Nationality American Name Toby Imada Reach 69.0 in (175 cm) | Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Losses 3 | |
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Born Timoteo Tobias Imada April 20, 1978 (age 46) Los Angeles, California, United States ( 1978-04-20 ) Weight 155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st) | ||
Bellator mma highlight toby imada vs jorge masvidal reverse triangle choke
Timoteo Tobias "Toby" Imada (born July 16, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist of Japanese and Mexican descent. He previously fought for Bellator Fighting Championships in their lightweight division. He competed in their first and second season tournaments, making it to the finals both times, but losing both times. Imada won the 2009 Submission of the Year award for an inverted triangle choke.
Contents
- Bellator mma highlight toby imada vs jorge masvidal reverse triangle choke
- Mixed martial arts career
- Mixed martial arts
- Kickboxing
- References
Mixed martial arts career
Imada trained and fought out of Los Angeles, California. He has fought many notable fighters such as Jason Von Flue, Jason Miller, Joe Stevenson, Hermes Franca, Jake Shields, Jorge Masvidal, James Krause, Tetsuji Kato, and Carey Vanier. Imada has fought in many mixed martial arts (MMA) organizations since 1998, most notably in the Bellator Fighting Championship.
In the first season Bellator lightweight tournament, Imada advanced to the finals after defeating Alonzo Martinez and Jorge Masvidal. The upset win over Masvidal was notable for Imada's bizarre inverse triangle choke while Masvidal was standing up. The submission has been acknowledged by many MMA mediums as the Submission of the Year for 2009. He was awarded a Bazzie award from Inside MMA on HDNet for the unorthodox submission victory and Submission of the Year Honors at the World MMA Awards.
At Bellator 12, Imada fought top five ranked Eddie Alvarez for the chance to become the first Bellator lightweight champion. Alvarez got the better of the battle and won the fight in the second round via rear naked choke.
Imada returned to Bellator the following April, entering the lightweight tournament for the second time. His first fight was originally to be a rematch against Jorge Masvidal. He was then scheduled to fight against Ferrid Kheder at Bellator 15, but an injury forced Kheder out of the bout. Instead, at Bellator 14 Imada fought James Krause and won via armbar submission. With the win over Krause, Imada moved onto the semi-final round against Carey Vanier. In the second round after Vanier lost his footing, Imada capitalized and applied an armbar that caused Vanier to tap out.
Imada then moved on to the finals taking place at Bellator 22. There, Imada fought Pat Curran in the season 2 Lightweight Tournament finals to see who would advance to fight champion Eddie Alvarez. Curran defeated Imada via controversial split decision. Immediately following the decision, some in the crowd began booing. Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez weighed in on the decision, saying "It was a tough fight. It could’ve gone either way.”
Bellator again signed Imada for their lightweight tournament taking place during their fourth season. Imada had his quarter-final fight at Bellator 36. He was originally set to fight Ferrid Kheder who was overweight and decided to leave the arena and not weigh-in. Imada instead fought replacement Josh Shockley. Imada won the fight in the first round after Shockley verbally submitted from Imada's reverse omaplata. The win moved Imada into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals Imada fought Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Patricky Freire at Bellator 39. He was knocked out at 2:53 of the first round with a flying knee followed by a left hook.
Imada has also fought professionally in kickboxing. In his most recent bout, he defeated Mostafa Abdollahi by majority decision (27–27, 29–27, 29–27) in a non-tournament bout at the Shoot Boxing World Tournament 2012 in Tokyo, Japan on November 17, 2012.