Sengoku announced about participation of Kevin Randleman and Big Jim York on Apr 3. Today, Apr 4, Sengoku announced a fight of Yuki Sasaki vs Jorge Santiago in GRABAKA gym. In this press conference, Kikuta, Gono, Yokota and Fukuda showed up.Sasaki is one of great fighters who supported GRABAKA since being founded. He has leadership and is very cool guy. He is one of the top middleweight fighters in Japan who fought in SHOOTO, PANCRASE and the UFC. Sasaki was supposed to fight Santiago last Nov in the middleweight tournament of StrikeForce, although, he couldn't pass a medical check by California Athletic Commission and its fight was canceled.
Sasaki: When I first saw Santiago, I had an instinct of fighting him someday. I was disappointed that I couldn't fight him in StrikeForce last year, although, I'm glad to have this opportunity in Sengoku. I don't want to be defeated by anybody, especially a fighter who belongs to a big team such as American Top Team.
Kikuta: Sasaki is a total fighter who has good ground and standing techniques. He hadn't had chances fighting in any big events in Japan before. I'm appreciative of getting an offer from Sengoku. I hope he does his best.
Gono: He is a guy who everybody rely on, and gives us good advice. He is like Bustamante in BTT. He didn't have good chances in his past. He has a lot of potential and I hope he will be a top fighter starting from this event.
Fukuda: I have my fight in May and train together. I hope he has his fight.
Yokota: His ground technique is the top level in GRABAKA. I hope he prove himself and win.
3 comments:
I really hope that SOMEHOW Sengoku and DREAM can merge or work together because both have such great fighters that I'd hate to see Japanese MMA split like this after the whole PRIDE debacle. It kills me! Especially since no org seems to have any desire to promote to Americans: no american commentators; no tv or PPV deals in America, etc.
It really sucks... :(
Why wasn't Sasaki cleared by the CSAC?
I would love to see Sengoku and Dream do a duel fight card. They really do have great fighters in both leagues. Maybe with the mainstreaming of MMA in America, other countries will take notice.
-mmainsidernews.com
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