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When World Victory Road abandoned their own NYE card to join forces with FEG/DREAM for Dynamite!! 2009 it seemed as if Sengoku’s days were coming to end. Well, apparently not because Nightmare of Battle is passing along overseas reports that suggest WVR is currently mapping out their 2010 Sengoku Raiden Championships schedule of events.

NikkanSports writes that WVR announced that their next event will be held on March 7th at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. They are also planning to hold events in July and November and it looks like they want Ishii to return on the July event.

WVR director Inemura revealed that they are currently looking into holding 5 events in 2010 (would probably be March, April, July, September, and November).

According to another report NOB mentioned, there’s actually a possibility that a third promotion will emerge in Japan as well the possibility that DREAM and SRC will join forces.

Also, Hidehiko Yoshida plans to return for a retirement fight. The question is, for who? Sengoku would like to book him in a rematch with Satoshi Ishii, but since he’s a free agent they’ll have to compete with DREAM to sign him.

It will be interesting to see how the landscape of Japanese MMA looks at the end of 2010 because it sounds like it may go through a few changes this year.

FieLDS Dynamite!! 2009 took place earlier this morning in Saitama, Japan. Fight videos above with short recap and results below.

When fans try to predict the next mixed martial arts promotion to fail, the conversation usually centers around Strikeforce. While there’s no evidence to suggest Strikeforce isn’t healthy still, there is an organization overseas that appears to be on its last legs.

Videos via Cagewriter

Results after the jump.

If you didn’t catch any of yesterday’s Sengoku Ninth Battle event, you at least need to watch this. Dan Hornbuckle brutally KO’d Akihiro Gono with a right head kick. Pretty sweet, at least right up until the point when you realize Gono might be seriously injured or worse. Gono had to be removed from the ring on a stretcher with head and neck injuries, but as bad as it looked the good news is he’s OK and is expected to make a full recovery.

As for the rest of the event, let’s just say it was one of those shows where nothing seemed to go according to plan. Satoru Kitaoka lost his first lightweight title defense. Misaki-Nakamura was billed as a middleweight number one contender’s bout. Misaki won but won’t get the middleweight title shot nor a paycheck because of his legal troubles outside the ring. The finals of the FWGP couldn’t have been more confusing. The two fighters who advanced to the final match didn’t necessarily deserve to be there. Michihiro Omigawa arguably should have lost his decision win over Marlon Sandro while Masanori Kanehara actually did lose his semi-final match. The fighter who beat Kanehara, Hatsu Hioki, suffered a concussion and was unable to continue, so you would think the reserve bout winner would get the spot. Nope, for some reason Sengoku officials passed over Chan Sung Jung who won the reserve bout and gave Kanehara the final spot instead.

In other Sengoku news, Satoshi Ishii announced his MMA debut for Sengoku’s 11/7 show. Hidehiko Yoshida is believed to be the front runner for his first opponent. Josh Barnett is also expected to be fighting on that card. And last but not least, Sengoku is the latest organization to enter the Fedor Emelianenko sweepstakes.

The Satoshi Ishii sweepstakes are finally over.

Despite his previous proclamation to sign with the UFC, Satoshi Ishii has instead elected to fight in Japan for World Victory Road’s Sengoku promotion.

A press conference was held in Tokyo today, announcing that 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo, Satoshi Ishii, has signed with World Victory Road to fight in their SENGOKU event. No debut date was announced but he is expected to debut within the year. This is easily the biggest signing of the year and a HUGE signing for WVR.

Update #1: Ishii has signed for more than one fight. He has signed a provisional contract and on Thursday he will sign the real contract at an open to fans contract signing event in Japan.

Update #3: Ishii said that his decision to debut in Japan came after discussions with various people in the U.S., Japan, and Brazil. Also, e-mails and letters from fans and his University classmates showing respect towards him made him feel that he wants to fight in front of such people in Japan. He also wants to show his grandmother a match since she might not live much longer.

Ishii explained that he chose Sengoku because he respects the organization and they have fighters such as Josh Barnett and fellow judokas Yoshida, Takimoto, and Nakumura.

Definitely a huge signing for Sengoku.

Nothing about this seems right.

Now, it appears Ishii might have re-considered his deal with FEG. In a recent interview with the media following UFC 94, UFC president Dana White confirmed that while he had indeed signed Ishii to a deal, he was unsure if the Japanese star would fulfill it.

“The thing is this: the kid’s sitting on a lottery ticket right now,” said White. “He’s being offered millions of dollars in Japan. They want him. He has to make a decision whether he wants to take the lottery ticket or come over here and work his way up and try to become the best.”

“If he does it the right way with us, he’ll be a superstar in Japan. It’s a much better deal for him than going in and getting executed by guys who have been fighting for a long time…because they need to make a fight right now so they can survive. See, Dream—needs him. I don’t. I want him.”

So, the UFC has signed Satoshi Ishii to one of their infamous iron-clad contracts, yet if Ishii changes his mind and decides he’d rather fight for FEG in Japan, he’s free to go? Nothing about that sounds right.

Is Dana mellowing out?

Well, I doubt it, but there must be some reasonable explanation why he’s willing to let such a highly sought after prospect as Ishii go free if he wants. As Fightlinker pointed out, maybe they don’t want to damage their perception in Japan any further by getting into a legal battle with their hometown hero.

Who knows, but whatever it is, something tells me there’s more to this story than Dana’s letting on.

I never could figure Satoshi Ishii out.

Nightmare of Battle found this great footage from a Japanese TV channel of Satoshi Ishii’s visit to Las Vegas at UFC 92. Ishii trains a little with Stephan Bonnar at the Ultimate Fighter set, and later with Randy at Xtreme Couture. Randy seems to have a high opinion of him, so perhaps we’ll be seeing a new contender in the heavyweight division down the line. I’m still a little skeptical, but I thought the same thing about Brock Lesnar, so who knows.

Satoshi Ishii made the rounds this weekend at UFC 92 meeting Dana White and Randy Couture. According to MMA Fighting, White suggested to Ishii to start training at either Xtreme Couture or AKA (surprisingly), however, when Ishii asked about Russia (he was considering Fedor’s Red Devil team), White (not surprisingly) told him, “If you are serious about MMA, Russia is not the place you should go.” White also offered Ishii the opportunity to be a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter. Wouldn’t that be a dirty trick. Give up millions for peanuts on a worn-out reality show.

Reality show or not, it definitely looks like the UFC is making a move for Ishii considering they issued this press release announcing they’re in “exclusive negotiations.”

Earlier this month, Mr. Ishii decided that he wished to start his MMA career in the United States, and that his dream was to fight in the UFC. He made his choice to negotiate with UFC last night after watching UFC 92.

“I was impressed with the training programs here in Las Vegas and the UFC event,” said Mr. Ishii. “I am looking forward to working with the UFC and to developing my mixed martial arts skills.”

“Satoshi Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial arts,” said Dana White, UFC President. “We can’t wait to start working with Mr. Ishii, we look forward to helping him with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in a professional fight.”

Zach Arnold thinks the UFC is trying to send K-1 a message. I can’t say I disagree. Can you remember the last time the UFC issued a press release just to announce they’re negotiating with someone? I can’t.

Images courtesy of Kamipro & Suki MMA