Satoshi Ishii is a Japanese judoka and mixed martial artist noted for winning a
gold medal in Olympic Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China,
a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games and two All-Japan Judo Championships.
Ishii made his professional MMA debut at Dynamite!! 2009 losing to fellow Judoka
gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida by unanimous decision, but currently holds
a record of 14-4-1. He is currently under contract with Rizin Fighting
Federation. Judo career
Ishii won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships on 16 October 2004
in Budapest, Hungary. On 2 December 2006 he won a silver medal at the −100 kg
category of the 2006 Asian Games. On April 29, 2006 and 2008, he won the
All-Japan Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan. With him the Japanese team won
the World Judo team competition on 17 November 2007 in Beijing, China, this
time in the +100 kg division. On August 15, 2008 he won a gold medal
at the +100 kg category of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
On 30 April 2011 Ishii returned to Judo to compete in the United States
Championship in the open division; he won all the matches, securing the gold
medal. Mixed martial arts career
After winning the gold medal, Ishii expressed his wishes to apply his
talents in the sport of mixed martial arts to the dismay of the Japanese Judo
Federation. Ishii originally confirmed that he signed a contract with Japanese
MMA promotion Fighting and Entertainment Group and was rumored to debut in early
2009 in their fight series, DREAM. Japanese newspaper Sports Nippon then
reported that Ishii would make his ring debut on December 31, 2009 at the annual
K-1 Premium Dynamite!! event at the Saitama Super Arena. However, Ishii
announced that he rejected FEG's offer, and was planning to pursue his MMA
career in the US' Ultimate Fighting Championship. He headed to Florida where
he trained with one of MMA's top camps American Top Team.
On June 1, 2009, Ishii announced he would join Japanese MMA organization
World Victory Road. He officially signed with the organization at a public
signing event on June 4, 2009. On September 14, 2009, it was announced
that Ishii would make his MMA debut against fellow Olympic judo gold
medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. Although the fight was originally to take place at
World Victory Road's New Year show on December 31, when that event was
cancelled, the fight was moved to DREAM's Dynamite!! 2009 card on New
Year's Eve as a co-promoted show. Ishii, who was a large favorite in the fight,
was dominated in the first round by the more-experienced Yoshida, taking many
strikes including a right overhand that staggered the newcomer, along with a
series of knees and uppercuts from the clinch. Ishii, however, came back with a
more competitive second round, but took a point deduction after illegally
kneeing Yoshida in the groin. Ishii continued to find his range in the third
round with punches, but ultimately lost via unanimous decision.
For his second fight, Ishii faced New Zealand Heavyweight kickboxing champion
Tafa "Thumper" Misipati on May 15, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand. The fight was
the main event at the ETK production X-plosion: New Zealand vs. Japan. Ishii
won via submission in the first round. In June 2010, Ishii caused controversy
during an MMA exhibition match on the undercard of X-1 World Events: Nations
Collide in Hawaii. After knocking down his opponent Myles Tynanes at the end of
the first-round, Ishii failed to stop punching his downed foe despite the
referee’s attempts to halt the action. He was subsequently disqualified for his
actions. On September 25, 2010, Ishii fought
Ikuhisa Minowa, a shoot wrestler known for facing much larger opponents, at
Dream.16 and won via unanimous decision. Ishii's next MMA fight was supposed to
be against Antz Nansen at the K-1 World MAX 2010. However, his opponent was
changed to Katsuyori Shibata at the last minute. Ishii won via Kimura in the
first round. Ishii continued to train with Black
House, in Brazil with notably fighters suchs as Lyoto Machida and Anderson
Silva. Prior to Silva's fight with Chael Sonnen Ishii hurt Silva's ribs. Since
then he has trained at Mark Muñoz's gym Reign MMA, along with Mayhem Miller,
Fabrício Werdum and other notable fighters.
Ishii then fought French kickboxing star Jérôme Le Banner in a mixed martial arts
bout at the Dynamite!! 2010 New Year's Eve event. He won the fight via
unanimous decision. Ishii was scheduled to make his North
America debut for Strikeforce at Strikeforce Challengers 15 against Scott
Lighty, but a visa issue stemming from the recent earthquake and tsunami left
him unable to leave Japan. Lorenz Larkin took his place in the fight.
In April 2011, it was reported that Ishii would retire from MMA and return
to judo. Surprisingly, he also stated that he plans to earn American
citizenship and represent the US at the 2016 Olympic Games. However, he
apparently decided against retiring from MMA as he went on to face former WEC
Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho at Amazon Forest Combat 1 on September 14,
2011 in his Light Heavyweight debut. The fight ended in a controversial draw,
with journalists as well as the crowd agreeing that Ishii had won all three
rounds. Satoshi Ishii next competed at Fight For
Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoko 2011, where he met MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. He
lost the fight via KO in the first round.
After taking a year off from fighting to train following the Emelianenko loss,
Ishii signed an exclusive multi fight deal with IGF in Japan. Here he has
secured 6 victories in less than a year against former UFC Heavyweight Champion
Tim Sylvia, UFC veterans Sean McCorkle, Kerry Schall, Pedro Rizzo and most
recently against Jeff Monson. Ishii then faced Kazuyuki Fujita on
December 31, 2013, for the IGF Championship. He won via unanimous
decision, became the first IGF Champion. Ishii defeated former UFC fighter Phil
De Fries in a non-title bout via unanimous decision at IGF 1 on April 5,
2014 in a full pride rules match as the headline bout on the card.
On August 23 at IGF 2, Despite being a heavy favorite due to his years and judo
experience Ishii was defeated by UFC, Pride and K-1 veteran Mirko Filipović
via doctor stoppage, losing the IGF Championship in the process.
Ishii was expected to face PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran Sergei Kharitonov at
M-1 Challenge 53: Battle in the Celestial Empire on November 11, 2014.
However, Ishii withdrew from the fight due to injury.
Ishii faced Mirko Filipović in a rematch at December 31, 2014 for the IGF
Championship. Early reports had the rematch cancelled due to a rib injury
sustained by Ishii. However, in December 2014, it was reported that Ishii would
be able to heal up in time to fight Cro Cop, and the rematch was official once
again. Ishii lost the fight via TKO at the end of the second round.
Ishii is expected to fight Jiri Prochazka on December 29, 2015 at Rizin
Fighting Federation World Tournament. His former opponent Fedor_Emelianenko
will headline the NYE Rizin FF main event.
Personal life He was married for 9 months to Mika, a
university student, divorcing in January 2011.
In 2013, he married singer Asuca Hayashi.
Ishii holds a 6th dan in judo and he was awarded a brown belt in Brazilian
jiu-jitsu after some training. Championships and accomplishments
Professional Mixed Martial Arts Inoki Genome Federation
IGF Championship Mixed martial arts record
References External links
Professional MMA record for Satoshi Ishii from Sherdog