(born June 8, 1978) is a Japanese former

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

professional wrestler 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 or ...

. A professional MMA competitor from 2000 until 2007, Yokoi fought for

PRIDE Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

Shooto Shooto is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the ''Shooto Association'' and the ''International Shooto Commission''. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 198 ...

RINGS Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

, and

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), ...

, while in professional wrestling he wrestled mainly for

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. I ...

Mixed martial arts career

Yokoi originally started training in

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 ...

in high school, but he was more interested in Universal Wrestling Federation and its offshoots. He participated at a

mixed martial arts tournament during his stay at the

Kinki University is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university based in Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan with campuses in five other locations: Nara, Nara; Ōsakasayama, Osaka; Uchita, Wakayama; Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima; and Iizuka, Fukuoka. The En ...

, and later moved to Fighting Network RINGS. Yokoi gained the nickname "Kaibutsu-kun" (meaning "Monster-kun") for his physical resemblance to the title character from the 1980s

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series '' Kaibutsu-kun''.

Fighting Network RINGS

Yokoi made his professional debut in 2000 and won his first eight fights, mostly fighting in the

organization before moving to compete in

. After RINGS's demise, he followed fellow judoka

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist, submission grappler and professional wrestler who competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional MMA competitor from 1994 till 2022, he has competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships ...

and joined his Alliance team.

PRIDE Fighting Championships

Yokoi made his debut for the organization on November 24, 2002 at

Pride 23 The year 2002 is the 6th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2002 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The ...

against Dutch

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 ...

Jerrel Venetiaan Jerrel Venetiaan (born March 9, 1971) is a retired Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist who fought in K-1. As a MMA fighter he fought in Pride Fighting Championships. Championships and accomplishments Kickboxing *2004 King Of The Ring ...

, winning in the third round via

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the arm is known as an armbar, and it includes the traditional armbar, pr ...

submission. After picking up a TKO win over

Wilson Gouveia Wilson Gouveia (born October 3, 1978) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist. Gouveia formerly fought in the UFC. He is a 4th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is a member of American Top Team. Mixed martial arts career Gouveia h ...

, the undefeated Yokoi fought former Pride Heavyweight Champion

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (, born 2 June 1976), better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Inter ...

in the opening round of the

Pride Total Elimination 2004 The year 2004 is the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 27 - Inferno''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The followi ...

tournament. Yokoi performed unexpectedly well, taking Nogueira down repeatedly with judo throws and pulling out reversals and occasional

ground and pound 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 ...

on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert, but he ultimately fell to an

anaconda choke Arm triangle choke, side choke, or head and arm choke are generic terms describing blood chokeholds in which the opponent is strangled in between their own shoulder and the practitioner's arm. This is as opposed to the regular triangle choke, whi ...

in the second round for the first loss of his career. At PRIDE 28, Yokoi faced

Heath Herring Heath Herring (born March 2, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Heavyweight division of Rizin. While perhaps best known for competing in PRIDE, he has also formerly competed for the UFC and K-1. ...

, but he was soon overwhelmed with a right hook and multiple knees, including illegal strikes to the back to the head that granted Herring a warning. He eventually lost the fight by TKO in the same way. Yokoi looked to make up for his defeat at the next event by taking on

Mario Sperry is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

, Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and Nogueira's trainer, but after an uneventful round of clinch striking Yokoi was again downed and hit with knees and soccer kicks for the TKO. Yokoi's final fight in PRIDE was at PRIDE 30, where he faced

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (born June 20, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist, actor and former professional wrestler, who most recently fought in the Bellator MMA. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and unified the Pride Middl ...

. Yokoi showed himself active again, gaining dominant position with an early

omoplata An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the arm is known as an armbar, and it includes the traditional armbar, ...

sweep Sweep or swept may refer to: Cleaning * Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean * Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys * Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets * Swept quartz, a cleani ...

, but Jackson used his superior strength to reverse him and threw heavy punches and kicks until the referee stopped the match.

Post-PRIDE

Yokoi bounced back with a win via

rear-naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikogi ...

submission win a year after last fight and then fought again a year later in Finland, losing via TKO. With a career record of 11-5, having won only one of his last six fights, Yokoi retired.

Professional wrestling career

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2002–2007)

Yokoi joined

in May 2002. He started teaming up with other

shoot-style Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that originated in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their exciteme ...

wrestlers, namely

Wataru Sakata is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Career A former Kyokushin karateka, Sakata trained in professional wrestling at Animal Hamaguchi's gym and joined Akira Maeda's Fighting Network RINGS immediately after. F ...

Yuki Ishikawa is a Japanese female volleyball player who plays for the Japan National Volleyball team. Clubs *Kawagoe Municipal High School → Takefuji Bamboo (2006–2009) → JT Marvelous（2009-2014） National team * 2006, 2009, 2011 Awards Individu ...

and

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Japanese Professional Wrestler and trainer. He is famous for his long career in wrestling, having worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE (ZERO-ONE), and the two incarnations of shoot style promotion Universal Wrest ...

, and also enjoyed significant wins in the ''Fire Festival'', beating

Kohei Sato is a Japanese professional wrestler contracted with Pro Wrestling Zero1. Sato is also a former mixed martial artist. Career A former judoka and amateur wrestler, Sato made his transition to mixed martial arts after meeting Kazunari Murakami a ...

and

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's cl ...

. He spent the rest of the year in random tag team matches, as well as losing efforts to

Shinjiro Otani is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury substained in April 2022. A product of the N ...

and Kazuhiko Ogasawara. Eventually, he formed a tag team with Kohei Sato in midst of the

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

between the native wrestlers and

Steve Corino Steven Eugene "Steve" Corino (born May 29, 1973) is a Canadian semi-retired professional wrestler currently signed with WWE as a trainer and producer for their developmental territory NXT. He is best known for his tenure with Extreme Championship ...

's American faction, and they challenged Corino and

CW Anderson Christopher Wright (born January 7, 1971) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, C. W. Anderson. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2001. Early life Wright grew up ...

for the

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship The Intercontinental Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promoting Pro Wrestling Zero1, typically reserved for (but not exclusive to) heavyweight (>) wrestlers. It was created on June 14, 2001, three month ...

in two separate occasions, though coming short in both. Around the same time, in which their team was named as Rowdy, they started appearing in

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

as Zero-One representatives. Sato and Yokoi put their eyes in the

All Asia Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). It was created on November 16, 1955, in the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) when King Kong Czaya and Tiger Joginder Singh defeated JWA founder ...

, taking part in a special league for the vacated title. Rowdy was successful, winning the belts against Turmeric Storm (

Kazushi Miyamoto is a Japanese professional wrestler. Career Kazushi Miyamoto will forever have the distinction of being the first post-split graduate of the All Japan Pro Wrestling dojo. While in the Dojo Miyamoto was trained by Hiroshi Hase, Johnny Smith, an ...

and

Tomoaki Honma is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a former one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and a two-time World Tag League winner with Togi Makabe. Professional wrestling career Big Japa ...

) in July 2003. They retained the title against challengers like King Adamo and King Joe and Nobukazu Hirai and Shigeo Okumura, but ended up losing it in October to the Zero-One team of

Kintaro Kanemura ( ko, 김행호 ''Kim Hyeong-ho'') (born August 9, 1970) is a Zainichi-Korean retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is also known as W*ING Kanemura or . He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Jap ...

and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. After the All Japan affair, Yokoi diversified to his singles career aside from Rowdy, and challenged The Predator for the Zero-One United States Heavyweight Championship and

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a one-time FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WEW World Heavyweight Champion and in Ext ...

for the

NWA United National Heavyweight Championship The United National Heavyweight Championship (often shortened to UN Championship) is a professional wrestling title in the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1. It is one of ZERO1's top two singles titles, along with the Zero1 World Heavyweig ...

. He and Sato also challenged for the NWA tag team titles several times, but they failed. From 2004 to 2006, Yokoi competed sporadically in Hustle as a member of the

babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

Hustle Army, teaming up with "Hustle K"

Toshiaki Kawada (born December 8, 1963) is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In All Japan, he was a 5 time Triple Crown Heavyweight ...

, while trying luck in Zero-One's ''Fire Festival'' tournaments and keeping his team with Kohei Sato. He was released from Zero-One in February 2007, leaving pro wrestling altogether.

Championship and accomplishments

( 1 time) - with

**All Asia Tag Team Title League (2003) - with Kohei SatoProwrestlinghistory
Prowrestlinghistory.com retrieved on March 25, 2019

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 11–5 , Mikko Rupponen , TKO (strikes) , Fight Festival 21 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:51 , Finland , , - , Win , align=center, 11–4 , Andre Fyeet , Submission (rear-naked choke) , World Pro Fighting Championships 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:11 ,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–4 ,

Quinton Jackson Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (born June 20, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist, actor and former professional wrestler, who most recently fought in the Bellator MMA. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and unified the Pride Middlew ...

, TKO (punches and stomps) ,

PRIDE 30 The year 2005 is the 9th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2005 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 29 - Fists of Fire''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:05 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–3 ,

, TKO (knees) ,

PRIDE 29 The year 2005 is the 9th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2005 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 29 - Fists of Fire''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 9:08 , Saitama, Japan , Return to

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

. , - , Loss , align=center, 10–2 ,

, TKO (knees) ,

PRIDE 28 The year 2004 is the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 27 - Inferno''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The followi ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:55 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–1 ,

, Submission (anaconda choke) ,

PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 The year 2004 is the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 27 - Inferno''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The followi ...

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:25 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 10–0 ,

, TKO (punches) , HOOKnSHOOT: Absolute Fighting Championships 2 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 2:26 ,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 ,

, Submission (armbar) ,

PRIDE 23 The year 2002 is the 6th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2002 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The ...

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:29 ,

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 , , - , Win , align=center, 8–0 , Bulldozer George , Submission (rear-naked choke) , UFO: Legend , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:47 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Memo Diaz , Decision (unanimous) , DEEP: 4th Impact , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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 , , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 ,

Katsuhisa Fujii ,(born August 15, 1972) is a Japanese retired mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, mostly known for his work in Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Hustle. A professional MMA competitor from 1996 until 2010, he competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighti ...

, Decision (unanimous) , RINGS: World Title Series Grand Final , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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, 5–0 , Kestutis Smirnovas , Decision , RINGS Lithuania: Bushido RINGS 3 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Lithuania , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Ken Orihashi , TKO (lost points) , RINGS: World Title Series 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:14 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Masaya Kojima , Submission (armlock) , RINGS: Battle Genesis Vol. 8 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:12 ,

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Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan ,

bout.

Submission grappling record

KO PUNCHES , - style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Result , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Method , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Event , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Round , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Time , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - , Draw, , Koshi Matsumoto , , Draw , ,

Quintet Fight Night 2 A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

, , February 3, 2019 , , 1, , 10:00, , , -

References

External links

*
PRIDE profileOfficial blog

ZERO1 USA English language website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yokoi, Hirotaka Living people 1978 births Japanese male mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Japanese male judoka Japanese male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Hokkaido People from Iwamizawa, Hokkaido All Asia Tag Team Champions