World Victory Road (WVR) was a Japanese

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The organization was formed in 2007 following the purchase of

PRIDE FC PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

Zuffa TKO Operating Company, LLC (TKO OpCo), doing business as Zuffa (), 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 I ...

. 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 or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

and pay-per-view in Japan, and on

HDNet AXS TV () is an American specialty television, cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to Music television, music-related programming (such as concert films, Document ...

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 sumo wrestler. Although used to define all wrestlers participating in sumo wrestling matches, the term is more commonly used to refer to professional wrestlers, employed by the Japan Sumo Association, who par ...

'',

Raiden Tameemon Raiden Tameemon (雷電爲右衞門), born Seki Tarōkichi (January 1767 – 11 February, 1825), was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Tōmi, Nagano Prefecture. He is considered one of the greatest '' rikishi'' in history, although he was never prom ...

. 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 Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia * Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, G ...

, 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 sensation (psychology), 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 ...

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

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 arts, 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 (fighter), Jim York, Wesley Correi ...

– Former

PRIDE Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

fighter *

Sanae Kikuta is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 1996, he has competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Pancrase, DREAM, World Victory Road, DEEP, Shooto, and V ...

– Former ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion *

Hidehiko Yoshida is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Light Heavyweight (MMA), middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight (MMA), heavy ...

– 1992 Judo Olympic Gold Medalist -78 kg *

Kazuo Misaki Kazuo Misaki (, born April 25, 1976) is a retired Japanese professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 until 2013, he was the 2006 PRIDE Welterweight (183 lbs) Grand Prix Champion, and also competed in Sengoku, Pancr ...

– 2006 PRIDE Welterweight Grand Prix winner *

Makoto Takimoto is a Japanese retired judoka and mixed martial artist from Nihon University. He won a gold medal at the Half Middleweight category of the 2000 Summer Olympics. __TOC__ Judo career Takimoto was relatively unknown entering the 2000 Summer Olymp ...

– 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 wrestl ...

– Sengoku Lightweight Grand Prix and former Lightweight champion *

Hatsu Hioki (, born July 18, 1983) is a Japanese former professional mixed martial artist competing in the featherweight division. He is the former Shooto Lightweight Champion, Sengoku Featherweight Champion, and TKO Featherweight Champion. Hioki is a lon ...

– Current TKO Featherweight Champion *

Satoshi Ishii is a Japanese-Croatian retired Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional boxer and judoka who has held Croatian citizenship since 2019. Ishii won the gold medal in Judo at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Judo at the Beijing ...

– 2008 Olympic Judo Gold Medalist +99 kg *

Eiji Mitsuoka is a retired Japanese professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 until 2012, Mitsuoka fought for the UFC, DREAM, World Victory Road, PRIDE, Shooto, Cage Force, DEEP and King of the Cage promotions. Mitsuoka's ni ...

– Former

fighter *

Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestling, freestyle wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one-time GHC Heavyweight Championship ...

– Former

fighter *

− 2008 Judo Olympic Gold Medalist +100 kg *

Muhammed Lawal Muhammed Lawal (born January 11, 1981), also known as "King Mo", is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. As a mixed martial artist, he is a former Strikeforc ...

– a.k.a. King Mo Former

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II Champion, 2004 U.S. Olympic alternate -84 kg *

Kevin Randleman Kevin Christopher Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist, amateur and professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he ...

– Former UFC Heavyweight Champion *

Travis Wiuff Travis Wiuff (born March 15, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist competing in the Heavyweight (MMA), Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2001 and List of mixed martial artists with the most sanctioned fights, veteran of o ...

–

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 198 ...

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 wrestler, professional wrestler, and color commentator. Barnett previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the y ...

– former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

heavyweight champion,

veteran *

Jeff Monson Oregon State Beavers Jeffrey William Monson (born January 18, 1971) is an American-born Russian mixed martial artist, boxer, and submission grappler who competes primarily in the heavyweight division. A professional com ...

– 2005 –99 kg ADCC champion * Dave Herman – Elite XC, and Bellator veteran *

Logan Clark Logan Thomas Clark (born February 16, 1985, in Rochester, Minnesota) is an American professional mixed martial artist who has fought in the UFC and has also competed for the World Extreme Cagefighting and World Victory Road. Biography and figh ...

–

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 Decem ...

Heavyweight Champion *

Xande Ribeiro Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro (born January 20, 1981) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler. He is a two-time World Black Belt Absolute (open weight) World Jiu-Jitsu Champion, five-time World Black Bel ...

– 2007 –99 kg ADCC champion *

Antonio Braga Neto Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

– 2008 World Jiu-Jitsu Gold Medalist *

Evangelista Santos Evangelista Santos ( born December 12, 1977) is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. A professional from 1997 until 2016, Santos competed for Strikeforce, Bellator MMA, the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, International Vale Tudo Ch ...

– Former

fighter *

Chan Sung Jung Jung Chan-sung (; born March 17, 1987), anglicized as Chan Sung Jung and better known by his ring name The Korean Zombie, is a South Korean former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Figh ...

– 2007 Pancrase Korea Neo-Blood Tournament Champion *

Mu Bae Choi Choi Mu-bae (, born June 27, 1970), often anglicised to Mu-bae Choi, is a South Korean former Heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and professional mixed martial artist. A professional since 2004, he has competed for World Victory Road, the ...

– 1990

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

-100 kg

Greco-Roman Wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (Euro-English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been i ...

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 the 1996 Olympic Champion in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, winning those titles in the 95 kg weigh ...

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

Mamed Khalidov Mamed Khalidov ( rus, Мамед Магомедович Халидов, Mamed Magomedovich Khalidov, mɐˈmʲɛt maɣɔmʲɛdɔvʲit͡ʂ xɐˈlʲidəf; ; born 17 July 1980) is a Polish mixed martial artist. He is best known for competing in the ...

– KSW champion,

veteran *

Stanislav Nedkov Stanislav Nedkov (, born December 9, 1981) is a Bulgarian professional mixed martial artist, political scientist and philosopher. A professional since 2006, he has formerly competed for the UFC, World Victory Road, and Pancrase. Background Nedk ...

– Bulgarian jiu jitsu champion * Blagoi Ivanov – 2008 World Sambo champion, +99 kg *

Badr Hari Badr Hari (Arabic: بدر هاري; born 8 December 1984) is a Moroccan-Dutch professional kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter. Born in Amsterdam, Hari made his professional kickboxing debut in 2000, and quickly rose to fame with his aggressive and ...

− K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 & 2009 Finalist * Maximo Blanco -2007 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist, Lightweight King of Pancrase and current

fighter.

References

External links

Sengoku Official site
{{MMA organizations Defunct mixed martial arts promotions 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