Satoshi Ishii

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 (MMA) to the dismay of the Japanese Judo Federation. Ishii originally confirmed that he signed a contract with Japanese MMA promotion Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) 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 (UFC). 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 (armbar) 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 at Black House in Brazil with notable fighters such 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 Cro Cop 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 Cro Cop 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.

In his debut for the Rizin promotion, Ishii faced Jiri Prochazka on December 29, 2015 at Rizin Fighting Federation World (8-men) Tournament. He lost the fight via knockout early in the first round.

Ishii made his North American MMA debut against Quinton Jackson on June 24, 2016 at Bellator 157. He lost the fight via split decision.

Personal life

He was married for 9 months to Mika, a university student, divorcing in January 2011.

In 2013, he married singer Asuka 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