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. ...

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. ...