Takanori Gomi
The Lightweight tournament win set up Kitaoka to fight the last reigning PRIDE Lightweight Champion, Takanori Gomi, for Sengoku's newly created Sengoku Lightweight Championship. The two fought at "Sengoku no Ran 2009" on 4 January 2009 and ended with Kitaoka defeating Gomi with an achilles lock at 1:41 of the first round.