In the first installment of our Sengoku VIII preview, I focused on the Featherweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal matchups which include bouts between Hatsu Hioki and Ronnie Mann, Kanehara vs. Jung, Sandro vs. Denis, and Phan vs. Omigawa. In our last installment, we'll focus mainly on the non-tournament bouts and some of the implications each bout has on the overall landscape of the Japanese MMA scene.

Kazunori Yokota (8-2-3) vs. Leonardo Santos (6-2): This is apparently the title eliminator bout at Lightweight, and the winner will take on Satoru Kitaoka for the Sengoku Lightweight crown at Sengoku's tenth event in August.

Santos is probably more well-known for pulling off a flying armbar on Georges St. Pierre in grappling competition than his actual MMA career among casual fans, but he's been on a tear recently. His only losses were early in his career in a "fed to the wolves" scenario against upper level competition in Takanori Gomi and Jean Silva. After taking roughly a year off after the loss to Jean Silva, Santos has won five straight bouts, four of those being finished in the first round.

Santos also has a highly touted training camp in Nova Uniao. Fellow team members include Jose Aldo, Waggney Fabiano, Marcos Galvao, Thales Leites, Vitor Ribeiro, and Marlon Sandro. He also happens to be Fabiano's brother.

Yokota has a solid record, and he's beaten some staple Japanese fighters in his career. He lacks the finishing power to defeat upper-echelon talent, but he's definitely a guy who can hang with some of the best. His last bout was a decision loss to Satoru Kitaoka at Sengoku VI.

Don't expect Yokota to win this won with a pretty finish. It's more than likely that Santos' recent tear through the MMA competition in Brazil is a result of his hard training and having the experience of a very well known team surrounding him. Santos could very well be the real deal, and he could give Kitaoka a challenge if he ends up winning here. I'll go with Santos via submission.

Alexandre "Xande" Ribeiro (1-0) vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya (34-23-9): This should be a squash match to highlight Ribeiro's unbelievable jiu-jitsu background. He's the current open-weight World Jiu-Jitsu champion and heavyweight Jiu-Jitsu champion, but he also has a laundry list of credentials with a plethora of World Jiu-Jitsu championships, Pan-American Brazilian Championships, Grappler's Quest Championships, and notably was the first man to submit Jeff Monson.

Yamamiya is a PANCRASE veteran with some solid wins heading into this bout. In his last 4 bouts, he went 3-1 with wins over Yuki Kondo, Hiromitsu Kanehara, and Ryo Kawamura. He lost his last matchup against Ryo Kawamura at Pancrase - Shining 8. He's definitely a guy who's susceptible to the submission, so this should be a tough matchup for him. He does have the ability to hang with some of the better fighters in the sport however, so he could eek out a decision here, but I'm more inclined to believe Ribeiro can win this one.

Makoto Takimoto (4-5) vs. Michael Costa (9-4): Takimoto is one of those guys who  has a strong strength of record, but glancing at his record, you wouldn't immediately believe he can pull a win off here. He has some solid wins over Dong Sik Yoon, Murilo Bustamante, and Zelg Galesic. He doesn't present impressive finishing power, so he'll rely on his Judo background to put this to the floor and keep Costa off balance.

Costa comes out of Brazil, has a solid jiu-jitsu background, but he's also fairly good with his hands. He rocked Nick Thompson in his last matchup, which was a bit surprising, but he ended up caving to a kimura attempt in that fight. Costa has the chops to win here via his jiu-jitsu, but we may seem some surprising striking as well. This should be a fairly even matchup pitting judo vs. jiu-jitsu.

Travis Wiuff (54-12) vs. Stanislav Nedkov (5-0): For a light heavyweight, Travis Wiuff sometimes looks like a vintage Mark Coleman in terms of mass and muscle-ridden. He uses his wrestling to topple opponents and muster out decisions or pound you to a pulp. He's had some impressive wins recently with a run of 9 wins in his last 10 bouts.

Nedkov is an up-and-comer out of Bulgaria. At 5-0, he's mostly combined solid takedown abilities with wrestling to defeat opponents. He has the power to end fights, and this should be his toughest test to date. According to some information spread over the Internet, Nedkov is actually a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt along with a wrestling champion in Bulgaria. I'm more inclined to go with Wiuff here due to his experience, but Nedkov is likely a sleeper pick here.

Maximo "Makishi" Blanco (2-1-1) vs. Akihiko Mori (6-6-1): Blanco is a work in progress. At 2-1-1, he hasn't lived up to much of the hype that has been pressed on him as being a World Victory Road Lightweight prospect for the future. He has the athleticism to be a very solid fighter as he improves, but he hasn't shown it to the fullest of his abilities yet. His claim to fame comes from a third place finish in wrestling at the 2007 Pan-American Games in the 163 lb. weight class. He has absolutely brutal power, almost pulling off a "Rampage" slam against Yuki Yashima, but collided heads when he slammed him. It ended the bout in a no contest.

Mori is the perfect opponent to hype Blanco. He isn't a finisher, and he's definitely susceptible to being overcome with power. Look for Blanco to put on a raw display of terror in this matchup

Shigeki Osawa (2-0) vs. Kota Ishibashi (0-3): Osawa is one of WVR's Featherweight prospects. Another product of Yoshida Dojo much like Blanco, he's a very highly-touted wrestler winning the All Japan Wrestling Championships as a senior in high school. He went on to win the All Japan University Wrestling Championships in college and has won various other tournaments along the way. He has a lot of hype surrounding him due to his age and wrestling ability, and he'll be heading into this bout at 2-0.

This looks like a squash match to highlight Osawa much like Blanco's matchup. Ishibashi went 0-3 in his MMA career, and while still green in the sport, I believe Osawa can use his wrestling ability to overpower Ishibashi and pull out a victory here.

Hirotoshi Saito (2-1-1) vs. Yoshitaka Abe (2-2-1): Pancrase veteran vs. ZST veteran. I'll go with Abe for the simple fact that he can finish bouts via submission, and Saito has yet to show the ability to finish a single bout. I haven't seen either fight, so I'm unsure as to how this will go down.

Overall Analysis

There aren't many incredible matchups on the non-tournament portion of this card, but there are plenty of matchups to showcase some of the potential superstars of the future. Both Santos and Ribeiro are top notch grapplers, and they can both be scary on the floor. Keep an eye on both guys as they'll likely be making waves in their respective weight classes. Ribeiro is an unbelievable grappler for a Light Heavyweight.

Costa vs. Takimoto is a very even matchup, and could determine if the promotion maintains either man. Look out for Costa's jiu-jitsu abilities, and don't sleep on that pick. Blanco and Osawa will showcase their wrestling pedigree, but don't blink during Blanco's fight. He has massive power for a featherweight, and I'm sure the WEC will be looking in on him from time to time.

Finally, I'm very interested to see how well Nedkov can do against Wiuff. It's an interesting idea to bring in the Bulgarian as they aren't known for having highly successful athletes in the sport just yet. Ivanov is the only man most MMA fans have even heard of due to his win over Fedor at the Sambo championships. Perhaps, Nedkov can make a name for himself with a win over Wiuff.

HDNet will air this event LIVE at 12:00 AM Pacific Time, so join the Night Crew here along with Chris Nelson for the live blog. Happy viewing!