After his brilliant Shooto world title defense against Yuki Shoujou in March, "BJ" will be in action July 19 for pro Shooto action against a yet-to-be-named opponent. Shooto promoters haven't announced whether Kojima's 123-pound world title will be at stake.
2. Mamoru Yamaguchi (20-5-3)
Continuing his foray into the striking world, the former two-division Shooto world champion will return to Shoot Boxing on June 1. His next stand-up test will be Shoot Boxing's top-ranked 125-pound fighter, Naguranchun Masa M16.
3. Yuki Shoujou (8-5-2)
He fought valiantly, but there was little for Shoujou to do in his March 20 Shooto world title challenge against Shinichi "BJ" Kojima. The champion was in rare form, dominating Shoujou before choking him out cold in the third frame.
4. Yasuhiro Urushitani (15-4-6)
Quickly looking to atone for his shocking September loss to Shoujou, Urushitani got back into action and picked up an easy victory on Nov. 8, as he hacked open an overmatched Kiyotaka Shimizu for a first-round stoppage at Cage Force.
5. Ryuichi Miki (9-2-3)
The 26-year-old Miki continued his ascent in the flyweight division on April 10, as he put a 15-minute, lopsided beating on veteran Junji Ikoma. This figures to move Miki along toward a potential Shooto 123-pound title challenge.
6. Rambaa Somdet (6-2)
A nagging neck injury nixed Somdet's scheduled PFC flyweight title bout with unbeaten Pat Runez on Jan. 22. Now Somdet will sit on the shelf recovering until he's ready to challenge the winner of the makeshift title bout between Runez and the man Somdet beat, Ulysses Gomez.
7. Jesse Taitano (4-3-2)
The Guam-based Taitano made the most out of his Jan. 18 trip to Japan, fighting to a draw with Shooto world champion Shinichi Kojima in a non-title affair.
8. Daniel Otero (6-1-1)
The former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion has yet to see action in 2009. He’s healing his injuries after a successful tour of the Midwest netted him a pair of entertaining victories over Josh Rave and Sam Thao in 2008.
9. Alexis Vila (5-0)
Arguably the hottest prospect in the flyweight division, the 1996 Olympic freestyle wrestling bronze medalist racked up his fifth career win in February, corking Ben Nguyen in the second round.
10. Masaaki Sugawara (7-3-1)
Sugawara had a disappointing outcome when his March bout with veteran Daiji Takahashi was declared a draw. The rangy brawler will get the chance to atone for the tie on July 19, when he meets Yasuhiro Akagi.
Other contenders: John Dodson, Jucie Formiga, Junji Ikoma, Pat Runez, Sam Thao.