Bernard Ackah (born April 9, 1972) is a Japanese-based Ivorian

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

practitioner,

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

and comedian.

Biography

Martial arts career and background

Ackah was born in Bonn, Germany to Ivorian parents and moved to Japan at the age of 2. He practiced

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

during his middle school and high school days. In 1998, he went to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and stayed there for 3 years to practice

at the prestigious

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the "SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in the ...

.JICA's interview
-

Japan International Cooperation Agency The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...

He made his professional mixed martial arts debut in March 2007 with a first-round knockout victory over Hyun Pyo Shin at '' K-1 Hero's 8''. He entered the spotlight later that year at ''

Dynamite!! USA ''SoftBank presents Dynamite!! USA'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event co-promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), the promoters of K-1 kickboxing events and Hero's MMA events, and EliteXC. The event was held on Saturday, June 2, 2 ...

'' when he also knocked out former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

player-turned-mixed martial artist

Johnnie Morton Johnnie James Morton, Jr. (born October 7, 1971) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the University of Southern California (USC), and was ...

. He then went on to lose his next three fights, however, including one to Dutch kickboxer

Melvin Manhoef Melvin Manhoef (born 11 May 1976) is a retired Surinamese-born Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer. In kickboxing, he is a former It's Showtime Middleweight Champion, and in MMA he was the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion. In mixed mar ...

. He ended this losing streak seven seconds into his fight with

Ryūshi Yanagisawa is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and kickboxer. His real name is . As a martial artist, he competed in K-1, Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling (Pancrase) and Fighting Network RINGS. As a professional wrestler he competed in Ne ...

at '' Deep: 43rd Impact'' with a KO victory. He has since won two fights, both in the

Deep Deep or The Deep may refer to: Places United States * Deep Creek (Appomattox River tributary), Virginia * Deep Creek (Great Salt Lake), Idaho and Utah * Deep Creek (Mahantango Creek tributary), Pennsylvania * Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary), C ...

promotion. He entered

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

in December 2007 when he faced Japanese legend Musashi at ''

K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!! ''K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!!'' was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 and Hero's on New Year's Eve, Monday December 31, 2007 at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 HERO'S MMA rules fights, 4 K-1 ru ...

''. He lost the fight via

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

in the third round. He also fought at '' K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Fukuoka'' and took on

Tsuyoshi Nakasako Tsuyoshi Nakasako ( ja, 中迫剛; born January 29, 1974) is a Japanese retired heavyweight kickboxer who competed in K-1. During his ten-year career from 1998 until 2008, he fought a variety of K-1 champions including Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aert ...

, who defeated him via decision. His kickboxing record stands at two wins and three losses.

Television career

In 2001, he formed the

comedy duo A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...

"Sio-Koshō"(Solt Pepper) with Rex Jones, which was active until 2008. He is known to anime fans as the voice of the Master of Ceremonies in the original Japanese version of ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the second main spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, succeeding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump and the 15th anniversary of V Jump. The series aired in Japan from April 2, 2008 to Mar ...

''. He also made an appearance on the 19th '' Sasuke'' competition and failed the "Jumping Spider" in the First Stage. He recently made in appearance in ''

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until Decade), is a Japanese superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. ''Kamen Rider'' media generall ...

'' series, starting ''

Kamen Rider Wizard is a Japanese tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's '' Kamen Rider'' franchise, being the fourteenth series in the Heisei period run and the twenty-third overall. It began airing on TV Asahi on September 2, 2012, joining ''Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters' ...

'' as the Phantom Caitsith and ''

Kamen Rider Drive is a Japanese tokusatsu television series serving as the 16th Heisei period, Heisei Kamen Rider Series, and 25th series overall. Riku Sanjo returns to the Kamen Rider Series to serve as ''Drive''s lead screenwriter, with Ryuta Tasaki as directo ...

'' as the Gunman Roidmude.

Professional wrestling career

On November 30, 2014, Ackah made his

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

debut for the

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

(DDT) promotion, where he was introduced as

Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion The is a professional wrestling professional wrestling championship, championship created and promoted by the Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion CyberFight in its DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) brand. Open to anyone, regardless of gend ...

LiLiCo Ann-Sophie Lennerfors (born 16 November 1970) is a Swedish TV personality and film critic who lives and works in Japan, best known under the stage name LiLiCo. Biography Early life LiLiCo was born Ann-Sophie Lennerfors in Stockholm, Sweden, to ...

's bodyguard. He wrestled his first match on December 13, defeating Kazuki Hirata.

Personal life

He can speak English, French, German, Korean, and Japanese. He is married to a Japanese woman, living in his wife's parents' house, and has 3 children.A TV report
- Shinmeisha

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 5–6 , Yuki Niimura , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Deep: 57 Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:35 ,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 5–5 , Shunsuke Inoue , TKO (punches) , Deep: Cage Impact 2011 in Tokyo, 2nd Round , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:30 ,

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 5–4 , Yoshiyuki Nakanishi , KO (head kick) , Deep: 54 Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:07 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 5–3 , Minoru Kato , Decision (unanimous) , Deep: 47 Impact , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 4–3 , Shunji Kosaka , TKO (punches) , Deep: Cage Impact 2009 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:34 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3–3 , Ryushi Yanagisawa , TKO (head kick and punches) , Deep: 43 Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:07 ,

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 2–3 , Young Choi , Decision (unanimous) , Deep: 42 Impact , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 2–2 , Po'ai Suganuma , Submission (armbar) , Hero's 2007 in Korea , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:05 ,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea , , - , Loss , align=center, 2–1 ,

, KO (punches) , Hero's 9 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:13 ,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 ,

, KO (punch) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:38 ,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Hyun Pyo Shin , TKO (punches) , Hero's 8 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:11 ,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, Japan ,

Kickboxing

References

External links

Bernard Ackah Rakuten blog

Bernard Ackah Ameba blog

Bernard Ackah official MySpace

K-1
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackah, Bernard Ivorian male kickboxers Heavyweight kickboxers Ivorian male mixed martial artists Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Ivorian male judoka Ivorian male taekwondo practitioners Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Sasuke (TV series) contestants Living people 1972 births