(Taisuke Okuno vs. Ryo Chonan. Fight starts at the 1:30 mark. Props: DJSexStyle via MiddleEasy)

Some highlights from today's stoppage-heavy Sengoku show. Above, Ryo Chonan gets put to bed in just 19 seconds. After the jump: The brief but ferocious slugfest between Yoshiro Maeda and Masanori Kanehara, which ended in an unfortunate early stoppage, and the welterweight GP final match between Keita Nakamura and Yasubey Enomoto.

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Spoilers after the jump to protect your delicate feelings. Click through for full fight results and a rundown of some notable moments from today's World Victory Road: Soul of Fight event at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. Videos to come.

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Tomorrow's year-ending Sengoku event in Tokyo may be short on gross mismatches, public executions, gender/rule-bending stunt fights, and Bob Sapp, but the card makes up for it in matches that are actually competitive and relevant. "Soul of Fight" will present a staggering 28 bouts of MMA and kickboxing; you can check out the full lineup at the end of this post. HDNet will be airing the bouts in a two-part series on January 14th and 21st, but we'll try to post videos of the best fights as soon as we can. Here's a few you might be seeing...  

Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki (for Sengoku Featherweight Championship)
Soul of Fight's main event is easily the most important featherweight bout possible outside of the WEC. Since debuting in Sengoku last March, reigning champion Marlon Sandro has become one of the most vicious knockout artists in all of MMA, dispatching his last three opponents in a combined fight time of 3:20. In his last fight, the Nova Uniao standout starched Masanori Kanehara in 38 seconds to win World Victory Road's featherweight strap. Hioki, who is the reigning 143-pound champ of Shooto, might be the last elite-level challenge that Sandro will find in Japan, and brings an Aoki-esque grappling style that's as creative as it is aggressive.

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Thompson, the reigning welterweight champion of the all-but-defunct BodogFIGHT organization, fought for the first Sengoku show in March and defeated DEEP veteran Fabricio Monteiro via unanimous decision. The win came just a month after a first-round submission victory over John Troyer at a February BodogFIGHT event. Thompson’s current win streak began after an April 2006 loss to Karo Parisyan at UFC 59. Thompson owns a 1-1 career record in the organization.

Sengoku III is expected to be headlined by highly ranked lightweight Takanori Gomi, though his opponent hasn’t been finalized.

NT: My weight is a little higher than I would like but I am in great shape otherwise. I had trouble shaking a few nagging injuries while prepping for my last few fights so this is the healthiest I have been in quit a while – though there are still five weeks of hard training during which I could easily much that up, lol.

NT: I am unable to train in the gi very often because I am always training for fights. As such, I am still a white belt. As for the Sasquatch Open, I had a fight scheduled and had to withdraw from the Open. I was bummed because I wanted to compete and on top of that, the fight was ultimately canceled anyway.

NT: I feel comfortable at 170 and plan to stay there. I like picking on smaller people.

NT: Fedor

NT: None of them. Each loss inspires me to train harder than any win ever could. I do have to say that I would like to rematch [Yushin] Okami only because I sustained a fluke injury during the fight and never really found out who was the better fighter.

NT: It seemed like it would be funny…and it was but I damn near had a heart attack in the ring. I think the chances of it happening again are slim and none, lol.

PhyteGuru: If we happened to see you at a club and we had a few extra pennies in our pocket, what kind a drink could we buy you?

NT: I drink maybe four times a year but when I do, I like dark beers. A Christmas ale is always nice. Or during Christmas, egg nog and brandy is a tasty little treat.

NT: Two more weeks and I am done!

NT: I am married and the wife frowns upon me having girlfriends so I couldn’t give that answer anyway. If I had to pick one, I would go with Alba I guess though I think there are a lot prettier celebs than any of those three. Maybe there should be a “none of the above” answer or “other”. In fact, I recant my earlier answer and choose “other” with my write-in being Selma Hayek.

NT: I would like to thank my wife, family, my training partners at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy and my strength and conditioning coaches at Athletic Performance Institute. Mixed martial arts may be an individual sport but it requires the dedication of a team of people, both at home and the gym, to get the fighter ready. Lastly, I would like to thank TKO Warehouse and TapouT for helping me to afford gas…which is becoming increasingly more difficult.