Jorge Santiago defends his title. Photo: Susumo Nagao

Japan lives and breathes MMA this Saturday, with another edition of Sengoku Raiden Championship to take place. Among the main bouts on the card, Jorge Santiago defends his middleweight belt against hometown boy Kazuo Misaki, and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Léo Santos enters the promotion’s ring for a third time, against Sotaro Yamada.

“I’m happy because I’ve been training hard and I expect another win. The idea is to make it to the top of the event. I want to win this fight and return at the end of the year, who knows? maybe for a title fight or a fight that sets me up for one,” Léo Santos told GRACIEMAG.com.

Furthermore, the event features two GP’s, one welterweight and the other bantamweight. All the fighters have already made weight and are ready for their matches.

Check out the card:

Sengoku 14
Japan
Saturday, August 21,2010

Jorge Santiago vs Kazuo Misaki
Akihiro Gono vs Jadamba Narantungalag
Hatsu Hioki vs Jeff Lawson
Leonardo Santos vs Sotaro Yamada

Welterweight GP
Nick Thompson vs Taisuke Okuno
Yasubey Enomoto vs Kenta Takagi
Motoki Miyazawa vs Takuya Sato (re serve bout)

Bantamweight GP
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs Kil Woo Lee
Shoko Sato vs Takuya Eizumi
Tatsuya So vs Wataru Takahashi
Jae Hyun So vs Hirokazu Nishimura

Marlon knocks Kanomata out with this uppercut. Photo: Daniel Herbertson (Sherdog.com)

You come from a Jiu-Jitsu background, you’re a black belt, yet you surprise everyone with knockouts. How do you explain that?

Often I try to do the opposite of what my opponent’s game is. If the guy is good on the ground, we fight standing; or if he wants to stand and trade, I take him down. But regardless, I’ve been doing a lot of standup training. Like I told you before, I don’t ever want to leave the fight in the judges’ hands (due to the only blemish on his 17-fight record). So whatever I have to do to get it over with quick, I do. Giovanni Diniz helped me with my standup and Rafael has been helping me a lot, too. We work on timing a lot to become more aware in the stand-up department.

Is your standup now better than your Jiu-Jitsu? Would you rather fight standing than on the ground?

Jiu-Jitsu will always be my main weapon, but these days I like fighting on my feet a lot. Like I said, it all depends on the fight. If I fight a striker who doesn’t know much on the ground, I’ll take him down for sure. If I’m not doing well standing, let’s go to the ground. It’s all about training a lot to increase my array of options, to know how to fight standing, takedown and fight on the ground.

What are your thoughts on your next challenge, against Masanori Kanehara, for the belt?

I was supposed to have fought Kanehara this fight and I didn’t understand why, after my win, they showed Hatsu Hioki on the screen. But, after that, Kanehara himself came up and challenged me in the ring. I think he’s a well-rounded fighter, with good standup and ground skills, is very flexible. At the end of last year, he fought Kid Yamamoto and managed two knockdowns, so it’ll be a good, tough fight. If you want to be among the best, you have to face the best. He’s the champion and I’m going to train a lot. I’m already familiar with his game and I’ll train to fight him standing. I don’t believe he’ll want to strike with me and I’ll be ready for anything.

Did Sengoku change its name?

It changed. Truth is that they grew and now it’s called Sengoku Raiden Championships, as a tribute to one of the greatest sumo wrestlers of all times.

To finish, what do you expect in the bout between your teammate Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber for the WEC featherweight belt?

Faber is a very unpredictable guy and is dangerous for it. There’s no way to know what he’s going to do. But Jose Aldo will win. Faber won’t make it past the second round. It’ll be a tough and dangerous fight and we’re training for all five rounds, but I believe Junior will get the knockout in the second round.

Check out Marlon Sandro’s latest knockout at Sengoku:

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