Sengoku 11 Buzz: Drowned out in a Strikeforce Weekend

World Victory Road’s “Sengoku 11″ event takes place this Saturday in Tokyo, Japan featuring a main event pitting featherweights Hatsu Hioki and Michihiro Omigawa. Unfortunately, with the majority of focus on Strikeforce’s CBS card, the Sengoku event stands to be overlooked by most North American fans. The lack of star power and the difficulty of marketing an event that airs in the middle of the night will result in Sengoku 11 continuing to be relegated to second tier status in the states.

Sengoku has consistently focused on sport over spectacle for its shows, and as a result has become a favorite of serious MMA fans. Main event participant Hatsu Hioki is a grappling prodigy that has gone undefeated in his run with the promotion and may be capable of taking on some of the elite competitors globally in his weight class. As evidenced by Hioki’s buzz ranking of 465 among MMA fighters, however, Sengoku has a marketing problem in the U.S. that it has thus far been unable to solve. Co-main event participant Jorge Santiago currently generates the most buzz among U.S. fans, ranking 186th in the most recent rankings.

With 11 bouts on this weekend’s card that are difficult to rank or prioritize in their importance, it may be time for Sengoku to consider adopting a more Americanized style of building an event. A focus on establishing legitimate champions in each of its weight classes and having one high-profile title defense per event may go a long way in drawing in more fans and interest. Rather than dispersing attention among 11 different fights, focusing the U.S. marketing on a single title fight would help give Sengoku an identity for the fans to recognize and remember. Until then, Sengoku will continue to put on great fights for the hardcore American fans yet remain drowned out by promotions like Strikeforce and the UFC.