Former EliteXC Heavyweight Champion Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (12-1 / American Top Team) is scheduled to return to the ring at World Victory Road's tenth Sengoku event on September 23rd, according to a post on Sengoku's official site. Silva was suspended last July by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for the steroid Boldenone following his title fight with Justin Eilers. The Brazilian lost a lengthy appeal process, and in the meantime has fought only one bout, defeating "Kiss" Nakao by fluke TKO at Sengoku No Ran in January.

Along with Silva, two other fighters have been added to Sengoku X: UFC veteran Joe Doerksen (42-12 / Team Extreme) and former IFL champ Ryan Schultz (20-11-1 / Team Quest). The journeyman Doerksen will look to extend his current win streak to four, while Schultz will end a year-long hiatus following two brutal KO losses.

Currently, no opponents have been announced for the three fighters.

Sengoku also released the final card and bout order for Sengoku IX on August 2nd. The Kitaoka-Hirota lightweight title fight will be the main event, with the Featherweight Grand Prix final pulling semi-main status. It appears the Sengoku Gold Cup finals - all of which should be great - won't be televised, but hopefully they'll make it onto SENGOKU-G! in the coming weeks.

Sengoku IX
August 2, 2009
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan

Opening Bouts

Don Quijote presents Sengoku Gold Cup Finals

01 - Sengoku Gold Cup Bantamweight (60kg) Final (2R x 5 min.)
Takeshi Numajiri (1-1 / Kiguchi Dojo) vs. Ryosuke Komori (3-1 / Yoshida Dojo)

02 - Sengoku Gold Cup Featherweight (65kg) Final (2R x 5 min.)
Toru Harai (6-2 / Mori Dojo) vs. Shigeki Osawa (2-0 / Yoshida Dojo)

03 - Sengoku Gold Cup Lightweight (70kg) Final (2R x 5 min.)
Ikuo Usuda (4-0 / Kiguchi Dojo) vs. Koji Ando (2-0-2 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tokyo)

Main Card

01 - Heavyweight Match (3R x 5 min.)
Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao (7-2, 2 NC / Team Tackler) vs. Mu Bae Choi (9-3 / Team Tackle)

02 - Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Semifinal (3R x 5 min.)
Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2 / Alive) vs. Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5 / Paraestra Hachiozi - Team ZST)

03 - Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Semifinal (3R x 5 min.)
Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1 / Yoshida Dojo) vs. Marlon Sandro (14-0 / Nova Uniao)

04 - Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Reserve Match (3R x 5 min.)
Chan Sung Jung (6-1 / CMA Korea - KTT) vs. Matt Jaggers (14-6 / Team Wolfpack)

05 - Lightweight Match (3R x 5 min.)
Eiji Mitsuoka (15-6-2 / freelance) vs. Clay French (17-5 / H.I.T. Squad)

06 - Welterweight Match (3R x 5 min.)
Akihiro Gono (29-14-7 / GRABAKA) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (17-2 / McVicker's Martial Arts Academy)

07 - Heavyweigth Match (3R x 5 min.)
Kazuyuki Fujita (15-7 / Fujita Office) vs. Blagoi Alexandre Ivanov (debut / SK Absolute Bulgaria)

08 - Sengoku Middleweight Title Challenger Match (3R x 5 min.)
Kazuo Misaki (21-9-2 / GRABAKA) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9 / Yoshida Dojo)

09 - Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final Match (3R x 5 min.)
Hioki / Kanehara vs. Omigawa / Sandro

10 - Sengoku Lightweight Title Match (5R x 5 min.)
Satoru Kitaoka (25-8-9 / PANCRASEism / champion) vs. Mizuto Hirota (11-3-1 / GUTSMAN / challenger)