Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and consensus top-10 fighter Marlon Sandro is now coming stateside to be part of the Bellator Fighting Championship fold. The current King of Pancrase, Sandro becomes a very welcomed addition to a bolstering featherweight class, which is currently ruled by Bellator champion Joe Warren, who won the season two 145-pound tournament and subsequently knocked out then champ Joe Soto to become the rightful ruler. Now, with tons of experience overseas against some of the best in his weight-class, Sandro will put his skills to the test against the best that Bellator will have to offer. ...

Jose Aldo may be recognized as the best featherweight in the world, but do you know who's nipping at his heels? It's not Mike Brown, Manny Gamuryan, or even Josh Grispi. It's a man named Marlon Sandro, someone who most hardcore fans are well aware of, but the casual mixed martial arts fan who is still wearing those Afflicition t-shirts and don a Ed Hardy water in hand will likely have no idea who he is. A few quick facts: He's a teammate of Aldo's, both originating from the famed Nova Uniao camp in Brazil. And coupled with a true Black Belt level ground game, he has knockout power that would scare most heavyweights. ...

While this might not be as cataclysmic as the DREAM tag team with Sengoku for last years Dynamite!! 2009 show at the Saitama Super Arena before a near 50,000 seated crowd, this is important none the less. Recently crowned Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro, the proverbial knockout king with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt to boot, is rumored for the September 25th event for DREAM 16. ...

A featherweight title fight in September apparently won't stop the Joe Warren train from booking a second fight, overseas at that, in the same month. The aforementioned featherweight will be facing Bellator 145-pound champion Joe Soto on September 2. in San Antonio, Tex. for the title. Earning his crack at the belt, Warren fought his way through the season two, 8-man featherweight tourney, after claiming victories over Eric Marriott, Georgi Karakhanyan, and finally a split decision over the previously undefeated Patricio Freire for the season's $100,000 check and number one contenders spot. ...

Featherweights Yuji Hoshino (12-7-6) of Japan and Marlon Sandro (13-1) of Brazil will matchup at Sengoku's Eleventh Battle in Tokyo November 7, World Victory Road announced Thursday. Pancrase vet Hoshino will come in to the fight off three consecutive victories at CageForce, most recently winning a three-round UD over "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura (6-3-1). ...

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. ...

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. ...

Nova União featherweight Marlon Sandro (11-0) leaped into Pancrase’s top spot in that weight class Wednesday night at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo after nailing second-ranked Miki Shida (13-5-2) with a flying knee in the final minute of the second round. The fighters were competing for the 66-kilo King of Pancrase title vacated by Yoshiro Maeda (23-4-2), who debuted successfully in the WEC in February. Sandro followed his knee strike with a typhoon of fists that finished dazed Shida at 4:19 of the round.  The stoppage was Sandro’s first since 2005. Earlier in the night, Sandro’s training partner and cousin Hacran Dias (7-0-1) scrapped with Takafumi Ito (33-26-10) to a draw in a 77-kilogram match.  Dias was debuting in Pancrase versus 13-year Pancrase vet Ito. Middleweight King of Pancrase Izuru Takeuchi (24-9-6) unanimously fended off a challenge from veteran Hiromitsu Kanehara (14-19-1).  Takeuchi hasn’t finished an opponent in Pancrase since 2004. Samboist Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (7-1) kept cruising through Pancrase’s middleweight division with a TKO of Hikaru Sato(17-18-4) after just a minute-and-twenty, his third consecutive first round stoppage guaranteeing him a showdown with Takeuchi for the title. Krazy Bee lightweight Shinsuke Shoji took a UD over Kenji Arai (12-12-2) and his bantamweight teammate Michihisa Asano (6-4-2) earned a majority decision over U-File’s “Yukito” Yuichiro Shirai (3-5-3). Middleweights Takanori Sato (5-4-4) and Masahiro Toryu (4-3-3) fought to a draw. Welterweight Tomoyoshi Iwamiya (4-6) won a unanimous decision over Asaki Honda (4-2-1). ...