this fight is to land a solid punch or kick that knocks Neto out. Failing this, he will need to keep the fight standing. Neto will look to take the fight to the ground and apply one of his submissions, likely targeting an arm. Neto should emerge from the fight with his undefeated record intact.
In the final fight of the evening, former PRIDE star Kazuyuki Fujita (14-6-0) will take on the debuting Peter Graham (0-0-0), an Australian kickboxer.
Very little is known about Graham, but it is highly likely that he will seek to keep the fight standing, at all costs. In Fujita, he remains as the only fighter to ever badly hurt Fedor Emelianenko in a fight, nearly knocking him out in 2003 before succumbing to a submission moments later. The fight with Emelianenko, along with two fights against Cro Cop, gained Fujita many fans in Japan. However, he has lost two of his last three fights, to Wanderlei Silva and Jeff Monson.
In this fight, Fujita will completely overwhelm the debuting Graham, and will likely submit Graham in the first round. However, beating a debuting mixed martial artist will do little for his career.
"Sengoku" promises to be an excellent debut event for World Victory Road. If all goes well, one of the two new major players in Japanese MMA - along with DREAM - will be off to a great start.
