The Weekly Wrap: Nov. 7 - Nov. 13

Sengoku’s Last Hurrah?

During a week in which reports surfaced that the Sengoku promotion might not survive the year, three of the organization’s highest-ranked fighters were defeated at its “Eleventh Battle” event on Nov. 7 in Tokyo. Former lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka, reigning middleweight champion Jorge Santiago and top featherweight Hatsu Hioki all suffered losses.

Jorge Masvidal shut down Kitaoka’s takedowns en route to a second-round technical knockout win, and Polish battler Mamed Khalidov punched his way into the top 10 rankings by knocking out Santiago with a wild hammerfist from his back. Meanwhile, Michihiro Omigawa received a befuddling split decision nod over Hioki, which dropped the submission specialist five spots in the featherweight rankings.

Fighters also earning victories on the card, which aired live on HDNet, included Kazunori Yokota (decision over Eiji Mistuoka), Marlon Sandro (first-round knockout against Yuji Hoshino), Dave Herman (first-round KO over Jim York), Akihiro Gono (decision over Yoon Young Kim) and Stanislav Nedkov (decision over Kevin Randleman).

The show may have been Sengoku’s last. Reports emerged late in the week that the promotion was gong to cancel its New Year’s Eve event that was supposed to compete with Fighting and Entertainment Group’s traditional “Dynamite!!” network television special. Sengoku officials this week canceled a press conference for the Dec. 31 event. The promotion has struggled to draw appreciable crowds for its shows and has only limited late-night exposure on TV-Tokyo, which is not a major network.

More robust than the rumors of its demise were reports that Sengoku was going to cooperate with FEG to help stack a 19-fight lineup for New Year’s Eve. Sengoku planned to unveil 2008 Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii in a bout with Hidehiko Yoshida at its show. “Dynamite!! Power of Courage 2009” currently lacks a viable MMA main event that would draw television ratings.