Maximo Blanco vs. Leo Santos, Bantamweight Tournament Match-Ups Set for SRC 15

Two of Sengoku Raiden Championships' top lightweights will tussle at SRC 15 in a match sure to have direct implications for the promotion's 155-pound title picture.

Current lightweight King of Pancrase and SRC developmental product Maximo Blanco (6-2-1, pictured) will meet his second straight Brazilian opponent in Leo Santos (8-3) at the October 30 event, the promotion announced today.

Blanco - a Venezuelan national who now lives and trains in Japan - has tasted defeat only once in five bouts for Sengoku, that loss coming by way of disqualification in May 2009. The energetic 26-year-old freestyle wrestling convert has dispatched of four straight opponents via stoppage since then, including his toughest test to date, Rodrigo Damm, in June.

The Nova União-trained Santos enters the match on a sour note. Though he won his fight against Sotaro Yamada at last month's SRC 14, Santos paid dearly for the "W," absorbing four hard knees to the groin before finally being awarded the victory by DQ. Santos' evening was further ruined when unknown Jadamba Narantungalag spoiled Akihiro Gono's lightweight debut, as Santos recently told Tatame that he'd been tabbed to fight Gono next for the vacant belt.

SRC also announced the pairings for its 2010 Asia Bantamweight Tournament quarterfinals, which include new seeds from Shooto, Pancrase, Cage Force and ZST.

Tournament favorite Shintaro Ishiwatari (9-3-3) goes up against Taiyo Nakahara (10-6), a representative from Cage Force who hasn't recorded a bout since April 2008; Shooto insert Akitoshi Tamura (14-9-2) meets Shoko Sato (9-3); the Sakuraba-trained Wataru Takahashi (12-13-4) has drawn ZST seed Shunichi Shimizu (17-6-9); and lone South Korean Jae Hyun So (6-8) takes on bantamweight King of Pancrase Manabu Inoue (10-5-1), who successfully defended his title in Pancrase just last week.