World Victory Road has decided to not let bygones be bygones, announcing that a once-cancelled bout between Yuki Sasaki (Pictures) and Jorge Santiago (Pictures) will take place on the May 18 Sengoku card at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.

A Sasaki-Santiago matchup was supposed to happen last November stateside as part of Strikeforce's 185-pound one-night tournament. Sasaki was nixed from the tournament at the last minute, though, due to irregularities in his MRI and MRA exams. Santiago went on to win the tournament in impressive fashion, destroying Sasaki's replacement, Sean Salmon (Pictures), before axing the ever-tough Trevor Prangley (Pictures) in the final.

The win pushed Santiago's win streak to four, which also includes stoppages of notables Jeremy Horn (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures).

Sasaki, 31, has yet to compete in '08. His last action came in the form of an easy tune-up, submitting South Korean Bo Guk So in the Deep ring in July.

WVR also announced Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures)'s participation for the June 8 Sengoku card at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, making him the first official fighter on the card.

Fujita, 37, returned to action at Sengoku's debut effort last month with an effortless 83-second submission over K-1 convert Peter Graham (Pictures). As has been the case for most of his recent fight preparations, Fujita departed for Los Angeles on Thursday. He will spend the next two months training with Marco Ruas (Pictures), who has trained "Ironhead" for his last several fights.

Last month, Takanori Gomi (Pictures) announced that he expected to return to full training in mid-April and compete on the June 8 Sengoku card, but his participation has not yet been formalized by World Victory Road.

Deep Lineup Filled with Talent

Shigeru Saeki has stacked Deep's May 19 card at Korakuen Hall.

Deep 35 Impact was already scheduled to feature a host of the promotion's best and brightest, with Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) defending his featherweight crown against Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures) and Kazunori Yokota (Pictures) defending his title against Pang Sung Hwan (Pictures). A new Deep middleweight champion was also already set to be crowned.

Now Saeki has announced that the card will feature two more current champions and two former champions as well.

In one bout, Deep's welterweight king Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) will take on journeyman Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures) in a non-title affair. Hasegawa hasn't competed since New Year's Eve, when he dropped a decision to Hayato Sakurai (Pictures). The ever-game Nagaoka also fought last in December, taking a decision over Kansai brawler Ken Hamamura (Pictures).

Deep's pint-sized princess of the 99-pound division, Satoko Shinashi (Pictures), will be on the card in a non-title affair against an undetermined opponent. The female star captured Deep's inaugural 99-pound championship in February, defeating both Fukuko Hamada (Pictures) and Sachiko Yamamoto (Pictures) to take the crown.

Announced for Deep's middleweight tournament reserve bout, former divisional champion Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures), who lost to tournament favorite Riki Fukuda (Pictures) in the opening round in February, will fight Young "Ryo" Choi, who was ousted from the bracket by Daijiro Matsui (Pictures) in a close split decision.

Saeki said that after the success of the format in February, the semifinal pairings of Deep's middleweight tournament will be done in the ring via lottery on the night of the event. The remaining fighters are Riki Fukuda (Pictures), Yuya Shirai (Pictures), Daijiro Matsui (Pictures) and Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures).

Former Deep welterweight champion Jutaro Nakao (Pictures) and Seichi Ikemoto (Pictures) will also be on the card against yet-to-be-determined opposition.

More French Flavor for May's Shooto Tradition?

With a Hayato Sakurai (Pictures)-David Baron (Pictures) bout now set for the May 3 Shooto Tradition card at the new JCB Hall, leading Shooto promoter Sustain may have its eye on another import.

Sustain is looking to bring in Baron's Haute Tension teammate Bendy Casimir for the May 3 card. Casimir's trainer, Jean-Marie Merchet, confirmed the ongoing negotiations to Sherdog.com.

The talented 27-year-old has won his last seven bouts, five of which ended by submission in the first round. However, Casimir's ability to compete on the card cannot be determined until later this month because he's set to face Andre Winner (Pictures) on Cage Warriors' April 19 card in Nottingham, England. If Casimir emerges from that bout unscathed, his May 3 fight in Shooto would likely be finalized.

Although Merchet could not confirm a potential opponent for his charge, a source close to Sustain told Sherdog.com that Yusuke Endo (Pictures) and Shinji Sasaki (Pictures) are strong candidates to meet the Frenchman if he is able to fight on the card.

Sustain is also looking to finalize a seven- or eight-fight card for the May 3 bill, with two or three Class B bouts.

Class A Shooto Welcomes Five More

Shooto Japan continues to define its new crop of talent with five more fighters now bound for Class A Shooto.

The Japanese Shooto Commission has announced the Class A promotions of Hiromasa Ogikubo (Pictures), Hiroshi Nakamura, Shinji Sasaki (Pictures), Junya Kudo (Pictures) and Taisuke Okuno. With Takuya Mori (Pictures) and Shintaro Ishiwatari (Pictures) earning promotions earlier this year, this slew of promotions brings the JSC's list of new Class A Shooto talent to seven thus far in 2008.

The unbeaten Ogikubo was Shooto's 132-pound rookie champion last year and easily the strongest of a relatively weak class of rookies across the board. The precocious Ogikubo, who just turned 21 earlier this month, won the All Japan amateur Shooto championships in 2005 at only 18 years old, echoing the accomplishment of his teammate and trainer Ryota Matsune (Pictures).

Nakamura earned his promotion the old fashioned way, through fighting tooth-and-nail through Class B Shooto. A pupil of Shooto legend Noboru Asahi, Nakamura is undefeated in his last five bouts and was granted Class A status by virtue of his upset victory over the once highly touted Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures) last month.

The super-slick Sasaki is another in a long line of Shooto lightweight products. With his only loss coming in November 2006 in that year's 154-pound rookie tournament final to Yoshihiro Koyama (Pictures), the dynamic Hiroshiman has won his last three bouts by way of submission.

Unbeaten but largely untested, Junya Kudo (Pictures) figured to spend more time in the proving grounds of Class B Shooto before being considered for promotion. However, the Kobe native punched his ticket to the big time last month with a stirring and brutal 98-second knockout of veteran Akira Kibe (Pictures) in Osaka.

The heavy-hitting Okuno, 2006's rookie runner-up at 168 pounds, earned his promotion through a spirited brawl with undefeated Aussie slugger Xavier Lucas last month in Perth, Australia, which ended in a draw. Shooto Japan's anemic 168-pound class hasn't seen a Class A promotion since December 2005, when Keita Nakamura (Pictures) was promoted following his 2005 rookie tournament win.