Yasuhito Namekawa
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese mixed martial artist
who competes in the light heavyweight
division. Namekawa made his Mixed martial arts debut for Fighting Network Rings
in 1998. He fought in mainly Shoot fighting bouts until 1999 when Rings introduced the King of King Rules. Throughout his career, Namekawa has fought for organisations such as Rings, Deep and Pride FC. His last fight to date was in 2008, with a professional Mixed martial arts career spanning ten years.
Namekawa has fought notable opponents such as; Alistair Overeem
, Volk Han
, Mauricio Rua
and Cyrille Diabate
. He holds a professional MMA Record of 28 wins, 18 losses and 6 draws.
. Namekawa suffered his first loss on October 11, 1998 against Bakouri Gogitidze, he lost by submission. On October 23, 1998, Namekawa lost to Masayuki Naruse
by submission at 4:50 of round 1. He ended the year with a draw against British fighter, Lee Hasdell
. On January 23, 1999, Namekawa had a rematch with Hasdell, this time Hasdell was deducted a point for an illegal punch. Namekawa won by decision.
On March 7, 1999, Namekawa had their third and final match, this time in Milton Keynes
, England
at Night of the Samurai 3. Hasdell won by KO in 5:55 of round 1.
During the rest of 1999, Namekawa picked up victories over fighters, Troy Ittensohn, Ryuki Ueyama, Sara Umer and Minoru Toyonaga. Also losing to Wataru Sakata
, Ryuki Ueyama and Koba Tkeshelashvili. The year 2000 was a bad year for Namekawa as he failed to pick up a single win, losing to, Willie Peeters, Chris Haseman
, Alistair Overeem
and Volk Han
.
2001 would be the complete opposite to the previous year as Namekawa was victorious in 4 out of 5 fights. He defeated Takashi Sonoda, Wataru Imamura, Masutatsu Yano and Dexter Casey, all by submission. On October 20, 2001, Namekawa lost to Egidijus Valavicius by TKO.
.
Yasuhito Namekawa's final fight for RINGS was on February 15, 2002, on the final ever Rings event. He was submitted by Sam Nest at 4:53 of round 2.
by majority decision. He went on to win his next two fights in Deep with submission wins over Makoto Miyazawa and Yuki Ishikawa
. On December 31, 2002, he lost to Wallid Ismail
by decision at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002
. Namekawa ended the year with a 3-1 record with Deep. He began 2003 with a draw with Osami Shibuya at Deep - 8th Impact. Namekawa did not fight again until January 22, 2004. He defeated Yusuke Imamura by TKO at Deep - 13th Impact.
. He returned to Pride on October 14, 2004, he was defeated by Mauricio Rua
.
by KO at Deep - 24 Impact.
Namekawa beat Peter Iryaku at VFX - Vale Tudo Fighters Mexico before losing to Cyrille Diabate
in a rematch on July 30, 2006. He then defeated Mu Jin Na by submission.
Upon returning to Deep, Namekawa remained undefeated during the rest of his time there. Drawing with Fabiano Capoani and defeating Yuji Sakuragi, Hamish Robertson, Katsuhisa Fujii
, Carlos Toyota and Claudio Silva. Namekawa's last fight to date was against Katsuyori Shibata
at Deep - 38 Impact on October 23, 2008. The fight ended in a draw.
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
who competes in the light heavyweight
Light Heavyweight (MMA)
The light heavyweight division in mixed martial arts generally refers to competitors weighing between 186 and 205 lb . It sits between the lighter middleweight division, and the heavyweight division....
division. Namekawa made his Mixed martial arts debut for Fighting Network Rings
Fighting Network RINGS
Fighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods; puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and the revived mixed martial arts promotion from 2008 to...
in 1998. He fought in mainly Shoot fighting bouts until 1999 when Rings introduced the King of King Rules. Throughout his career, Namekawa has fought for organisations such as Rings, Deep and Pride FC. His last fight to date was in 2008, with a professional Mixed martial arts career spanning ten years.
Namekawa has fought notable opponents such as; Alistair Overeem
Alistair Overeem
Alistair Cees Overeem is a British born Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer, signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Interim Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and made history by being the only fighter in combat...
, Volk Han
Volk Han
Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov , better known by his alias Volk Han , is a Russian shoot wrestler and later a mixed martial artist renowned for his technical mastery of Sambo and submission victories in shoot wrestling and MMA. He was representing Russia in the Russian RINGS team with Fedor...
, Mauricio Rua
Mauricio Rua
Maurício Milani Rua is a Brazilian mixed martial artist fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion...
and Cyrille Diabate
Cyrille Diabate
Cyrille Diabaté is a French mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He has also competed in shoot boxing and Muay Thai. He has fought at Palace Fighting Championship, PRIDE, ShoXC, Deep, Cage Rage and Ultimate Fighting Championship....
. He holds a professional MMA Record of 28 wins, 18 losses and 6 draws.
Fighting Network RINGS (1998-2002)
Namekawa made his debut for RINGS on June 20, 1998 against Minoru Toyonaga, the bout ended in a draw. He then went on to submit Daniel Higgins and out point Ryuki UeyamaRyuki Ueyama
Ryuki Ueyama is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the middleweight division. He has fought for organisations such as; Fighting Network RINGS, DEEP, Pancrase, Hero's and Pride FC.-Fighting Network RINGS :...
. Namekawa suffered his first loss on October 11, 1998 against Bakouri Gogitidze, he lost by submission. On October 23, 1998, Namekawa lost to Masayuki Naruse
Masayuki Naruse
is a Japanese professional wrestler and Professional mixed martial artist.-Career:Naruse debuted in Fighting Network RINGS in 1992 where he was displayed as a scrappy junior heavyweight willing to take on opponents twice his size. He and other RINGS wrestlers made the transition to mixed martial...
by submission at 4:50 of round 1. He ended the year with a draw against British fighter, Lee Hasdell
Lee Hasdell
Lee Hasdell is a former British mixed martial artist, kickboxer and promoter. He promoted the first professional mixed martial arts events in the United Kingdom. Lee Hasdell began his professional career as a Kickboxer in 1989, eventually winning three British Kickboxing titles...
. On January 23, 1999, Namekawa had a rematch with Hasdell, this time Hasdell was deducted a point for an illegal punch. Namekawa won by decision.
On March 7, 1999, Namekawa had their third and final match, this time in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at Night of the Samurai 3. Hasdell won by KO in 5:55 of round 1.
During the rest of 1999, Namekawa picked up victories over fighters, Troy Ittensohn, Ryuki Ueyama, Sara Umer and Minoru Toyonaga. Also losing to Wataru Sakata
Wataru Sakata
is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He has a professional MMA record of 11-13-0 as of December 31, 2003.He started his career in Akira Maeda's Fighting Network RINGS in 1994 after being trained by Animal Hamaguchi. He made the transition to mixed martial arts in the late...
, Ryuki Ueyama and Koba Tkeshelashvili. The year 2000 was a bad year for Namekawa as he failed to pick up a single win, losing to, Willie Peeters, Chris Haseman
Chris Haseman
Chris Haseman is a former Australian mixed martial artist. He is currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division.He lost his fight at Spartan Reality Fight 9 against Bill Mahood in 2004, retiring afterwards...
, Alistair Overeem
Alistair Overeem
Alistair Cees Overeem is a British born Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer, signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Interim Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and made history by being the only fighter in combat...
and Volk Han
Volk Han
Magomedkhan Amanulayevich Gamzatkhanov , better known by his alias Volk Han , is a Russian shoot wrestler and later a mixed martial artist renowned for his technical mastery of Sambo and submission victories in shoot wrestling and MMA. He was representing Russia in the Russian RINGS team with Fedor...
.
2001 would be the complete opposite to the previous year as Namekawa was victorious in 4 out of 5 fights. He defeated Takashi Sonoda, Wataru Imamura, Masutatsu Yano and Dexter Casey, all by submission. On October 20, 2001, Namekawa lost to Egidijus Valavicius by TKO.
.
Yasuhito Namekawa's final fight for RINGS was on February 15, 2002, on the final ever Rings event. He was submitted by Sam Nest at 4:53 of round 2.
Deep (2002-2004)
On March 30, 2002, Namekawa made his Deep debut at Deep - 4th Impact. He defeated Daisuke WatanabeDaisuke Watanabe
is a Japanese video game scenario writer that has been an employee of Square Enix since September, 1998. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and the action role-playing video game series Kingdom Hearts....
by majority decision. He went on to win his next two fights in Deep with submission wins over Makoto Miyazawa and Yuki Ishikawa
Yuki Ishikawa
Yuki Ishikawa is a Japanese volleyball player who plays for JT Marvelous.She plays for the All-Japan women's volleyball team and was a participant at the 2006 Volleyball Grand Prix....
. On December 31, 2002, he lost to Wallid Ismail
Wallid Ismail
Wallid Farid Ismail is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and promoter. He holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlson Gracie, and is an IVC mixed martial arts world champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion...
by decision at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002: K-1 vs. Inoki was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event promoted by Antonio Inoki and K-1 on December 31, 2002 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan...
. Namekawa ended the year with a 3-1 record with Deep. He began 2003 with a draw with Osami Shibuya at Deep - 8th Impact. Namekawa did not fight again until January 22, 2004. He defeated Yusuke Imamura by TKO at Deep - 13th Impact.
Pride FC (2004)
On February 15, 2004, Namekawa made his Pride FC debut with a submission win over Egidijus Valavicius at Pride Bushido 2PRIDE Bushido 2
Pride Bushido 2 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Pride Fighting Championships. It took place at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan on February 15, 2004.- Mu Bae Choi vs. Yusuke Imamura:...
. He returned to Pride on October 14, 2004, he was defeated by Mauricio Rua
Mauricio Rua
Maurício Milani Rua is a Brazilian mixed martial artist fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion...
.
Return to Deep (2005-2008)
In his second outing in the Deep organisation, Namekawa beat Kenji Akiyama by TKO, Jong Hyuk Moon by submission and lost to Ryuta Sakurai. He also drew with Jeong Ho Lee on December 2, 2005. On April 11, 2006, Namekawa was defeated by Cyrille DiabateCyrille Diabate
Cyrille Diabaté is a French mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He has also competed in shoot boxing and Muay Thai. He has fought at Palace Fighting Championship, PRIDE, ShoXC, Deep, Cage Rage and Ultimate Fighting Championship....
by KO at Deep - 24 Impact.
Namekawa beat Peter Iryaku at VFX - Vale Tudo Fighters Mexico before losing to Cyrille Diabate
Cyrille Diabate
Cyrille Diabaté is a French mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He has also competed in shoot boxing and Muay Thai. He has fought at Palace Fighting Championship, PRIDE, ShoXC, Deep, Cage Rage and Ultimate Fighting Championship....
in a rematch on July 30, 2006. He then defeated Mu Jin Na by submission.
Upon returning to Deep, Namekawa remained undefeated during the rest of his time there. Drawing with Fabiano Capoani and defeating Yuji Sakuragi, Hamish Robertson, Katsuhisa Fujii
Katsuhisa Fujii
, is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the heavyweight division.-Championships and Accomplishments:*Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling**2000 Pancrase Heavyweight Championship Tournament Runner-up*Ultimate Fighting Championship...
, Carlos Toyota and Claudio Silva. Namekawa's last fight to date was against Katsuyori Shibata
Katsuyori Shibata
is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. In professional wrestling, he is known for his hard hitting offense and his realistic bouts.-New Japan Pro Wrestling :...
at Deep - 38 Impact on October 23, 2008. The fight ended in a draw.