Bellator FC standout Jorge Masvidal (18-4) has been added to Sengoku “Eleventh Battle” against former Sengoku lightweight champion Satoru Kitaoka (25-9-9) from the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena in Tokyo, Japan on Nov. 7 according to Tapology.com.
The event will be broadcast stateside via HDNet.
Kitaoka comes off a demoralizing loss to Mizuto Hirota at Sengoku: “Ninth Battle” in his first title defense. Kitaoka tore through the competition in the Sengoku Lightweight Grand Prix last year to become the tournament winner. He rode the momentum to dispatch the floundering former PRIDE champ Takanori Gomi in less than two minutes to become the inaugural Sengoku Lightweight champion.
In his first title defense, he pressed the action in early rounds, threatening Hirota with multiple submission attempts; however, Hirota eventually turned the table, stuffing the takedown attempts from the fatigued and desperate Kitaoka before finishing him with a series of knee strikes in the fourth round.
In his first bout since the title loss, Kitaoka will face another stiff challenge in Jorge Masvidal.
“Gamebred,” who trains out of American Top Team, comes off his stint in the inaugural season of the Bellator Fighting Championship. One of the two blue-chip entrants in the Lightweight tournament, along with the eventual winner, Eddie Alvarez, Masvidal ultimately went 2-1 with victories over Nick Agallar and Eric Reynolds: In the semi-final bout, he succumbed to Toby Imada’s highlight-reel inverted triangle choke.
He has also gone 2-1 in his three previous appearances in Sengoku, with victories over Ryan Schultz and Seng Hwan Bang and controversial stoppage loss to Rodrigo Damm. In his last few fights, he has unveiled his development into a complete fighter, with improved cohesiveness of his MMA game. Against Reynolds, he picked up his first submission victory of the career to complement the 9 (T)KO finishes.