Sengoku Announces NYE Event, New Name

SAITAMA, Japan -- World Victory Road announced plans for a New Year’s Eve event, as well as a new name for its mixed martial arts promotion, during the course of Sengoku “Tenth Battle” on Wednesday. Dubbed Sengoku Raiden Championship, the first show under the new banner will be held on Dec. 31 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

“Raiden is a legendary man from 220 years ago,” World Victory Road General Director Takahiro Kokuho said, citing the iconic Edo period sumo wrestler. “We want to look to him and find the next Raiden, the next legend for this century.”

Though the reference corresponds with Sengoku’s ongoing feudal Japan motif, one skeptical Japanese reporter posed an interesting question: “With heavyweight talents like Antonio Silva and Josh Barnett on the roster, what happens if they are the strongest? Shouldn’t the new Raiden be a Japanese fighter?”

“I don’t mind if the new Raiden isn’t Japanese,” Kokuho said. “He can be foreign. Nationality or race shouldn’t matter.”

Kokuho said no start time has been booked for the New Year’s event and claimed the possibility exists that it could start in the evening and run into 2010. Given recent talk of Sengoku acquiring a new television deal on one of the leading major terrestrial broadcasting networks and the fact that the Sengoku Raiden Championship show will be held the same day as Fighting and Entertainment Group’s K-1 “Dynamite” event, the intriguing possibility of head-to-head competition looms.

“I am not concerned with K-1 ‘Dynamite’ being on the same day, as I’m only concerned about our event on Dec. 31,” Kokuho said. “As the last day of the year, a lot of special New Year’s Eve events such as concerts and comedy shows are held all over the nation. It’s our wish to hold the biggest MMA event on that last day of the year alongside all those other events.”