5/2 Sengoku 8 - Takimoto Fighting Costa

Sengoku have announced 3 fight for Sengoku 8 over the last few days, this event will take place in the Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium.

So far it looks like it should be a very good event, it will feature the 2nd round fights of the featherweight GP. But there have been some interesting additions outside the GP over the last couple of days.

The latest announcement is that Makoto Takimoto will be fighting at welterweight, and competing for a place in the Sengoku welterweight GP that is to be held later this year. His opponent will be Chute Boxe's Michael Costa. As for other fighters in the Sengoku welterweight GP, fighters mentioned where: Josh Thompson, Mike Pyle and Fabricio Monteiro.

Of course Sengoku would like to see stars like Ryo Chonan and Akihiro Gono to return to Japan. As faith has it, I have a feeling both, but Ryo Chonan in particular is on his way out of the UFC... Maybe they would like to keep him now...

Previously it was announced that grappling star Leonardo Santos will take on Kazunori Yokota in a lightweight fight that should determine the #1 conternder for Kitaoka's belt. Kitaoka on his had is set to fight for the Pancrase belt in June.

Another grappling star returning is Xande Ribeiro. He will take on Pancrase Super-veteran Keiichiro Yamamiya, Yamamiya was the first Pancrase Light-Heavyweight champion. His last fight was a Pancrase title fight in October, a loss to Ryo Kawamura. He will be a tricky opponent for Ribeiro as he is very hard to get to the ground.

Non-Tournament:
Welter: Makoto Takimoto vs. Michael Costa
Light: Kazunori Yokota vs. Leonardo Santos
Light-Heavy: Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Xande Ribeiro

Featherweight GP 2nd Round Participants:
Jung Chan Sung 3-0-0
Masanori Kanehara 12-5-5
Marlon Sandro 13-0-0
Michihiro Omigawa 5-7-1
Nam Phan 15-5-0
Hatsu Hioki 18-3-2
Ronnie Mann 17-1-1
Nick Denis 7-0-0