Tatsuya Kawajiri

Tatsuya Kawajiri
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Born	May 8, 1978 (age 46); Inashiki, Ibaraki, Japan
Other names	Crusher
Nationality	Japanese
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight	72.9 kg (161 lb; 11.48 st)
Style	Shooto
Kickboxing record
Total	2
Wins	1
By knockout	1
Losses	1
By knockout	1
Mixed martial arts record
Total	32
Wins	25
By knockout	11
By submission	6
By decision	7
Losses	5
Draws	2

Tatsuya Kawajiri (Japanese: 川尻達也, born May 8, 1978-) is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter and a former Shooto welterweight champion, currently competing in Dream's lightweight division. He is nicknamed the "Crusher" for his devastating power and ground and pound fighting style.

He holds wins over the likes of UFC veteran Yves Edwards, and Vitor Ribeiro from whom he captured the Shooto Championship Belt. Kawajiri's Bushido Tournament match with Takanori Gomi was voted as Pride Fighting Championship's Fight of the Year.

During the early stages of 2005, Kawajiri was considered by many mixed martial arts publications to be the #1 Lightweight fighter in the world.^[2] He is ranked as the number 5 lightweight fighter in the world by both Sherdog and MMAWeekly

Biography

He was born in the Inashiki District of Ibaraki Prefecture^[1]. He graduated from Chuo Gakuin University.

MMA career

Kawajiri is nicknamed " The Crusher" for his strength in the clinch and his "Ground and Pound" techniques.

Shooto

Kawajiri's professional career started in Japan's Shooto organization where he lost to Takumi Nakayama via rear naked choke at 2:44 of the first round. After this loss Kawajiri went on to fight Yohei Suzuki to a Draw at Shooto's "Wanna Shooto 2001." He would then remain undefeated in Shooto until a disappointing decision loss to future Shooto welterweight champion Vitor Ribeiro in 2002. He would then continue on a new winning streak eventually rematching Ribeiro to capture the welterweight crown at Shooto's 2004 Year-End show.

Pride FC

On 22 May 2005 Kawajiri made his debut in Pride and score a quick TKO over In Seok Kim. He went on to score a one-sided victory over Luis Firmino at Pride Bushido 8 on July 17, 2005. On 25 September, he entered Pride's first ever Lightweight tournament in hopes of eventually being crowned Pride's first Lightweight Champion as well as holding the Shooto championship at the same time. His first match in the tournament was against MMA lightweight superstar Takanori Gomi. Gomi ended up knocking down Kawajiri after a flurry of punches and proceeded to submit him with a rear naked choke 7:42 into the first round.

In Between Shooto and Pride

Kawajiri went back to Shooto to defend his lightweight championship against Joachim Hansen (one of the five people to have ever beaten Gomi). The match was stopped 8 seconds into the first round when Hansen was disqualified for kicking Kawajiri in the groin, making Kawajiri the victor. Kawajiri came back to Pride in a fight against Charles Bennett whom he submitted by kneebar after 2:30 in the first round. He then made another Pride appearance in which he fought Chris Brennan and scored an even quicker victory 29 seconds in the first round by TKO. His next fight was a non-title bout against Per Eklund in Shooto where he scored a TKO at 4:10 into the first round.

Kawajiri return to Pride was at Pride Shockwave 2006 on New Year's Eve. There he lost a controversial decision to at the time undefeated American fighter and rising star in the lightweight division, Gilbert Melendez.

On January 23, 2007, Tatsuya Kawajiri relinquished his Shooto title because he could not defend his title by the next Shooto event due to a thumb injury that occurred with his fight against Melendez.

Dream

In March 2008 Kawajiri entered the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix, where he has advanced to the semifinals after back to back victories over Kultar Gill, and Brazilian Top Team fighter Luiz Firmino.

At Dream 5 Kawajiri lost a semi-final match-up to Eddie Alvarez by TKO at 7:35 of the first round. This slugfest with Alvarez saw both men dropping the other repeatedly with punches and the fight was named 2008 Fight of the Year by several MMA outlets, including Sherdog.^[3]

On March 5, 2009, at Dream 7, Kawajiri dropped down a weight class to Featherwight (145 lbs) to face EliteXC veteral Ross Ebanez. Kawajiri choked out the Hawaiian with Rear Naked Choke just over 4 minutes into the first round.

On May 26, 2009, Kawajiri defeated Gesias Calvancante via unanimous decision. "Crusher" used his strong wrestling and ground and pound to great effect, and he was also able to frustrate "JZ" by matching him in the striking game on the feet.

Kawajiri next faced Guam's Melchor Manibusan, who had not fought in several years in a match that was not expected to be comptetive for Kawajiri. Indeed on October 5, 2009, at Dream 11, Kawajiri overwhelmed his opponent. "Crusher" easily took down his foe after a wild start in which Manibusan rushed Kawajiri with a flurry of punches, then used his trademark ground and pound to force the TKO via strikes at 3:48 of the very first round. On December 22, 2009, it was announced that Kawajiri would be taking on Sengoku Lightweight Kazunori Yokota in a Sengoku vs. DREAM fight at the annual Dynamite!! event on New Year's eve in Saitama, Japan.^[4]

K-1

Kawajiri fought K-1 veteran Kozo Takeda at Dynamite!! 2008 winning by 1st round KO. His next K-1 fight was at K-1 World Max 2009 Final 8 against Masato who defeated Kawajiri by TKO at 1:43 in the second round.

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
32 matches	25 wins	5 losses
By knockout	12	1
By submission	6	2
By decision	7	2
Draws	2

Record	Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Location	Notes
	12/31/2009		Kazunori Yokota	Dynamite!! 2009				Saitama, Japan
25-5-2	10/06/2009	Win	Melchor Manibusan	Dream 11: Featherweight Grand Prix Final Round	TKO (Punches)	1	3:48	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
24-5-2	5/26/2009	Win	Gesias Calvancante	Dream 9: Featherweight Grand Prix 2nd Round	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
23-5-2	3/8/2009	Win	Ross Ebanez	Dream 7: Featherweight Grand Prix 1st Round	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	4:03	Saitama, Japan
22-5-2	7/21/2008	Loss	Eddie Alvarez	Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Finals	TKO (Punches)	1	7:35	Osaka, Japan	Semi-Final Round of Dream Lightweight Grandprix
22-4-2	5/11/2008	Win	Luiz Firmino	Dream 3: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Quarter Finals	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Saitama, Japan	Quarter-Final Round of Dream Lightweight Grandprix
21-4-2	3/15/2008	Win	Kultar Gill	Dream 1: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Opening Round	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Saitama, Japan	Opening Round of Dream Lightweight Grandprix
20-4-2	12/31/2007	Win	Luiz Azeredo	Yarennoka - New Year's Eve 2007	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Saitama, Japan
19-4-2	12/31/2006	Loss	Gilbert Melendez	Pride Shockwave 2006	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Saitama, Japan
19-3-2	10/14/2006	Win	Per Eklund	Shooto - Champion Carnival	TKO (Punches)	1	4:10	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
18-3-2	8/26/2006	Win	Chris Brennan	Pride Bushido 12	TKO (Strikes)	1	0:29	Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
17-3-2	6/04/2006	Win	Charles Bennett	Pride Bushido 11	Submission (Kneebar)	1	2:30	Saitama, Japan
16-3-2	2/17/2006	Win	Joachim Hansen	Shooto - The Victory of the Truth	DQ (Kick to Groin)	1	0:08	Tokyo, Japan	Defended Shooto Welterweight Title
15-3-2	9/25/2005	Loss	Takanori Gomi	Pride Bushido 9	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	7:42	Tokyo, Japan	Voted Pride FC Fight of the Year 2005
15-2-2	7/17/2005	Win	Luiz Firmino	Pride Bushido 8	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
14-2-2	5/22/2005	Win	In Seok Kim	Pride Bushido 7	TKO (Punches)	1	3:28	Tokyo, Japan
13-2-2	4/23/2005	Win	Jani Lax	Shooto 2005 - 4/23 in Hakata Star Lanes	TKO (Punches)	1	4:42	Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan
12-2-2	12/14/2004	Win	Vitor Ribeiro	Shooto 2004 - Year-End Show	TKO (Punches)	2	3:11	Tokyo, Japan	Won Shooto Welterweight Title
11-2-2	9/26/2004	Win	Mindaugas Laurinaitis	Shooto 2004 - 9/26 in Korakuen Hall	TKO (Punches)	2	2:00	Tokyo, Japan
10-2-2	3/22/2004	Draw	Caol Uno	Shooto 2004 - 3/22 in Korakuen Hall	Draw	3	5:00	Tokyo, Japan
10-2-1	12/14/2003	Win	Ryan Bow	Shooto 2003 - Year-End Show	TKO (Punches)	1	4:21	Urayasu, Chiba, Japan
9-2-1	8/10/2003	Win	Yves Edwards	Shooto 2003 - 8/10 in Yokohama Gymnasium	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
8-2-1	5/30/2003	Win	Takumi Nakayama	Shooto - Shooter's Dream 2	TKO (Punches)	1	3:44	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
7-2-1	12/14/2002	Loss	Vitor Ribeiro	Shooto - 2002 Year-End Show	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00	Urayasu, Chiba, Japan
7-1-1	10/27/2002	Win	Ken Omatsu	Shooto - GIG West 3	Submission (Armbar)	1	4:40	Osaka, Japan
6-1-1	7/19/2002	Win	Tsutomu Shiiki	Shooto - Treasure Hunt 8	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	4:42	Tokyo, Japan
5-1-1	5/28/2002	Win	Daisuke Sugie	Shooto - GIG East 9	TKO (Punches)	2	4:19	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
4-1-1	4/21/2002	Win	Takeshi Yamazaki	Shooto - Wanna Shooto Japan	Decision (Unanimous)	2	5:00	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
3-1-1	3/13/2002	Win	Masaya Takita	Shooto - Treasure Hunt 4	TKO (Swollen Eye)	2	1:22	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
2-1-1	9/27/2001	Win	Kazumichi Takada	Shooto - To The Top 9	Technical Submission (Triangle/Armbar)	1	3:03	Tokyo, Japan
1-1-1	5/22/2001	Win	Yohei Suzuki	Shooto - GIG East 2	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	2:42	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
0-1-1	4/08/2001	Draw	Yohei Suzuki	Shooto - Wanna Shooto 2001	Draw	2	5:00	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
0-1	4/12/2000	Loss	Takumi Nakayama	Shooto - R.E.A.D. 4	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	2:44	Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan