HAYATØ is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 former welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 kickboxer. He was the UKF World Super Welterweight champion and competed in K-1 MAX

K-1

K-1 is a defunct world-wide kickboxing promotion based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a formerKyokushin karate practitioner. K-1 combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San Shou, kickboxing, western-style boxing, and other martial arts...

 between 2001 and 2009.

Biography and career

Hayato was born in Tsukuba, Ibaraki

Ibaraki Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan, located in the Kantō region on the main island of Honshu. The capital is Mito.-History:Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as Yuji Miyake (三宅裕二). He became a professional kickboxer on May 26, 2000.

Hayato changed his ring name as HAYATØ from Hayato (隼人) in April 2003.

He won the title of UKF super welterweight championship after beating Jeremy Harminson（ / interim champion） by decision 3-0 on January 24, 2004.

In November 2009, he announced his retirement and he thanked to the audience that he managed to continue being a professional kickboxer for 9 years after his retirement match.

Honours and awards

• Amateur
  • The 1st Amateur Kickboxing All Japan Championships Midleweight winner （JAKF, March 2000）
• Professional
  • 2008 K-1 World MAX Japan Tournament 2nd place
  • UKF World Super welterweight champion

• Awards
  • The 1st Amateur Kickboxing All Japan Championships MVP （JAKF, March 2000）

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record
Legend:

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of K-1 events
• List of kickboxing organizations

External links

• Official K-1 Profile
• HAYATO's introduction(Japanese language)