» Fighter: Yuki Sasaki

World Victory Road has officially added their Middleweight Grand Prix to Sengoku 6, taking place 1 November in Saitama, Japan.

The winner of the tournament will face Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked middleweight “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (20-8-2) for the first-ever middleweight belt 4 January in Saitama at Sengoku 7.

Kazuhiro Nakamura (12-8) will face Yuki Sasaki (22-14-1), and Jorge Santiago (18-7) will face “Afghan Killa” Siyar Bahadurzada (14-3-1).

The event already features a lightweight tournament to determine an opponent for Fighters.com’s second-ranked lightweight “Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi (29-3) at Sengoku 7 for the title.

The bouts remaining in the lightweight tournament are Satoru Kitaoka (21-8-9) versus sixth-ranked Eiji Mitsuoka (14-5-2), and Kazunori Yokota (7-1-3) versus Mizuto Hirota (10-2).

WVR also announced that Fighters.com’s Fighter of the Month “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (1-0) will fight, although an opponent has not yet been determined.

“GameBred” Jorge Masvidal (14-3) versus Seung Hwan Bang (5-2) is also official.

Joe Doerksen (40-12) revealed through MySpace Tuesday that he has agreed to fight Izuru Takeuchi (25-9-6).

Read More About Sengoku 6 to Include MW Grand Prix; Lawal, Masvidal, and Doerkson Also on Card…

MMA rookie “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (1-0) upset “Diesel” Travis Wiuff (53-12) by first-round TKO at 2:11 Sunday night in Tokyo.

Lawal staggered Wiuff with a right Superman punch, then rushed in with a double-leg takedown at the ropes.  Lawal leapt on Wiuff and finished him off with ground’n’pound.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion “Xande” Alexandre Ribeiro (1-0) TKO’d Takashi Sugiura (1-3) in the last minute of his anticipated MMA debut.

Read More About Lawal Upsets Wiuff in MMA Debut, Ribeiro Also Victorious at Sengoku 5…

World Victory Road announced Tuesday the addition of four more fighters to the Sengoku 5 event happening 28 September in Tokyo, although no opponents have been named for them.

Yuki Sasaki (21-14-1) will participate in the Middleweight Grand Prix.  A Pancrase veteran and American Top Team member, he tapped in his last match in May to Jorge Santiago (17-7)’s armbar in round three.

“GameBred” Jorge Masvidal (13-3), also from American Top Team, is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Rodrigo Damm (8-1) in June.

Roger Gracie (2-0) won his last match in May over Yuki Kondo (28-22-6) via rear naked choke in the first round.

Xande Ribeiro (0-0), who beat Gracie to become the 2008 BJJ Absolute World Champion, will be making his MMA debut.

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)