Couple of news items about EliteXC heavyweight champ Antonio Silva. First from Sherdog:

Suspended fighter Antonio Silva filed a civil action against the California State Athletic Commission on Jan. 7 in Los Angeles Superior Court, the first known case in which a mixed martial artist has legally contested a CSAC decision outside the state regulatory body.

Silva is asking for a "writ of mandate," or a ruling from the court that will supersede the CSAC’s decision to suspend the fighter for one year for alleged steroid use and possibly allow Silva another hearing to try and prove his innocence.

Second, Fighters Only is reporting that Silva may face Aleksander Emelianenko in his next fight. This is kind of a battle of fighters banned by CSAC -- Silva for failing a steroid test, Emelianenko for "unspecified health concerns."

For my dollar I just think the whole thing is a bummer. Here's a fighter with enormous potential who has managed to get caught in the EliteXC disaster, get himself on the wrong side of one of the most messed up athletic commissions in the country  -- they're so on the ball the guy who administered Silva's suspension had to resign in disgrace and the testing procedure under which Silva was busted was so awful that the new leadership of the CSAC has allowed events to go without testing fighters rather than use the old system -- and is now seemingly going to spend the rest of his career exiled to Japan fighting guys who can't make it in the States for one reason or another.

Don't miss Fightlinker's posts on the Silva situation.

via Sherdog:

1 Hidetada Irie d. Minoru Kato TKO (Punches) 2 4:21
2 Maximo Blanco d. Seigo Inoue KO (Stomps) 1 0:38
3 Mu Bae Choi d. Dave Herman TKO (Punches) 2 2:22
4 Eiji Mitsuoka d. Sergey Golyaev Submission (Armbar) 1 4:22
5 Antonio Silva d. Yoshihiro Nakao TKO (Knee Injury) 1 1:42
6 Muhammed Lawal d.  Yukiya Naito TKO (Punches) 1 3:54
7 Sanae Kikuta d. Hidehiko Yoshida Decision (Split) 3 5:00
8 Jorge Santiago d. Kazuo Misaki Technical Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 5 3:26
9 Satoru Kitaoka d. Takanori Gomi Submission (Achilles Lock) 1 1:41

Couple of upsets there. Gomi has been on a downward slide for a while, but its still shocking to see him lose two in a row. It also hurts the promotion to have three of their biggest stars lose in one night: Gomi, Misaki, and Yoshida.

Jorge Santiago has made a strong case that he's a top 10 middleweight.

I wouldn't say that this loss derails Dave "Pee Wee" Herman's career, but I would say this is a roadbump. Maybe he'll start training more seriously now.

Is anyone that pumped about a Kitaoka vs Mitsuoka rematch?

Couple of fight videos in the full entry.

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I just wanted to open up an article so that we can have some discussion as the Sengoku show takes place.  I'll be doing my best to stay up and watch the entire show...but I am already feeling a little bit tired so we'll see how long I last.  So rather than live blog the show myself lets all just throw our thoughts in the comment section here and we should get a little bit of dialogue going.

Please don't flood the comment section with questions of where to watch the show.  I personally will not broadcast where I'm watching the show due to site liability issues.  If I direct you to a streaming source you will likely then have a streaming source for UFC/Affliction..etc PPV's and I personally believe in paying for shows that you have legal means of watching.  Streaming a show like this that you otherwise can not see I have no problem with.  But still, this is a thread for the discussion of the show...not for begging for stream sources.  Using basic google searches should provide you with plenty of options.

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-Takanori Gomi 29-4 vs. Satoru Kitaoka 23-8-9

-Kazuo Misaki 21-8-2 vs. Jorge Santiago 20-7

-Hidehiko Yoshida 8-6-1 vs. Sanae Kikuta 27-6-3

-Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal 2-0 vs. Yukiya Naito 15-4-2

-Antonio Silva 11-1 vs. Yoshihiro Nakao 7-1

-Sergey Golyaev 12-6 vs. Eiji Mitsuoka 14-6-2

-Dave Herman 13-0 vs. Choi Mu Bae 7-3

Takanori Gomi -220 Kazuo Misaki -130 Hidehiko Yoshida -370 Muhammed Lawal -345 Antonio Silva -430 Eiji Mitsuoka -220 Dave Herman -345

Satoru Kitaoka +180 Jorge Santiago EV Sanae Kikuta +300 Yukiya Naito +250 Yoshihiro Nakao +350 Sergey Golyaev +180 Mu Bae Choi +275

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HT Fightlinker

This has been brewing for a while and now Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva has made his decision:

Antonio Silva has accepted an offer to face Yoshihiro Nakao at World Victory Road’s upcoming Sengoku event on Jan. 4 in Saitama, Japan, confirmed his manager Alex Davis on Sunday.

The American Top Team heavyweight’s decision comes in the wake of a letter received last week from California State Athletic Commission Assistant Executive Director Bill Douglas, who said he will recommend Silva’s license be revoked if he does not adhere to a suspension imposed on him last July.

...

“Antonio has decided to fight, he really has no option,” wrote Davis in an email to Sherdog.com. “He’s innocent, he’s tried to prove it and it fell on unwilling ears, and he has financial commitments that to not meet would have serious consequences for him. In light of these, he has decided to continue his career in Japan until when and if his situation with the CSAC is resolved.”

If the CSAC hadn't been through a massive reorganization, including the ousting of former head Armando Garcia and the suspension of their drug testing program I would be more sympathetic of their hard ass stance here.

Douglas knows that Garcia's administration was running a screwed up drug testing operation or they would not have cancelled any drug tests at the last Strikeforce event.

I am in sympathy with Douglas' desire that their suspensions be respected but at the same time, when everyone agrees that the regime that suspended Silva and refused to modify his suspension at hearing was utterly corrupt and incompetent, I think it behooves them to find a compromise.

Its just not fair to Silva to ask that he sit out a year when everyone agrees that the CSAC was screwing up left and right when they suspended him.

Harkness makes the case:

Last week I shit all over Sengoku for booking Hidehiko Yoshida vs Sanae Kikuta. As far as I was concerned, Kikuta was a terrible choice and no one really gave a damn about him. But as usual, I missed the real thread going on here: Yoshida is big because he’s a judo guy, right? Wel, Kikuta is also a big judo guy. He hasn’t really accomplished anything in Judo, mind you … but he was apparently the student of Toshihiko Koga (the dude in the above video), and that apparently matters a whole bunch. Awesome by association?

The fight is what it is, but heightened tension and atmospherics never hurt. Here's the video in question:

Tatame.com is reporting (in Portuguese, translation via Google):

Suspended by the athletic committee of the United States on charges of doping, Antonio (Silva) can not fight in America before July 28, 2009, when it was terminating the suspension. After losing in the courts of the athletic commission, also saw the EliteXC, an event in which Silva was heavyweight champion, close the doors. With that the athlete had to get out of ATT demand for a new home, which has everything to be in Japan "I'm negotiating my way to Japan The Sengoku made me an offer to fight on January 4 and we are seeing that, "said Peza, who is entering the common justice against the athletic commission.

Pretty garbled, but the gist is clear. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva is considering violating his California suspension and fighting in Japan as early as January.

Vitor Belfort pulled a similar stunt in 2007 after being suspended in Nevada, he jumped ship and fought in Britain. Apparently it wasn't the end of the world as he later managed to fight in California and is apparently in good standing with American authorities. Personally I don't really blame Silva, after all the California State Athletic Commission hasn't exactly been fair and balanced in its decision.

He's also pretty much ignoring whatever legal claims zombie ProElite might still have on him contractually.

Something tells me there might be some long term legal headaches in all this for Silva. But if we get to see Josh Barnett vs Antonio Silva on January 4th, I'll take that chance.

HT Nightmare of Battle

UPDATE: Five Ounces of Pain has more from an interview with Silva's manager Alex Davis:

While speaking with Davis, he indicated that he did not agree with Tatame’s characterization of contract negoations. Confirming that Silva has indeed been contacted by Sengoku, Davis was quick to add that a finalized agreement is not yet imminent.

Davis also stated that several issues must be carefully considered before Silva’s camp can decide whether it will move forward with a new promotion. The most notable concern on the table is how they want to proceed in the wake of Silva’s one-year suspension handed down by the California State Athletic Commission.

CSAC announced in August that Silva had been suspended for a year and fined $2,500 after testing positive for boldenone following his July 26 title victory against Justin Eilers during EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” event in Stockton, Calif. Boldenone is an anabolic steroid commonly used on racehorses. Silva has denied CSAC’s claim and appealed the fine and suspension. However, the suspension was upheld following an Oct. 22 appeal hearing.

Silva also has a restricted non-exclusive contract with ProElite, in which premium-cable provider Showtime claims it will auction off on Nov. 17 in response to ProElite’s default of a prior loan agreement.

Despite the shocking split-decision loss of their poster-boy, Takanori Gomi, World Victory Road plans to go ahead with a title fight between Gomi and tournament winner Satoru Kitaoka on January 4th, from Sherdog:

Despite Golyaev’s split decision victory over Gomi at Sengoku "Sixth Battle" on Saturday, the promotion plans to move forward with a Satoru Kitaoka-Gomi title fight on Jan. 4.

Kitaoka (23-8-9) -- who defeated Eiji Mitsuoka and Kazunori Yokota to win the grand prix -- was asked during a post-fight press conference at Hotel East 21 if he had any desire to challenge the man who bested Gomi. The 28-year-old Pancrase mainstay indicated he had no interest in a potential matchup with Golyaev, expressing disdain for both the Russian and Gomi.

"I have no need to fight that Russian fighter," Kitaoka said. "If it was me in there tonight, I would have crushed that Russian in seconds. I had a tougher time than Gomi -- my two fights tonight and my training for them -- so that’s why I said what I said [when I challenged Gomi in the ring]. Anyone have a problem with that?"

The same story confirms that middleweight tourny winner Jorge Santiago will fight Kazuo Misaki for the WVR middleweight belt at the same event.

Nightmare of Battle speculates on another possibility for the January 4th card, a light heavyweight tournament:

Hidehiko Yoshida said today that if there is a tournament (I don’t know if he means a first round or a one-night tournament) on January 4th, he will drop in weight to 93 kg. He wants to know as soon as possible though or else it will be too hard to drop.

A Light Heavyweight tournament is certainly possible now. With fighters such as King Mo, Nogueira, Randleman, Kikuta, Kawamura, Yoshida, Yang Dong Yi, and Jocz they could make a decent tournament.