Also on the card, Mamed Khalidov extended his unbeaten streak to 18-straight by making quick work of Jorge Santiago, while notables Jorge Masvidal, Akihiro Gono, and Dave Herman also picked up wins.

The official Sengoku 11 results were:

• Michihiro Omigawa def. Hatsu Hioki via split decision
• Mamed Khalidov def. Jorge Santiago via TKO (strikes) — Round 1
• Jorge Masvidal def. Satoru Kitaoka via knockout (punches) — Round 2
• Tomoaki Ueyama def. Hirokazu “Bull” Konno via technical submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1
• Kazunori Yokota def. Eiji Mitsuaoka via unanimous decision
• Stanislov Nedkov def. Kevin Randleman via split decision
• Akihiro Gono def. Yoon Young Kim via unanimous decision
• Marlon Sandro def. Yuji Hoshino via knockout (punches) – Round 1
• Dave Herman def. Jim York via knockout (kicks) – Round 1
• Ronnie Mann def. Shigeki Osawa via unanimous decision
• Ryota Uozomi def. Yuichiro Yajima via submission (armbar) – Round 1

The official weigh-in results for the HDNet-televised event, which is headlined by Hatsu Hioki vs. Michihiro Omigawa, were:

• Hatsu Hioki (143.1) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (143.1)
• Jorge Santiago (183) vs. Mamed Khalidov (181.7)
• Satoru Kitaoka (154.3) vs. Jorge Masvidal (154.3)
• Kazunori Yokota (153.7) vs. Eiji Mitsuoka (154.3)
• Kevin Randleman (203) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (203.9)
• Akihiro Gono (167.6) vs. Yoon Young Kim (167.1)
• Marlon Sandro (143.3) vs. Yuji Hoshino (143.3)
• Dave Herman (239.6) vs. Jim York (256.4)
• Shigeki Osawa (142.9 vs. Ronnie Mann (142.4)
• Yuichiro Yajima (125.2) vs. Ryota Uozomi (124.8)
• Hirokazu “Bull” Konno (142.9) vs. Tomoaki Ueyama (142.6)

Stop back tomorrow morning for results from Sengoku 11 and stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest Sengoku news.

Pictured: Michihiro Omigawa

• Former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman will look to get back in the win column after losing to Mike Whitehead at a June Strikeforce event, facing off against undefeated Stanislav Nedkov at Sengoku 11. [MMAJunkie]
• DEEP’s “45th Impact” will include a “Guam vs. Japan” format which will include Guam champions Justin Cruz (140 lbs) and Roque Martinez (Heavyweight). Cruz’s opponents could either be DEEP featherweight champion Takafumi Otsuka or bantamweight champion Masakazu Iminari, since he normally fights between those weights. Martinez’s opponent will likely be Yusuke Kawaguchi if he wins his upcoming bout against Seigo Mizuguchi. The event is scheduled to take place in December. [BloodyElbow]
• .Cage Force will be holding an October 25th event featuring Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Daisuke Hoshino and Tetsu “Hadairo” Suzuki vs. Isao Terada, among other contests.[BloodyElbow]
• Former Sengoku Lightweight Champion Satoru Kitaoka will face off against Bellator semi-finalist Jorge Masvidal at WVR’s Sengoku 11 on November 7.[Tapology]
• Following his Korean giant Hong Man Choi’s victory over Jose Canseco in the opening round of the Dream Super Hulk Tournament, US basketball star (and MMA fan) Shaquille O’Neal expressed interest in facing off against the 7-2 Choi, after his basketball career had ended. Prior to his bout Tuesday against Ikuhisa Minowa at Dream 11, MMAFanhouse asked Choi if he was open to that match up, to which he responded, “Yes, if there is a chance.” It would be no surprise if FEG promoted this fight for one of it’s Dream events, once Shaq does leave the NBA.

Pictured: Kevin Randleman

Twelve other fighters scheduled to compete in non-tourmament bouts at the event also made weight.

The official weigh-in results for Bellator XI were:

• 155 tournament final: Eddie Alvarez (155) vs. Toby Imada (154.25)
• 185 tournament final: Hector Lombard (184.5) vs. Jared Hess (184.25)
• 145: Sami Aziz (145.5) vs. Fabio Mello (145.75)
• 160: Jorge Masvidal (159) vs. Eric Reynolds (159.5)
• 170: Josh Martin (170.25) vs. Sergio Morais (168.5)
• 125: Valerie Coolbough (124.25) vs. Rosie Sexton (123.25)
• 150: Troy Gerhart (151.5) vs. Luis Palomino (149)
• 145: Stefanie Guimaraes (144) vs. Yvonne Reis (146.5)

[Pictured: Eddie Alvarez]

[HT: Fightlinker]

Tony Imada Submits Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5

First, the event’s official results, including a “Submission of the Year” candidate in Tony Imada’s standing inverted triangle choke of Jorge Masvidal (pictured at right):

Lightweight Semifinals:

• 155: Eddie Alvarez def. Eric Reynolds via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 1:30
• 155: Toby Imada def. Jorge Masvidal via technical submission (inverted triangle choke) — Round 3, 3:22

Non-Tournament Bouts:

• 265: Dave Herman def. Josh Barnes via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 4:46
• 265: Joey Beltran def. Sherman Pendergarst via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 2:24
• 265: Dan Evensen def. Raoul Romero via submission (strikes) — Round 2, 1:44
• 145: Matt Jaggers def. Pete Dominguez via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 4:03
• 117: Jessica Pene def. Tammie Schneider via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 1:35
• 170:  Justin Edwards def. John Troyer via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 1, 3:12
• 155: Waylon Lowe def. Frank Carabello via unanimous decision

Also, long-time MMAFrenzy.com reader DBiz sent in his recap of the card after attending the event at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio:

First off, it’s important to note that the weather took a turn for the crappy today. Lots of rain and hydroplaning up the highway. That may account for the poor attendance. I would like to think so, seeing the quality of the card.

First fight of the night was Frank Carabello and Waylon Lowe in a lightweight contest. Carabello was the Ohio connection in this fight and the crowd seemed to be behind him for that. Unfortunately, that was the best thing he had going for him. Lowe, quite brutally honestly, bull rushed Carabello at will. And once on the ground, he laid on him very successfully. Carabello was never in any danger, either to win or to be KOed or submitted. Unanimous 30-27 decision for Lowe.

Next up are welterweights John Troyer and Justin Edwards. The first minute was intense, with both fighters just letting the gloves fly. Referee Greg Franklin (brother of Rich) had a hard time keeping up there. Edwards put Troyer on his back with a brutal slam and won the fight at 3:12 in the first by guillotine choke.

Next up was Tammy Schneider vs. Jessica Pene. Weighing in at a stiff 117 lbs, both ladies appeared game coming into the cage. Schneider started the first with some good strikes, but Pene escaped and took her back. The fight ends quickly thereafter by TKO due to strikes. Pene improves to 6-0.

Featherweights Pete Dominguez and Matt Jaggers take over the cage. To start this fight, both managed some good jabs and leg kicks before Jaggers took Dominguez down with a throw, coming to rest in mount. Dominguez gave up his back and fought off multiple attempts for a rear naked and a series of strikes. In the end, Jaggers managed to secure the choke for another first round finish.

The big boys come out to play next. Dan Evensen, weighing in at a svelte 252 met up with Rauol Romero who tipped the scales at 222. Both fighters came out throwing the high heat. Two minutes into the first, Evensen appeared gassed. His takedown resulted in Romero using the cage to come back to the feet. After eating a couple of good strikes, Romero grabbed Evensen’s leg and whipped him down. Transition to mount and a few punches later the round ended. Score card guru bsbiz says split round for Evensen.

The second round started with a slow take down and the Boo Birds descended from the rafters. Evensen took his time moving from half guard to side control and finally to mount. After several hard strikes, the ref dove in to stop the fight, TKO :44 into the second round.

Bsbiz and I immediately took a liking to one of our next heavyweights: Sherman Pendergarst. The name just rolls off the tongue. His opponent was Joey Beltran.

Here I must point out that someone needs to work on nicknames. Sherman “Tank” Pendergarst was taking on Joey “The Mexecutioner” Beltran. That is too wrestling for me.

This was a slow fight. Almost unbearably so. The first minute and change was a series of sloppy nothings from both sides. Finally Beltran landed a nice 4-punch combo, a couple of open palm slaps, and finally a big right to put Pendergarst down. A few solid strikes later, the fight is called TKO at 2:44 in the first.

Big noise for heavyweights Josh Barnes and Dave Herman. Both were relatively local, but Herman had the larger following. The first round opened with a vengeance. Wild punches, kicks, and knees from both men made the Boo Birds a distant memory. As Barnes began to Gas, Herman wrapped up a muay thai clinch and…a low knee. Time out while Barnes huddled in the corner recovering.

When the fight resumed, Herman resumed right where he left off with crisp strikes and a flying knee that barely missed. Finally a solid knee to the chin put Barnes down and Herman finished him with strikes in the first.

Finally, the meat of the evening’s activates: The Bellator Lightweight tournament semi final matches. In the first, Toby Imada took on Jorge Masvidal. The first thing we noticed was a size difference. Masvidal looked very tall compared to Imada and it showed throughout the fight. The fight began with a feeling out period: 3 cautious leg kicks in the first 45 seconds. After that, Masvidal did a great job at using his reach to keep Imada out and unable to do damage. Masvidal got a good take down but Imada fought back to his feet. Imada landed an inside and an outside leg kick in rapid succession and round 1 drew to a close.

In the second Imada looked fresh still, with great head movement in avoiding Masvidal’s wicked left jab. In spite of good movement, he can’t seem to get inside on Masvidal to do any damage. After a series of left jabs, it looked as if Imada may have had a cut opened over his right eye. Round two drew to a close after more back-and-forth action.

Imada opened the third with a couple of solid rights but Masvidal countered with his reach and a nice high kick. After taking a knee, Imada landed a low blow uppercut and was sent to a neutral side while Masvidal recovered. Masvidal went back to work on Imada’s eye with his left jab before Imada tried to take his back. The fight ended with a TKO when Imada choked out Masvidal with a backwards triangle.

Finally, Eddie Alvarez took on Eric Reynolds. Strangely, both fighters weighed in at 157.5 lbs. I suppose Bellator had no choice but to make it a lightweight semi final since both weighed in the same and no one wanted to drop half the remaining fighters.

From the opening horn, Alvarez controlled the fight with a simple plan: strike his way in and take Reynolds down. Reynolds had excellent defense, fighting off strikes with a knack for climbing up the cage to free himself. The round ends with little visible damage to either fighter.

In the second, Alvarez again took Reynolds down and we were treated to a look at Alvarez’s ground offense and Reynolds’ rather impressive ground defense. As soon as Alvarez took his back, Reynolds was able to reach back and hold his leg to give himself a chance to scramble back to his feet. Alvarez immediately planted Reynolds with a slam and proceeded to mount where he landed some big shots.

Reynolds was able to buck Alvarez out of mount, but it was a quick move to side control and then to Reynolds’ back. The round ended with Alvarez attempting an arm triangle.

At the beginning of the third, Alvarez took Reynolds down where Reynolds latched on a body triangle. Alvarez postured up and landed some shots. When Reynolds loosened his hold, Alvarez took the back and finished the fight at 1:30 in the third with a rear naked choke.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest Bellator news and results.

Gina Carano

• Eddie Alvarez, Jorge Masvidal, and Dave Herman will be the featured fighters for Bellator’s fifth event on May 1st in Dayton, Ohio. Complete Bellator lineups are available in the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.
• Former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho will be moving up to light heavyweight to compete at DREAM 9 on May 26th in Japan against an opponent to be named. [Tatame]
• Conor Huen, who last week appeared on MTV’s Bully Beatdown, is likely to fight at Strikeforce’s June 6th event in St. Louis. [MMA Junkie]
• Seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and DREAM welterweight grand prix participant Andre Galvao will soon make his Strikeforce debut. [MMA Junkie]
• Kim Couture and Miesha Tate will square off in a 135-pound women’s bout at ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers 1 on May 15th in Fresno, California.
• Daiki Hata has been forced out of the DREAM featherweight quarterfinals due to an eye injury and will be replaced by Hideo Tokoro, who he defeated in the grand prix’s opening round. DREAM also announced this week the matchups for the quarterfinals, which feature Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Joe Warren, Bibiano Fernandes vs. Masakazu Imanari, Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hiroyuki Takaya, and Abel Cullum vs. Hideo Tokoro.
• Tim Sylvia’ and Ray Mercer’s scheduled boxing headliner for Adrenaline MMA’s third event in Alabama will take place in an MMA cage. [MMA Junkie]
• Charles “Mask” Lewis, the co-founder of TapouT who recent died in a car accident, was free of drugs and alcohol at the time of the wreck. [OC Register]
• Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz drew an official attendace of 15,211 to the HP Pavilion in San Jose on Saturday for a live gate pegged unofficially at $750,000.
• Benji Radach suffered a “shattered” right hand in his Saturday Strikeforce loss to Scott Smith and underwent surgery immediately following the fight to repair the damage. [MMA Junkie]
• The highly-anticipated women’s fight between Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos is likely to take place in August in Strikeforce with the winner being crowned the promotion’s first-ever  female champion.
• As expected, Kevin Randleman has officially signed with Strikeforce and will soon make his debut of the promotion.
• A light heavyweight bout pitting Travis Wiuff against Stanislav Nedkov has been added to Sengoku Eighth Battle on May 2nd in Japan.
• The WEC is considering holding a future event in Ohio. [Dayton Daily News]

Eddie Alvarez

Jorge Masvidal, Eddie Alvarez, and Tony Imada advanced to the second round of the Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight tournament on Friday with victories at the promotion’s debut event in Hollywood, Florida.

The event took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and will premiere tonight in primetime on ESPN Deportes.

Three featherweights also advanced to the quarterfinals of the 145-pound tournament on Friday, with Yahir Reyes, Joe Soto, and Estevan Payan picking up victories on the card.

The promotion’s next event takes place on Friday, April 10 in Uncasville, Connecticut and features the conclusions of the opening rounds of the lightweight and featherweight tournaments as well as the beginning of the welterweight tourney and a handful of non-tournament action.

The event’s complete results were:

LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT (opening round)

• Jorge Masvidal def. Nick Agallar via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 1:19
• Eddie Alvarez def. Greg Loughran via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 1, 2:44
• Toby Imada def. Alonzo Martinez via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 3:26

FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT (opening round)

• Yahir Reyes def. Nick Gonzalez via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 2:11
• Joe Soto def. Ben Greer via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 3:40
• Estevan Payan def. Luis Palomino via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

NON-TOURNAMENT BOUTS

• Jonathan Brookins def. Stephen Ledbetter via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 3:32
• Lorenzo Borgomeo def. Daniel Morales via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 3:46
• James Brasco def. Kevin Abrante via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 2:14
• Moses Gabon def. Chris Decaro via submission (triangle choke) — Round 1, 1:33
• Gary Padilla def. Daniel Sarafian via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:04

ESPN is reportedly in the planning stages for a series that would tape in the spring and feature featherweight, lightweight, and middleweight fighters in a format similar to “The Contender”, a boxing reality series that previously aired on ESPN.

The show would reportedly debut on the network in April 2009.

The UFC’s “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series is currently the only major MMA reality series and is currently airing its eight season, however that status is likely to change in 2009 when Affliction debuts its new series “Fight Fedor” and the WEC likely debuts a series focusing and featweight and bantamweight fighters.

Potential fighters for the series include Hector Lombard, Dave Herman, Jorge Masvidal, and Eddie Alvarez.

The opening round of the promotion’s middleweight grand prix is now set as UFC and PRIDE veteran Kazuhiro Nakamura will meet Paul Cahoon in the first round and Jorge Santiago will take on Logan Clark. Previously announced for the tournament were Yuki Kondo vs. Yuki Sasaki and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Siyar Bahadurzada.

World Victory Road also announced that Jiu-Jitsu world champion Xande Ribeiro will make his mixed martial arts debut against professional wrestler Takashi Sugiura at Sengoku 5.

IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz faces Jorge Masvidal at the September 28th event and Roger Gracie will also be in action against an opponent to-be-determined.

The current fight card features:

• Takashi Sugiura vs Xande Ribeiro
• Ryan Schultz vs Jorge Masvidal
• Roger Gracie vs. TBD
• Kazuhiro Nakamura vs Paul Cahoon
  Middleweight GP Series 2008 1st Round
• Jorge Santiago vs Logan Clark
  Middleweight GP Series 2008 1st Round
• Yuki Kondo vs Yuki Sasaki
  Middleweight GP Series 2008 1st Round
• Evangelista Cyborg vs Siyar Bahadurzada
  Middleweight GP Series 2008 1st Round