The fight card for World Victory Road's "Sengoku: Soul of Fight" event is set with the addition of two new bouts.
They include Sengoku fighter and Bellator tourney runner-up Dan Hornbuckle (22-3 MMA, 2-1 SRC) vs. DREAM welterweight Roy Chonan (18-11 MMA, 0-0 SRC), as well as top female fighter Megumi Fujii (22-1 MMA, 0-0 SRC) vs. Emi Fujino (9-4 MMA, 0-0 SRC).
The Dec. 30 event now features 15 total MMA bouts.
"Soul of Fight" takes place at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) some portion of the event, which includes an all-day martial-arts festival with additional Muay Thai and grappling matchups, is expected to air on HDNet in the U.S., though details still are being discussed. A live airing appears unlikely.
In addition to the new bouts, Sengoku officials confirmed planned participant Akihiro Gono won't compete at the show due to injuries.
Hornbuckle returns to Sengoku for the first time since a runner-up finish in Bellator's season-two welterweight tournament, where he dropped a decision to former NCAA Division I wrestling champ Ben Askren in the finale. Most recently, he fought in August and posted a decision win over UFC vet Brad Blackburn to earn entry into a deep pool of fighters in a season-four Bellator tourney that kicks off in March. He's now won seven of his past eight fights overall.
Chonan, a PRIDE and UFC vet, recently has competed for a series of Japanese organizations, including DREAM. He's won three of his past four fights, including a decision win over Andrews Nakahara at DREAM.13 in March and a TKO of Jun Hee Moon at October's big DEEP 50 event.
Fujii fights for the first time since her perfect 22-0 record was tarnished by a controversial split-decision defeat to Zoila Frausto in the finale of Bellator's season-three women's 115-pound tourney. Fujii easily made the finals after submission wins over Carla Esparza and Lisa Ward. But the submission specialist Fujii opted to stand and trade with Frausto, a striker, in the five-round fight, which may have contributed to the loss.
She looks to get back in the win column against Fujino, who opened her career with an eight-fight win streak before suffering four consecutive losses in the GCM organization. All of the Japanese fighter's losses came via decision (and to winning fighters). She recently rebounded with a 24-second submission win over Anna Saito on Nov. 28.
The official "Sengoku: Soul of Fight" card includes:
They include Sengoku fighter and Bellator tourney runner-up Dan Hornbuckle (22-3 MMA, 2-1 SRC) vs. DREAM welterweight Roy Chonan (18-11 MMA, 0-0 SRC), as well as top female fighter Megumi Fujii (22-1 MMA, 0-0 SRC) vs. Emi Fujino (9-4 MMA, 0-0 SRC).
The Dec. 30 event now features 15 total MMA bouts.
"Soul of Fight" takes place at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) some portion of the event, which includes an all-day martial-arts festival with additional Muay Thai and grappling matchups, is expected to air on HDNet in the U.S., though details still are being discussed. A live airing appears unlikely.
In addition to the new bouts, Sengoku officials confirmed planned participant Akihiro Gono won't compete at the show due to injuries.
Hornbuckle returns to Sengoku for the first time since a runner-up finish in Bellator's season-two welterweight tournament, where he dropped a decision to former NCAA Division I wrestling champ Ben Askren in the finale. Most recently, he fought in August and posted a decision win over UFC vet Brad Blackburn to earn entry into a deep pool of fighters in a season-four Bellator tourney that kicks off in March. He's now won seven of his past eight fights overall.
Chonan, a PRIDE and UFC vet, recently has competed for a series of Japanese organizations, including DREAM. He's won three of his past four fights, including a decision win over Andrews Nakahara at DREAM.13 in March and a TKO of Jun Hee Moon at October's big DEEP 50 event.
Fujii fights for the first time since her perfect 22-0 record was tarnished by a controversial split-decision defeat to Zoila Frausto in the finale of Bellator's season-three women's 115-pound tourney. Fujii easily made the finals after submission wins over Carla Esparza and Lisa Ward. But the submission specialist Fujii opted to stand and trade with Frausto, a striker, in the five-round fight, which may have contributed to the loss.
She looks to get back in the win column against Fujino, who opened her career with an eight-fight win streak before suffering four consecutive losses in the GCM organization. All of the Japanese fighter's losses came via decision (and to winning fighters). She recently rebounded with a 24-second submission win over Anna Saito on Nov. 28.
The official "Sengoku: Soul of Fight" card includes:
- Champ Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki (for featherweight title)
- Kazuo Misaki vs. Mike Seal
- Masanori Kanehara vs. Yoshiro Maeda
- Maximo Blanco vs. Won Sik Park
- Ryo Chonan vs. Dan Hornbuckle
- Mamed Khalidov vs. Yuki Sasaki
- Jadamba Narantungalag vs. Kazunori Yokota
- Dave "Pee Wee" Herman vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
- Yasubey Enomoto vs. Keita Nakamura*
- Taiyo Nakahara vs. Akitoshi Tamura+
- Manabu Inoue vs. Shunichi Shimizu+
- Megumi Fujii vs. Emi Fujino
- Mika "Hari" Harigai vs. Rin Nakai
- Hitomi Akano vs. Roxanne Modafferi
- Amy Davis vs. Misaki Takimoto
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