Fighters.com’s Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko's (30-1) Strikeforce matchup versus ninth-ranked “Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum (12-4-1) has been rumored for April, then May, and now Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is pegging the fight for June, according to MMA Weekly. ...

Former WEC featherweight "Maverick" Micah Miller (13-3) and former UFC lightweight Michihiro Omigawa  (9-8-1) will matchup in a 145-pound bout at ASTRA's inaugural event in Tokyo April 25. American Top Team's Miller went 2-2 in the WEC in 2007 and 2008, but enters ASTRA with a three fight win streak.  Most recently, Miller submitted "Cheesesteak" Anthony Morrison (15-8) at SHINE Fights 2 in Miami last September. ...

Today in an interview with Fight Magazine Frank Shamrock (22-9-1) stated "I don’t want to fight  Jake Shields because he has no personality, he’s a boring fighter, and when he got on to CBS, and it was his chance to be a star, he leg humped ["Mayhem" Jason Miller] all night long, and killed our ratings. That’s why I don’t want to fight Jake Shields". ...

While it had been previously announced that Sengoku 7 would feature “Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi (28-4) versus the Lightweight Grand Prix winner, and “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (21-8-2) versus the Middleweight GP winner, World Victory Road made it official Friday. Fighters.com’s second-ranked lightweight Gomi will face Satoru Kitaoka (21-9-7), and ninth-ranked middleweight Misaki will face Jorge Santiago (18-7).  The first-ever WVR titles in both weight classes will be on the line. Heavyweight Hidehiko Yoshida (8-6-1) is also on the card. Gomi will fight for the belt despite losing his last fight versus Red Devil Sports Club’s Sergey Golyaev (8-5) 1 November at Sengoku 6 via split decision. Kitaoka won the lightweight tournament at the same event by submitting sixth-ranked Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2) with a first-round heel hook, then defeating Kazunori Yokota (7-1-2) via unanimous decision. Misaki last fought in September at Strikeforce versus “Diesel” Joe Riggs (28-10).  Riggs was felled via TKO in round two. Santiago submitted Siyar Bahadurzada (9-3-1) via first-round heel hook and TKO’d  Kazuhiro Nakamura (12-8) in round three to win the middleweight tournament at Sengoku 6. Yoshida submitted “Mo” Maurice Smith (13-13) by neck crank at Sengoku 3 in June. ...

Fighters.com's eighth-ranked middleweight “Grabaka Hitman” Kazuo Misaki (20-8-2) shot it out on his feet with "Pink Pounder" Logan Clark (11-2) for a unanimous decision at Sengoku Third Battle in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Sunday night. Misaki successfully countered Clark's aggressive stand-up for the "W". Ninth-ranked welterweight “The Goat” Nick Thompson (36-9-1) survived a "Maicon" Michael Costa (9-4) hook that detonated in the second round, leaving "The Goat" on the mat, to tap Costa at 4:13 of the round in a Kimura. YAMMA Pit Fighting Heayweight Champion "Diesel" Travis Wiuff (53-11) cemented his return to being taken seriously with a first-round knockout of "Ironhead" Kazuyuki Fujita (15-7) at 1:24, a feet never previously achieved. In the night's main event, heavyweight Hidehiko Yoshida (8-6-1) ended a three-loss streak by tapping 46-year old kickboxer "Mo" Maurice Smith (12-13) in a neck crank at 2:23 of round one. Sanae Kikuta (27-6-3) finished off Englishman Chris Rice (12-6), who entered the ring costumed as the Grim Reaper, in a first-round armbar at 3:54. "Pe de Pano" Marcio Cruz (4-2) also tapped Korean heavyweight Mu Bae Choi (7-3) in a rear naked choke at 4:37 of round one. Brazilian lightweight Rodrigo Damm (8-1) called out second-ranked lightweight "Fireball Kid" Takanori Gomi (28-3) after the referee ended "Gamebred" Jorge Masvidal's (13-3) night, controversially calling the fight at 4:38 of round two while Masvidal was recovering from a punch that dropped the brawler. Middleweight Fabio Silva (10-4) knocked out Yoshiki Takahashi (28-23-3) with a knee at :24 of round two. ...

Fighters.com's ninth-ranked welterweight "The Goat" Nick Thompson (35-9-1) has been matched versus unheralded Michael Costa (5-2) at Sengoku III on 8 June according to the promotion's official website. Costa has won four fights by stoppage and one by decision and comes in on a two-knockout streak. "The Goat" hasn't lost in two years, piling up ten stoppages and, most recently, a unanimous decision over "Pitbull" Fabricio Monteiro (16-7) at Sengoku I in March. Other fighters who may get ring time at the event include former PRIDE heavyweights Hidehiko Yoshida (7-6-1) and "Ironhead" Kazuyuki Fujita (15-6), former UFC heavyweight "Pe De Pano" Marcio Cruz (3-2), Chute Box middleweight Fabio Silva (9-4), and Brazilian lightweight Rodrigo Damm (7-1). ...

Josh Barnett, judo champion? "The Babyfaced Assassin" from Seattle tread the path of his catch wrestling forefather Ad Santel Wednesday by submitting Japanese Olympic gold medalist judoka Hidehiko Yoshida (7-6-1) by heel hook at 3:23 of round three at World Victory Road's inaugural Sengoku fight card in Tokyo. A century ago, Santel waged war with judoka and proclaimed himself the world judo champion after defeating fifth-degree black belt Tokugoro Ito. "I revived this rivalry when I fought Kazuhiro Nakamura," Barnett (21-5) told Sherdog.com. "And, so I'm keeping it going for this century now." The fight was the American's first in MMA since losing a unanimous decision rematch with current interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1) on New Year's Eve 2006. His layoff had erased his name from most rankings which require activity in the previous 365-days; but, vanquishing the samurai establishes Barnett's status as a top five heavyweight. Also returning to active duty, former PRIDE Lightweight Champion "The Fireball Kid" Takanori Gomi (28-3) sliced open "Bang" Duane Ludwig (16-8) of Denver to earn a first round stoppage at 2:28. Gomi had been out of commission  since tapping to Nick Diaz (15-7) in a gogoplata at PRIDE's last American card in February 2007.  After Diaz tested positive for smoking a doob', the outcome was deemed a No Contest by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. "Grabaka Hitman" Kazuo Misaki (19-8-2) got back to winning Wednesday with a guillotine submission of middleweight Afghan Siyar Bahadurzada (13-2-1) at 2:02 of round two. Thick-skulled Japanese wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita (15-6) posted a north-south choke tapout of MMA-debuting Aussie kickboxer Peter Graham (0-1). "Cyborg" Evangelista Santos (16-11) won the second of his two-month trilogy by wrapping Japanese judoka Makoto Takimoto in a heel hook at 4:51 of round one. Santos will fight Joey Villasenor on a San Jose Strikeforce card at the end of March. Middleweight Pancrase vet Ryo Kawamura (8-2-2) of Japan won a unanimous decision over formerly undefeated Brazilian Antonio Braga Neto (5-1). Bodog Fight welterweight king "The Goat" Nick Thompson (35-9-1) also won a unanimous decision over Gracie Barra "Pitbull" Fabricio Monteiro (16-7). ...

The March 5th World Victory Road main event of Josh Barnett versus Hidehiko Yoshida is more than a reunion of PRIDE heavyweights. According to the "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett, 20-5, there's 100-years of rivalry leading to the showdown between the catch wrestler and the judoka. Explains Barnett, "One of the more famous stories involving this rivalry was when catch wrestler Ad Santel defeated 5th degree black belt Tokugoro Itoh with a slam so powerful it fractured [his] skull." Santel, a catch wrestling heavyweight titlist, wrestled judoka from the The Kodokan Institute from 1914-1921. "Since Itoh was considered one of the best judoka in the world," Barnett tells, "Santel proclaimed himself, 'The Judo World Champion'." "The Kodakan sent many judoka to avenge the loss," Barnett goes on. Itoh avenged the brutal TKO with a submission defeat of Santel in their rematch. However, Barnett claims, "Santel claimed victory over many of the top judoka of the time: Taro Miyake via slam TKO, 4th degree black belt Daisuke Sakai, and 5th degree black belt Reijiro Nagata again by TKO." The last chapter in the storied rivalry has a direct connection to Barnett vs. Yoshida. Barnett asks, "Can the teacher avenge the student?" In February 2006 Barnett tapped Yoshida prodigy Kazuhiro Nakamura in a rear naked choke at PRIDE 31. Barnett asks again, "Can Yoshida bring honor back to Judo?"  Then, he answers, "Only way to know is to strap up the boots, check the tape, get in the ring, and lock horns in the center." ...

Upstart Japanese MMA promotion World Victory Road announced that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett will fight Olympic gold medalist judoka Hidehiko Yoshida. The match-up will be the main event at WVR's inaugural March 5th card at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 1 in Tokyo. Neither fighter has competed in mixed martial arts since PRIDE's final New Year's Eve event in 2006. Barnett dropped a rematch with current interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by unanimous decision. Yoshida suffered a TKO to glass-jawed Brit James Thompson. WVR announced last week that it had signed former PRIDE Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi. ...