World Victory Road (WVR) is a defunct

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

(MMA) organization which promoted the Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) in

. The organization was formed in 2007 following the purchase of PRIDE FC by

Zuffa Zuffa, LLC () is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta to be the parent entity of ...

. It operated in conjunction with the Japan Mixed Martial Arts Federation (JMM). The Sengoku championship was broadcast on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

and pay-per-view in Japan, and on

HDNet AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat sport ...

in United States. Beginning with the December 31 show, Sengoku was known as Sengoku Raiden Championship. "Raiden" means "thunder and lightning" and refers to legendary 18th century ''

rikishi A , or, more colloquially, , is a professional sumo wrestler. follow and live by the centuries-old rules of the sumo profession, with most coming from Japan, the only country where sumo is practiced professionally. Participation in official t ...

'', Raiden Tameemon. WVR exec Kokuho said they hoped the initials "SRC" will be more palatable to international audiences. On March 12, 2011, it was reported that Don Quijote, a Japanese discount store chain serving as the primary sponsor of the promotion, had ceased all funding to WVR. That same day, WVR officials issued a press release stating that, barring the sudden emergence of a new primary sponsor, the promotion was effectively finished.

Broadcast

The promotion received a boost in visibility in their endeavor to compete with

DREAM A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

when it reached a broadcast agreement for

to televise matches in Japan. It was significant given the fact that this is the first MMA promotion to be televised on the network since it dropped PRIDE FC from its lineup in mid-2006. The events will be shown live on Fuji TV 739 and then a two-hour version later in the night on Fuji TV. On February 6, 2009,

announced they had reached and agreement with WVR to broadcast its Sengoku-events in America starting March 20, 2009.

Rules

WVR's rules differ somewhat from the Mixed martial arts rules#Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Among the differences are the allowance of knees and stomps to the head of downed opponent while elbows to the head and soccer kicks are prohibited.
Similar to the Unified Rules, fights have three rounds each lasting five minutes.

Sengoku events

Notable fighters

Final champions

Notable fighters

Yoshihiro Nakao (born June 25, 1972) is a Japanese semi-retired professional mixed martial artist and former K-1 kickboxer and PRIDE FC fighter who has defeated the likes of Don Frye, Choi Mu-Bae, Jim York, Wesley Correira and Edson Draggo. Nakao is a Wor ...

– Former

PRIDE Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) w ...

fighter * Sanae Kikuta – Former ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion *

Hidehiko Yoshida is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight divisions. He won gold at the 1992 Summe ...

– 1992 Judo Olympic Gold Medalist -78 kg * Kazuo Misaki – 2006 PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix winner * Makoto Takimoto – 2000 Judo -81 kg Olympic Gold Medalist *

Satoru Kitaoka , is a Japanese shoot wrestler and mixed martial artist who most recently competed for RIZIN. A professional competitor since 2000, he has also competed for DREAM, Pancrase, DEEP, and World Victory Road. Kitaoka is renowned for his catch wrest ...

– Sengoku Lightweight Grand Prix and former Lightweight champion * Hatsu Hioki – Current TKO Featherweight Champion * Satoshi Ishii – 2008 Olympic Judo Gold Medalist +99 kg * Eiji Mitsuoka – Former

fighter *

Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and a former amateur wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He has most recently fought in Road FC, but is also known fo ...

– Former

fighter * Satoshi Ishii − 2008 Judo Olympic Gold Medalist +100 kg *

Muhammed Lawal Oklahoma State Cowboys Central Oklahoma Bronchos Muhammed Lawal (born January 11, 1981), also known as "King Mo", is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to Major League Wr ...

– a.k.a. King Mo Former

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

Division II Champion, 2004 U.S. Olympic alternate -84 kg * Kevin Randleman – Former UFC Heavyweight Champion * Travis Wiuff –

YAMMA Pit Fighting Robert "Bob" Meyrowitz is the co-creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background In 1973, Meyrowitz was a founder of D.I.R. Broadcasting and a creator of the syndicated radio series, the King Biscuit Flower Hour. In the late 19 ...

Heavyweight Tournament Champion * Nick Thompson – Former BodogFight welterweight champion *

Josh Barnett Joshua Lawrence Barnett (born November 10, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist, submission grappler, professional wrestler and color commentator currently signed to Bellator MMA, where he competes in their Heavyweight division. Barnett p ...

– former UFC heavyweight champion,

veteran * Jeff Monson – 2005 –99 kg ADCC champion * Dave Herman – Elite XC, and Bellator veteran * Logan Clark – UFC and WEC veteran * Antônio Silva – Last

EliteXC Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decemb ...

Heavyweight Champion * Xande Ribeiro – 2007 –99 kg ADCC champion * Antonio Braga Neto – 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Gold Medalist * Evangelista Santos – Former

fighter *

Chan Sung Jung Jung Chan-sung ( ko, 정찬성; born March 17, 1987), anglicized as Chan Sung Jung and better known by his ring name The Korean Zombie, is a South Korean professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He currently competes in the Featherweig ...

– 2007 Pancrase Korea Neo-Blood Tournament Champion * Mu Bae Choi – 1990

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

-100 kg

Greco-Roman Wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling ( Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mo ...

Medalist *

Paweł Nastula Paweł Marcin Nastula (born 26 June 1970) is a Polish judoka and mixed martial artist. He was the 1995 and 1997 Judo World Champion, and 1996 gold medallist at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, winning those titles in the U9 ...

– 1995 and 1997 Judo World Champion, 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist, -99 kg * Mamed Khalidov – KSW champion,

veteran * Stanislav Nedkov – Bulgarian jiu jitsu champion * Blagoi Ivanov – 2008 World Sambo champion, +99 kg * Badr Hari − K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 & 2009 Finalist * Maximo Blanco -2007 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist, Lightweight King of Pancrase and current UFC fighter.

References

External links

Sengoku Official site
{{MMA organizations Mixed martial arts organizations Mixed martial arts in Japan Sports organizations of Japan 2007 establishments in Japan Sports organizations established in 2007 2011 disestablishments in Japan Organizations disestablished in 2011