Mizuto Hirota upset Sengoku lightweight champ Satoru Kitaoka in the main event of Sengoku 9 on Sunday in Saitama, Japan, using a barrage of knees on the ground to force the referee to intervene in the fourth round to become the promotion’s new lightweight title-holder.

Hatsu Hioki defeated Masanori Kanehara by unanimous decision in the first featherweight grand prix semifinal, but Hioki was unable to continue in the tournament due to a concussion suffered in the opening bout and was replaced by Kanehara. In the second semifinal contest, Michihiro Omigawa defeated Marlon Sandro by questionable “must decide” decision after the judge’s initially scored the fight a majority draw (30-30, 30-30, 30-29 Sandro).

Kanehara was crowned Sengoku’s first-ever featherweight champion by edging Omigawa by split decision in the grand prix final.

In other notable action, Kazuo Misaki scored a first-round submission of Kazuhiro Nakamura, Blagoi Ivanov, who defeated Fedor Emelianenko at the 2008 World Combat Sambo Championships, won his MMA debut by split decision, and fan-favorite Akihiro Gono suffered a third-round head kick knockout.

The official results for Sengoku 9 (Sengoku Ninth Battle) were:

• Mizuto Hirota def. Satoru Kitaoka (c) via TKO (strikes) — Round 4, 2:50
  Sengoku Lightweight Championship
• Masanori Kanehara def. Michihiro Omigawa via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29 [Must Decision: Omigawa])
  Featherweight GP Final/Sengoku Featherweight Championship
• Kazuo Misaki def. Kazuhiro Nakamura via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 1, 3:03
• Blagoi Ivanov def. Kazuyuki Fujita via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-29 [Must Decision: Ivanov])
• Dan Hornbuckle def. Akihiro Gono via knockout (kick) — Round 3, 2:50
• Eiji Mitsuoka def. Clay Franch via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 1, 1:51
• Yoshihiro Nakao def. Mu Bae Choi via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-28, 30-29)
• Chan Sung Jung def. Matt Jaggers via submission (triangle choke) — Round 2, 1:25
  Featherweight GP Reserve bout
• Michihiro Omigawa def. Marlon Sandro via split decision (29-30, 30-30 [Must Decision: Omigawa], 30-30 [Must Decision: Omigawa])
  Featherweight GP Semifinal
• Hatsu Hioki def. Masanori Kanehara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-28)
  Featherweight GP Semifinal
• Ikuo Usuda def. Koji Ando via unanimous decision (20-19, 20-20 [Must Decision: Usuda], 20-19)
  Lightweight “Gold Cup” Final
• Ryosuke Komori def. Takeshi Numajiri via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 3:25
  Bantamweight “Gold Cup” Final
• Shigeki Osawa def. Toru Harai via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 4:24
  Featherweight “Gold Cup” Final

Pictured: Mizuto Hirota

Tags: Akihiro Gono, Blagoi Ivanov, Chan Sung Jung, Clay French, Dan Hornbuckle, Eiji Mitsuoka, Hatsu Hioki, Ikuo Usuda, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Kazuo Misaki, Kazuyuki Fujita, Koji Ando, Marlon Sandro, Masanori Kanehara, Matt Jaggers, Michihiro Omigawa, Mizuto Hirota, Mu Bae Choi, Ryosuke Komori, Satoru Kitaoka, Shigeki Osawa, Takeshi Numajiri, Toru Harai, Yoshihiro Nakao