The event will air on HDNet in North America and will now feature a light heavyweight contest between Chang Seob Lee and Kazuo Takahashi and a lightweight scrap pitting Brian Cobb (pictured left) against Kazunori Yokota.
Lee started his career slowly, losing four of his first five fights. Recently, however, he has won two of his last three, both by knockout. Standing only 5-foot-8, the stout light heavyweight is coming off a first-round technical knockout loss to Hiroshi Izumi at Sengoku Raiden Championship 13 in June.
A veteran of 56 fights, Takahashi is coming off six straight losses. The 41-year-old was part of the original crop of Pancrase fighters and has fought such names as Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock and Masakatsu Funaki. Spending the vast majority of his career in Japan, “Yoshiki” also fought in Pride, losing to Heath Herring, Igor Vovchanchyn and Vitor Belfort in his three fights with the organization. After taking nearly a two-year break, Takahashi returned to the ring in May, suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Antony Rea.
Cobb is a UFC veteran and former Palace Fighting Championship lightweight champion. Cobb started his career in the Gladiator Challenge organization, winning six of his first eight bouts. After moving on and winning the PFC lightweight title, he defended the strap twice before he was signed by the UFC and forced to relinquish the belt. His one and only fight in the UFC occurred at UFC 95 in 2009. “The Bandit” was knocked out by a Terry Etim high kick in the second round. He submitted Jonny Carson at Fight For Wrestling 2 in August.
His opponent, Yokota, is coming off a loss against stiff competition, as he fell to Tatsuya Kawajiri at K-1 Dynamite on New Year’s Eve. The Deep veteran went 6-1 during his time with that organization, also recording two draws. Having fought in Japan his entire career, Yokota signed with WVR in 2008 and has lost only once in Sengoku competition.
The bouts join the eight previously announced fights, giving the event a total of 10. Also featured are the four quarter-final matchups in Sengoku’s 20-man Asian bantamweight grand prix and the two semi-finals of the welterweight tournament. Rounding out the lineup is a contest between Maximo Blanco and Leonardo Santos.
Maximo
Blanco vs. Leonardo
Santos
Keita
Nakamura vs. Takuya
Wada
Yasubey
Enomoto vs. Taisuke
Okuno
Brian
Cobb vs. Kazunori
Yokota
Chang
Seob Lee vs. Kazuo
Takahashi
James
Zikic vs. Hiroshi
Izumi
Manabu
Inoue vs. Jae Hyun
So
Akitoshi
Tamura vs. Shoko
Sato
Shunichi
Shimizu vs. Wataru
Takahashi
Shintaro
Ishiwatari vs. Taiyo
Nakahara