Sengoku: Ninth Battle featured a popular name and face around the Chicagoland area, and that man was Dan “The Handler” Hornbuckle.   Hornbuckle took on PRIDE and UFC vet Akihiro Gono, which was Hornbuckle’s second fight with Sengoku.

The fight started as both fighters exchanged kicks and punches, with Hornbuckle winning on the majority of the exchanges.  He controlled the pace of the fight and even utilized legal in Japan footstomps to the head of the downed opponent Akihiro Gono.

Winning rounds 1 and 2, at 2 minutes and 50 seconds of the third round, Hornbuckle landed a head kick that will be on his highlight reel forever, and one of the knockouts of the year in all MMA.

Event Results:
1 Ryosuke Komori def Takeshi Numajiri TKO (Punch) 1 3:25
2 Shigeki Osawa def Toru Harai TKO (Punches) 1 4:24
3 Ikuo Usuda Koji def Ando Decision (Unanimous) 2 5:00
4 Yoshihiro Nakao def Mu Bae Choi Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
5 Hatsu Hioki def Masanori Kanehara Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
6 Michihiro Omigawa def Marlon Sandro Decision (Split) 3 5:00
7 Chan Sung Jung def Matt Jaggers Submission (Triangle Choke) 2 1:25
8 Eiji Mitsuoka def Clay French Submission (Guillotine Choke) 1 1:51
9 Dan Hornbuckle def Akihiro Gono KO (Head Kick) 3 2:50
10 Blagoi Ivanov def Kazuyuki Fujita Decision (Split) 3 5:00
11 Kazuo Misaki def Kazuhiro Nakamura Technical Submission (Guillotine Choke) 1 3:03
12 Masanori Kanehara def Michihiro Omigawa Decision (Split) 3 5:00
13 Mizuto Hirota def Satoru Kitaoka TKO (Knees) 4 2:50