Hioki has won six of his last seven fights. The 27-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt defeated “Lion” Takeshi Inoue by split decision to win the Shooto lightweight crown at “The Way of Shooto 3” two months ago. Nearly half (10) of his 21 career victories have come by submission. Wins against former TKO featherweight champion Mark Hominick (twice), one-time Sengoku lightweight titleholder Masanori Kanehara and UFC veteran Jeff Curran anchor his resume. In 27 professional appearances, Hioki has never been finished.
A quarter-finalist on Season 9 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, Lawson will carry a two-fight winning streak into his promotional debut. The Englishman needed just 57 seconds to submit UFC veteran David Lee under the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts banner in May. None of Lawson’s 17 bouts have gone the distance.
A rematch between Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago and 2006 Pride Fighting Championships welterweight grand prix winner Kazuo Misaki will headline SRC 14. Meanwhile, UFC veteran Akihiro Gono will make his lightweight debut against Jadamba Narantungalag in the co-feature.
Sengoku Raiden Championships 14
Sunday, Aug. 22
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tokyo
Sengoku Middleweight Championship
Jorge
Santiago vs. Kazuo
Misaki
Akihiro
Gono vs. Jadamba
Narantungalag
Hatsu
Hioki vs. Jeff
Lawson
Taisuke
Okuno vs. Nick
Thompson
Yasubey
Enomoto vs. Kenta
Takagi
Motoki
Miyazawa vs. Takuya
Sato
Shintaro
Ishiwatari vs. Kil Woo
Lee
Takuya
Eizumi vs. Shoko
Sato
Tatsuya
So vs. Wataru
Takahashi
Hirokazu
Nishimura vs. Jae Hyun So