Sengoku 11 - Brief Review of Sorts

Wasn't too interested in seeing this card, but Sengoku still translates to "Japanese MMA", so how can I pass it up?


Jorge Masvidal defeats Satoru Kitaoka via TKO

This was the most entertaining match on the card for me. Both fighters went at it and stuck to their guns, when it came to strategy. Each guy took some punishment - Masvidal through joint locks and Kitaoka with punches to his face. The advantage that "Gamebred" had in striking reach made all the difference, when he was abusing his shorter, stockier opponent.
If you've seen Satoru fight before, you probably weren't surprised by the outcome. If he can't get it done in the opening round, his chances of winning decrease dramatically. This is because he relies on the early takedown and submission, when his opponent is neither slippery or ready to defend. As rounds go by, either his cardio or the beatings he take causes him to gas rapidly. Either way, I admire his tenacity to go for the sub and latch on until he gets it.
Or gets lit up like a Christmas tree.


Mamed Khalidov defeats Jorge Santiago via TKO

It looks like Mamed was following Dave Herman's gameplan and go for the KO from bottom. And WOW, did his plan work to perfection. He pulled off the upset against a good opponent, and he did it well.
Not much else to say other than Santiago got caught trying to execute a hasty guard pass and left his chin out there, for a nice ole hammerfistin'.
At least the man's still got his belt, right?


Michihiro Omigawa defeats Hatsu Hiko via Decision

This was a very dull fight for me. Although there was a lot of back and forth between fighters, nothing of substance or consequence really happened. Omigawa did a lot of ducking and bobbing, with some haymakers thrown in and Hioki used his range to jab well and threw in some decent, successful double legs attempts.
Maybe I was watching another match, but it looked like Hioki won. He was backpedaling and not moving forward for most of the match, but I thought Hioki did more damage and implemented a better offense as a whole. Omigawa tagged him good a couple times, but there were other points where he could barely reach Hioki's face with his fists.


So it looks like that was the last Sengoku event of the year, but with the quality of matches they've been recently putting on, I'm not going to be broken up about it.

Next up, UFC 105, WEC 45 and ADCC 2009.

Well, maybeeeeeeeeee ADCC.

~S