World Victory Road "Sengoku" Results
by Robert Sargent
World Victory Road's debut "Sengoku" event was a great success, with Takanori "Fireball Kid" Gomi defeating Duane "Bang" Ludwig and "The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett submitting Hidehiko Yoshida in the main event.
In a night of submissions, two fights were finished with heel hooks, with Hidehiko Yoshida and Makoto Takimoto both falling victim to the manoeuvre.
"The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett vs Hidehiko Yoshida
Mere seconds into the fight, Barnett got behind Yoshida and proceeded to pick him up and drop him on his head with a crippling suplex. Amazingly, Yoshida managed to remain conscious, but he was clearly wary of further slams for the remainder of the match.Barnett attempted many additional slams throughout the fight, but Yoshida countered by falling to the ground and spinning free. In the middle of round one, Yoshida used this technique to transition into a deep armbar that seemed to have Barnett in trouble. However, the veteran kept his composure and managed to escape by using his free hand to put pressure on Yoshida's ankle.
Yoshida did get the better of many of the early striking exchanges, but Barnett's size and strength advantage on the ground took their toll on the Japanese warrior, and Yoshida was visibly tired near the end of round two. By round three, Yoshida was completely exhausted, and was forced to resort to rolling on the mat to escape Barnett's attacks. Near the end of the round, Barnett locked Yoshida in a heel hook and forced a tapout to secure the victory.
Winner: Josh Barnett by Submission (Heel Hook) at 3:23 of round three. He improves to 21-5-0.
Takanori "Fireball Kid" Gomi vs Duane "Bang" Ludwig
Sadly, this fight was halted early in round one, but the fans witnessed a striking battle in the opening minutes.Both fighters began with pawing strikes as they circled each other. Gomi, as he often does, repeatedly transitioned from southpaw to orthodox, and landed punches from all angles. Soon after, he drilled Ludwig with a left hook that sent Ludwig to the canvas. However, Ludwig got back to his feet before Gomi could finish the fight.
Unfortunately for Ludwig, the punch from Gomi had opened up a deep cut, which forced a doctor stoppage.
Winner: Takanori Gomi by TKO (Doctor Stoppage - Cut) at 2:28 of round one. He improves to 28-3-0, 1 ND.
Kazuo "Grabaka Hitman" Misaki vs Siyar Bahadurzada
Misaki, coming off of a controversially overturned victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama, left no doubt in this fight, as he weathered early striking flurries from the Afghan native and submitted Bahadurzada in the second round.In the first round, Bahadurzada got the better of many of the striking exchanges, and rocked Misaki with a punch at one point. However, Misaki showed why he is one of the best middleweights in the world, as he survived the early onslaughts and eventually took the fight to the ground. Once there, he looked for a Kimura, but couldn't quite finish it.
In the second round, Misaki used his extremely unorthodoxed movements on the feet to evade strikes from Bahadurzada, and threw Bahadurzada to the mat. Bahadurzada got back to his feet, then went for a single-leg takedown of his own, but wound up trapped in a guillotine choke. Misaki wrenched on Bahadurzada's neck, and eventually forced a tapout.
Winner: Kazuo Misaki by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 2:02 of round two. He improves to 19-8-2, 1 NC.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs Peter Graham
After getting into a brief scrap at the press conference the day before, both fighters continued the bantering as they engaged in an intense stare down, then exchanged insults prior to the fight.Once the fight began, the veteran Fujita made short work of the debuting kickboxer. Graham did defend two takedown attempts from Fujita, but succumbed to the third attempt. With Graham's lack of ground prowess, Fujita quickly transitioned to north-south position and locked in a choke early in round one.
Winner: Kazuyuki Fujita by Submission (North-South Choke) at 1:23 of round one. He improves to 15-6-0.
Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos vs Makoto Takimoto
In one of the most bizarre fight endings in recent memory, Santos, a devastating striker with a nearly non-existent ground game, submitted Takimoto, an Olympic gold medallist in judo, with, of all things, a heel hook.Takimoto is widely known for his ability to take extreme amounts of punishment, and Santos definitely unleashed his fury early in round one. Takimoto was drilled with a barrage of punches, but, as he always does, managed to weather the storm by evading many of the harder strikes. After Santos got a takedown, Takimoto trapped Santos's arms and prevented him from doing any damage from top position.
However, in a truly shocking display, Santos dropped back from guard and went for a leg submission. Though Takimoto initially fought it off, Santos locked in a heel hook and Takimoto tapped out. Santos now has five submission wins in his career, but two are due to strikes and the others are by way of the common rear naked choke. This is the first technical submission he has ever successfully used in his career.
Winner: Evangelista Santos by Submission (Heel Hook) at 4:51 of round one. He improves to 16-11-0.
Undercard Fights:
Ryo Kawamura returned to his winning ways by out-pointing the previously undefeated Antonio Braga Neto. Kawamura dominated the striking exchanges, while Neto scored takedowns and controlled on the ground. However, Kawamura repeatedly battled back to his feet and peppered Neto with strikes. In the end, he was awarded with a well-deserved decision victory.Winner: Ryo Kawamura by Unanimous Decision after three rounds. He improves to 8-2-2.
In a highly controversial welterweight battle, Nick "The Goat" Thompson emerged with a questionable decision victory over Fabricio "Pitbull" Monteiro. Thompson did dominate most of the striking exchanges on the feet, using punches and low kicks to keep Monteiro guessing. However, Monteiro was vastly superior on the ground, scoring numerous takedowns and working for armbar, leg lock and heel hook attempts throughout the fight.
However, the judges were evidently more focused on Thompson's striking, and disregarded Monteiro's dominance on the ground.
Winner: Nick Thompson by Unanimous Decision after three rounds. He improves to 35-9-1.
Overall, "Sengoku" was an extremely good debut event for World Victory Road, and we can only hope that future events live up to the high standing that WVR has already created.
