Two years ago, Takanori Gomi was regarded as the unbeatable force at 155 lbs. when he got off to a 25-2 start to his career. In 2007, Nick Diaz chipped away at that mystique by bludgeoning Gomi in a 160 lb. fight at Pride 33 in Las Vegas. Gomi has since lost to an underwhelming lightweight from Russia and at Sengoku 7 this morning, he was handed a submission loss inside of two minutes.

Can anyone say Eddie Alvarez? It was almost a carbon copy of the loss Shinya Aoki handed the Philadelphian last week at K-1 Dynamite 2008 except that Gomi's conqueror is no Aoki. Kitaoka, 28, came in with 23 wins in 40 fights and was ranked 19th in the world at lightweight according to Bloody Elbow's Top 25.

In the opening minute, Gomi fought tentatively allowing Kitaoka to stalk him from a distance. As soon as they engaged, Gomi was in trouble. Kitaoka shot for a takedown and it looked like Gomi nailed him with a right. Kitaoka wasn't hurt but he did allow Gomi to get control of his back for a second. Gomi looked really amateurish at this point as Kitaoka quickly reversed to get top control and work towards a heel hook. Gomi was safely sitting on his knees but then showed impatience falling to his rear end. That's when Kitaoka cinched in the hold even deeper for the finish at 1:41. If you count the Diaz no contest (positive marijuana test), the once unbeatable Gomi is now just 5-4 since April of 2007. Kitaoka, who won the Sengoku lightweight title, was in awe, almost apologetic to Gomi after the fight.

Kitaoka is a quality fighter. Many of those fights were draws in Pancrase. He has beaten some very good fighters including Kurt Pellegrino, Paul Daley and Carlos Condit, who have all made names for themselves in the U.S.

The mystery of the event was Jorge Santiago. Santiago won the Sengoku middleweight title in dominant fashion. But he only dominated in the fifth round!

The Brazilian is solid in all aspects of the game while Kazuo Misaki is not. Misaki is weak on the ground as Frank Trigg, Paulo Filho, Ed Herman, Jake Shields, Ricardo Almeida and Nate Marquardt all showed in taking him down at will in previous fights. For some unknown reason, Santiago chose to stand with Misaki for the first four rounds and was probably down 4-0 (3-1 at best) as he couldn't catch the counter-puncher.

Santiago went for a takedown with 3:13 left in the fight. Bingo! It took him less than 75 seconds to breakdown Misaki and mount him with 1:59 left in the fight. Misaki gave up his back six seconds later. The choke was in at 1:45 and Misaki was out cold 11 seconds later.

Santiago fights for American Top Team out of South Florida. He fought three times for the UFC going 1-2 with his lone win coming against the recently deceased Justin Levens.