According to the fights listed on the SRC website, Taisuke Okuno will stepping in for Dan Hornbuckle against Ryo Chonan. As was recently pointed out by our dear friend Deo Wade, Dan Honebackle is influenza Hornbuckle has the flu. Well, Taisuke Okuno is healthy and available to fight.

We last saw Okuno on Halloween, as he dropped a decision to Yasubey Enomoto in the semifinals of SRC's Welterweight Grand Prix. Hey, it set up an Enomoto/K-Taro final, we can't be mad at him for it. Before that, Okuno played the lead role in the feature film "Goodnight Nick Thompson." Who knocked out Thompson before that? Dan Hornbuckle. See how these things work? Okuno's bout against Thompson is after the jump, because I enjoyed the fight then and I enjoy the fight now.

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In not-so-shocking news, we have a big fight announcement for the upcoming New Year's Eve shows in Japan, and it involves Buakaw Por. Pramuk taking on the K-1 MAX Japan runner-up Hiroki Nakajima in a 70kgs battle. What is shocking? That the fight will not take place under any FEG banner, be it K-1, DREAM or Dynamite!!, instead he will be fighting in the Sengoku card in a kickboxing bout.

Buakaw has been on rocky terms with FEG and was not invited back to participate in the K-1 World MAX tournament this year. That, of course, was K-1's official reply to Buakaw not being involved, as Buakaw and his camp have made it clear that they were incredibly displeased with FEG over the past few years. Buakaw was a dominant MAX fighter that the company treated like a burden as opposed to their champion, which drove one of the world's best fighters away from K-1 MAX and in the process damaged their credibility.

Now we look to New Year's Eve, where Dynamite!! can no longer expect support from TBS and the fledgling Sengoku that FEG reached out to, like a condescending big brother, to help out, is looking healthier and stronger than FEG going into the home stretch. Adding Buakaw vs. Nakajima gives Sengoku's kickboxing portion of their giant martial arts festival an air of legitimacy. We have reached an age where K-1 MAX fighters opt to fight for the competition, for a promise of less money, knowing that they will be paid the money owed to them and be in a better atmosphere.

Ouch.

If I were to tell you that Japan and America were very different, you'd probably laugh and comment that yes, of course they are. When it comes to MMA they are no different, as Japan is seen as a birthplace of sorts for modern MMA, with America as the place that MMA has made its home in the past ten years with no end in sight. In the past year or so, the talk of Japan's differences has heated up as former PRIDE stars haven't always fared as well in America as they did in PRIDE, and current Japanese superstars like Shinya Aoki and Gegard Mousasi disappointing in dominant losses on American soil within the past year. One of the key differences, though? Athletic commissions. 

In the United States, there are athletic commissions involved, which set rules and sanction bouts. Athletic commissions are in place for many things, one of the big reasons is for fighters' safety when they are competing. It came out in a recent interview with Kazuo Misaki that he injured his ankle and required shots of painkillers so that he could compete. To no one's shock, this has yet to really be addressed as in Japan, there are no athletic commissions to monitor or test the athletes. It isn't clear from here what Misaki had injected into him or what sort of advantage it would give him in a fight, but regardless that would not fly in the US. There has been some debate over the use of Cortisone shots in MMA, and it is plausible that is what Misaki used here, but that could compromise Misaki's safety if his ankle was further injured. 

In an interview from 2007, NSAC's Keith Kizer discusses why many drugs that are not steroids are tested for, and why they are considered illegal.

In the past, the main reason steroids is illegal or prohibited, just like marijuana, just like alcohol, just like aspirin to take before a fight is because it puts the athlete at risk. It's a danger to him. For example, aspirin can cause you to bleed into your brain. Obviously marijuana and alcohol can change your reflexes, slow them down, so you can get injured, or it could numb the pain so you don't realize you're hurt. That's why we don't let fighters, for example, to have cortisone shots into their back or into their hand before they fight because they can not realize they're hurt and they keep fighting and the next thing you know they're permanently damaged.

Since this happened in Japan, Misaki did absolutely nothing illegal or even wrong, according to the rules, but this should raise some serious questions and start some discussion as to what the hell goes on in Japan and how they might need to look to the future and emerge from the dark ages. They need to begin worrying about the health of their fighters, and I say this after we heard that Kazushi Sakuraba will most likely be competing at DREAM.16 against Mayhem Miller. No US athletic commission would license Sakuraba at this point, I believe.

SBN coverage of Sengoku Raiden Championship 14

Sengoku 14 delivered with an action-packed card from the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday. The card was filled with upsets, knockouts, submissions, groin shots, and a main event for the ages.

In said main event, Sengoku middleweight champion, Jorge Santiago, defended his title in a five round classic against former PRIDE tournament champion, Kazuo Misaki. Misaki controlled the first round with takedowns, ground control, and some strikes from top position, much like he did in their first fight back in January of 2009. In the second round, Misaki locked in a near fight-ending guillotine choke, but Santiago was able to barely escape. That round clearly belonged to Misaki. The third frame saw Santiago land a high kick that floored Misaki and put the challenger is serious peril. "The Grabaka Hitman" dug down deep and made it out as the fight continued. The fourth round was nothing short of incredible as Misaki dropped Santiago and nearly finished him with strikes. The desperate champion hung on but was docked a point by the referee after slipping through the ropes to avoid strikes. In the last thirty seconds, the American Top Team product dropped Misaki yet again but it didn't do enough to save him from what looked to be a 10-7 round with the point deduction. Santiago needed a big round 5 to win this fight and retain his championship and that's exactly what he got. He quickly scored a takedown and continued to pulverize Misaki with strikes upon strikes until, with only 29 seconds remaining, Misaki's corner threw in the towel and Santiago had his hand raised in victory. If Misaki was able to hold on for another 30 seconds, Santiago could have very well forced a must-decision win with a dominant fifth round. In my humble opinion, this is the leading candidate for fight of the year. If you don't believe me, see for yourself.

Watch the main event and get full results from the card after the jump.

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If you were planning on staying up late, you might as well do it with style and catch SRC 14 live on HDNet at 2am Eastern in the US. The show is headlined by Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki for the SRC Middleweight tite, which should be an incredible bout. Card from NOB.

SRC Middleweight Title Fight (5×5 mins)
11. Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki

Single Fight (3×5 mins)
10. LW: Akihiro Gono vs. Jadamba Narantungalag
09. FW: Hatsu Hioki vs. Jeff Lawson
08. LW: Leonardo Santos vs. Sotaro Yamada

SRC Welterweight GP Series 2010 Block B (3×5 mins)
07. Taisuke "Gouten" Okuno vs. Nick Thompson
06. Kenta Takagi vs. Yasubey Enomoto

SRC Welterweight GP Series 2010 Reserve Fight (3×5 mins)
05. Motoki Miyazawa vs. Takuya Sato

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament 2010 2nd Round (2×5 mins)
04. Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Kil Woo Lee
03. Shoko Sato vs. Takuya Eizumi
02. Wataru Takahashi vs. Tatsuya So
01. Jae Hyun So vs. Hirokazu Nishimura

The sumo world was one scandal away from imploding, and then it happened. Gambling, yakuza, lost television deals and more have been the headlines over the past few weeks for the world of sumo, with the future looking bleak for one of Japan's time honored traditions. So, in a nice change of pace, recently retired Asashoryu has seemingly entered the world of MMA. NOB discusses the newly-formed team in brief;

Asashoryu has formed his own MMA team called Team Asashoryu and sent Jadamba, who is part of the team, to SRC. WVR have talked with Asahoryu (I believe WVR frontman Mukai traveled to meet with Asashoryu) and he will be present at Jadamba’s fight.

The MMA world has been trying to get a grip on Asashoryu for quite a while now, and while it still isn't certain if he'll himself step into the ring, having his name associated with SRC is a huge boost for them for the time being. The money right now is just on Asashoryu focusing on management of Mongolian fighters. The fighter he is "sending" to SRC is Jadamba Narantungalag, a K-1 MAX and DREAM veteran, who will face off with Akihiro Gono who is apparently dropping to 155 lbs for the first time in his career.

Prologue

After a 3 month hiatus, SRC is finally back to put on it's 2nd show of the year. I think it's understatement to say that SRC has flown almost completely off the radar this year. A change in direction saw Takahiro Kokuho removed as Sengoku's Public Relations Director. Kind of irrelevant changes that shouldn't impact the in-ring product but when you consider the fact that Kokuho is in charge of a management company called J-Rock that's when it becomes a big deal. J-Rock manages Baseball players, Formula 1 drivers, J-Pop bands and most of Yoshida Dojo's talent including the man himself, Hidehiko Yoshida.

The reason I bring this up is because logically one would think that Yoshida, who recently retired in April, would have considered having his farewell bout under the SRC banner. His only home since the demise of PRIDE. Incorrect. Holding a grudge like a county judge, Kokuho took the show elsewhere. ASTRA was only a one time event and was only available on PPV but whose attendance (supposedly) passed the 12,000+ mark.

SRC had pulled a Colonel Cargill and succeeded in failing. For those not familiar with Joseph Heller's masterpiece Catch 22, Colonel Cargill was a marketing executive who excelled in failure and was actually hired to do so. SRC definitely dropped the ball by not assuring themselves that they would be able to host Yoshida's retirement. On more than 1 occasion, there have been shows where SRC doesn't announce attendance. Not because they have the inability to add large (in this case, small) numbers but because maybe they were just too ashamed to do so. A show like Yoshida's retirement would've been a financial success under almost any banner and SRC definitely missed out on that. But I digress way too much.

De La Preview Time!

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WVR announced an 8 man Welterweight tournament at a press conference on Friday. Two of the first round matches will take place at SRC13 while the second two take place at SRC14. 

On the June 19th SRC13 card, we'll see Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura (18-4-2) facing Omar de la Cruz (6-2). K-Taro found great success early in his career going undefeated through his first 10 fights in the GMC/Cage Force promotion. He's also fought in Shooto, the UFC and DREAM and most recently beat Tomoyoshi Iwamiya by majority decision at Cage Force 11. His opponent, Omar de la Cruz is a fourth degree Black Belt in Taekwondo and holds a brown belt in BJJ. Last year Omar appeared three times in the Bellator promotion getting to the finals of the Welterweight tournament before losing to Lyman Good. His most recent fight took place just last month when he defeated Prince McLean via TKO in C3 Fights. 

The other SRC13 Welterweight GP bout will see Takuya Wada (19-8-10) taking on Jae Sun Lee (5-5). Wada, who fights out of SK Absolute, has not been beaten in his last 9 fights. A submission win over Shiko Yamashita in Shooto was his most recent victory. Korean Jae Sun Lee has only fought twice in the past two years. Last year he appeared at Sengoku 10 losing a decision to Makoto Takimoto. 

The other round 1 GP fights will take place at SRC14 on August 14th and will include the winner of the June 5th Pancrase match between Kengo Ura/Keiichiro Yamamiya. Also participating will be KentaTakagi and Taisuke Okuno.