» Fighter: Yoshihiro Nakao

The rise of Japanese lightweight Mizuto Hirota (10-3) left many breathless Sunday after he upset Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka (24-9-7) by TKO at 2:50 of round four at Ninth Battle in Tokyo.

Masanori Kanehara (5-2) stole the Featherweight Grand Prix Championship in a controversial final that featured Kanehara despite losing his semi-final fight by unanimous decision to Hatsu Hioki (16-3-2) versus Michihiro Omigawa (4-8) who was given a hometown free pass into the finals after majority draw on the cards versus Marlon Sandro (13-1) in the semi-finals.

Strikeforce middleweight champ “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (23-9-2) strangled judoka Kazuhiro Nakamura’s (13-10) hopes of challenging Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (21-7) in a guillotine at 3:03 of round one, leaving Kaz’ out on the mat. Denied a title challenge himself by Sengoku after pleading guilty to interfering with the duties of a public official following a March traffic stop, Misaki said nothing after playing spoiler, refusing the microphone in the ring.

Read More About Akihiro Gono Leaves on Stretcher, Kazuo Misaki Just Leaves at Sengoku…

Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka (24-9-7) and challenger Mizuto Hirota (9-3) both made weight for their main event at Ninth Battle in Tokyo Sunday.

Kitaoka weighed 69.9 kg while Hirota tipped the scales at 70 kg.

The card also features the semi-finals and finals of Sengoku’s featherweight grand prix and all competing fighters also made weight.

Read More About Kitaoka, Hirota Make Weight For Sengoku Title Fight…

Despite being suspended by the California State Athletic Commission, “Big Foot” Antonio Silva (11-1) will fight at Sengoku 7 in Saitama 4 January versus “Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (8-1), World Victory Road announced Friday.

Silva was issued a one-year suspension for testing positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone after his TKO win over Justin Eilers (19-7-1) 26 July at EliteXC.

By competing in Japan, Silva is apparently ignoring both the suspension and a warning from the CSAC against fighting overseas.

Silva’s management argued that other fighters had done it without penalty.

Silva’s opponent, Nakao, last fought at Sengoku Second Battle in May, knocking out “Big” Jim York (9-2) in round two.

Nakao is infamous for winning a fight versus “Texas Crazy Horse” Heath Herring (28-14) before it even began.  Herring was disqualified for dropping Nakao with a punch when Nakao kissed him during the staredown.

Sunday in Tokyo at Sengoku II, Fighters.com’s third-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (22-5) ground out a unanimous decision over “Snowman” Jeff Monson (24-8) in a match battled mostly on the mat.

Heavyweight “Monster” Kevin Randleman (17-12) also pulled out a UD over Pancrase star Ryo Kawamura (8-3-2).  The decision was considered controversial.

Monson and Randleman are scheduled to fight on a 24 June card in Charlotte.

Highly-touted Roger Gracie (2-0) remained undefeated after tapping MMA vet Yuki Kondo (48-22-6) in a rear naked choke at 2:40 of round one.

“Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (7-1) called out “Ironhead” Kazuyuki Fujita (15-6) after knocking out Kiwi “Big” Jim York (9-2) 46-seconds into round two.

American Top Team welterweight Jorge Santiago (17-7) fought off near-submissions before finding his own submission of Grabaka’s Yuki Sasaki (21-14-1) in a third-round armbar at 2:10.

Lighweight Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2) took only 4:15 to sink a rear naked choke submission in on “Crazy” Kwang Hee Lee (5-1).

Xtreme Couture welterweight “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (16-5-1) locked in a triangle choke to tap “Handler” Dan Hornbuckle (15-2) at 4:52 of round one.

Welterweight Pancrase vet Satoru Kitaoka (20-8-9) submitted Aussie Ian James Schaffa (7-5-1) in a guillotine choke in just 50 seconds to begin the night.

World Victory Road has added a middleweight match-up to their 18 May Sengoku event at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

Grabaka veteran Yuki Sasaki (21-13-1) will face American Top Team’s Jorge Santiago (16-7).

Sasaki, who’s made the international rounds from Shooto through Pancrase, DEEP, and even a unanimous decision loss to “The Boogeyman” Dean Lister (10-5) in the UFC, comes off a first round armbar submission of debuting South Korean Bo Guk So (0-1) in DEEP last July.

Santiago, who also had an unsuccessful stint in the UFC, last TKO’d Trevor Prangley (17-5) at Strikeforce last November.

After Adrenaline MMA announced “The Snowman” Jeff Monson (24-7) would headline its 14 June card in Chicago, the heavyweight has been removed from the 18 May Sengoku appearance list.

The list now includes “The Monster” Kevin Randleman (16-12), Roger Gracie (1-0), “Big” Jim York (9-1), and “Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (6-1), who recently bailed on an announced DREAM match with “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic (23-6-2).

Previously announced fights include:

Eiji Mitsuoka (12-5-1) v “Crazy” Kwang Hee Lee (5-0)
Satoru Kitaoka (19-8-9) v Ian James Schaffa (7-4-1)

“Mighty Mo” Siala-Mou Siligia’s (3-0) agent, Steve Rusich, has confirmed that “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic (22-6-2) turned down a DREAM.1 debut versus Rusich’s fighter from American Samoa.

“Mo was excited,” Rusich said.  “He wants to get more MMA fights.  A win over Cro Cop would’ve been huge!”

“Mighty Mo” fights a K-1 kickboxing match versus Keijiro Maeda in Yokohama 13 April, but is undefeated in mixed martial arts versus softies.  “Cro Cop” would’ve been a leap forward.

“What they do is offer [Filipovic] three options.  We had the whole thing negotiated with K-1,” Rusich explained, “but, they came back and said Cro Cop turned down the fight.”

Agent Bas Boon has also alleged “Cro Cop” nixed DREAM.1 fights with his charges, “Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (26-11) and Gokin Saki (0-1), who may have been the other two fighters in K-1’s original offer to Filipovic.

Boon hasn’t replied to my request for further explanation.

“Apparently he wanted James Thompson,” Rusich added.

“The Colossus” Thompson (14-8) has slept through the finale of seven of his eight losses, earning him a reputation for his glass jaw.  Thompson was laid out in just over two minutes in his last fight versus “The Grim” Brett Rogers (6-0) in EliteXC.

“Cro Cop” returns to Japan after a nosedive in the UFC, losing consecutive battles with “Napao” Gabriel Gonzaga (8-3) and Cheick Kongo (11-4-1).

DREAM, a K-1 MMA promotion, originally paired “Cro Cop” with “Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (6-1); but, Nakao dropped the fight without official explanation.

DREAM then dug up veritable head-on-a-tee Tatsuya Mizuno (3-2), whom Filipovic will take aim on today in Tokyo.

“["Kiss" Yoshihiro] Nakao will be sunk in Tokyo Bay by the terrible Yakuza [if he fights "Cro Cop" Mirko Filipovic],” posted “The Oriental Mystery” Takumi Yano (9-8-3) last week on his blog at blog.livedoor.jp/ugokai.

Yano trains Nakao (6-1), who recently pulled out of his announced DREAM.1 bout with Cro Cop (22-6-2) without explanation.

Yakuza, or Japanese mafia, connections to combat sport promotions in Japan have long been alleged, most notoriously resulting in PRIDE’s loss of Japanese television coverage leading to their eventual demise.

My request to Yano for comment received the mysterious response: “Gone fishing.”

Kidding…

Yano didn’t respond to my English request, most likely because he speaks Japanese.

I can’t decide which is more dangerous: posting the comment as a joke or posting it because it’s the truth.

DREAM rotated tomato cans Monday for this weekend’s DREAM.1 debut event featuring “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic.

“My opponent will be Tatsuya Mizuno,” Cro Cop announced via his blog at http://www.mma-id.com/CROCOP.  “Although I announced Yoshihiro Nakao as my first opponent in DREAM, this fight is not going to happen.  I’m not familiar with reasons and I won’t be asking for any.”

Mizuno is a 3-2 Japanese judoka who’s only fought in Pancrase.  He’s bowed to any competition stiffer than a licorice stick.

Short-notice gives Mizuno little time to prepare for the Croatian kickboxer short of getting fitted for a neck brace, which one hopes was written into his contract gratis.

“The most important thing is that I’m going to fight on Saturday,” Cro Cop assured, unflustered by the change.

There was a time when the most important thing to the feared striker was proving himself against top competition in the sport; but, that has become but a DREAM.

Former PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix champion “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic (22-6-2) has announced via his blog at www.mma-id.com/CROCOP that his 15 March DREAM opponent will be “Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (6-1).

“Kiss” earned his tongue-in-cheek moniker after planting a wet one on “The Texas Crazy Horse” Heath Herring during the stare down before a 2005 K-1 contest.

Herring promptly decked him, leaving Nakao stiff and unconscious on the mat.  “I’m not gay,” Herring called out.