Gono, Sandro and Santiago victorious at Sengoku RC 12; Mizuto Hirota vacates his title
Posted on March 7, 2010, 01:07 PM by Anton GurevichNo surprises at the entertaining Sengoku Raiden Championship 12, as the top competitors Akihiro Gono, Jorge Santiago and Marlon Sandro defeated their opponents. Santiago avenged his loss to Mamed Khalidov from SRC 11, with a well-earned 48-47, 48-47, and 49-47 Decision in the main event of the evening.
SRC 12 had also some important announcements: Sengoku Lightweight Champion Mizuto Hirota appeared at the event with a bandaged hand (see Hirota vs Shinya Aoki), announcing that he will vacate his Lightweight Title. Hirota stated that he will return to action probably in September, this time as a challenger and not as a Champion.
Sengoku Raiden Championship 13 will take place on Sunday, June 20th, at the famous Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall).
Full Results:
SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
Jorge Santiago (c) Def. Mamed Khalidov by Decsion 3-0 (48-47, 48-47, 49-47)
WW: Akihiro Gono Def. Diego Gonzalez by Decison 30-27, 30-27, 30-29
LW: Maximo Blanco Def. Chang Hyun "Armbar" Kim by KO (Round 1 1:10)
FW: Marlon Sandro Def. Tomonari Kanomata by KO (Round 1 0:09)
HW: Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao Def. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller by TKO (Round 2 3:27)
FW: Yuji Hoshino Def. Nick Denis by guillotine choke (Round 2 0:47)
LW: Leonardo Santos Def. Kiuma Kunioku by rear-naked choke (Round 1 3:06)
FW: Shigeki Osawa Def. Kyung Ho Kang by Decision 3-0
Comments
It was pretty good. The main event wasn't quite what I hoped. For much of the fight both fighters, knowing their opponent's dangers seemed reluctant to engage and didn't seem like they were in a title match, more like they were just trying not to lose. There were some great moments though, Santiago went for some weird variation on an omo plata or something that I'd never seen before but Khalidov escaped. Then in the championship rounds Santiago decided either Khalidov had gassed or just wasn't the KO artist he thought he was so he started banging more and landed goog shots, winning him the fight.
The Gono fight, a typical example of Japanese organisers bringing in a tough looking opponent to lose against their boy wasn't too good. Gono played it safe playing an in and out 'brim of fire' game that won him every round but showed that with his lack of power you'd be lucky to get a black eye.
Now. Marlon Sandro and Maximo Blanco made it well worth the 5000 yen. Sandro KO'd his boy in seconds with a beautiful tight uppercut seeing the victim stretchered out and giving him a shot at Kanehara. Maxi did pretty much the same but had Arm-bar Kim stretchered out with a short tight kick to the jaw.
Altogether, 2 brutal ko's, 2 subs and 2 good back and forth fights. Forget the 'Kiss Nakao' fight I just wished Heath Herring had been there instead of Sentoryu.
Great venue at the home of Sumo, the Kokugikan. Even the cheapest seats had a great view. I'll definitely be going back in June.
I really hope Sengoku can keep going. It has real potential and is basically Pride without all the great fighters we remember.