is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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, incorpo ...

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 o ...

currently competing in IGF as . A professional MMA competitor since 1996, he was a longtime veteran of

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) w ...

and

Pancrase Pancrase Inc. is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the Ancient Olympic Games. Suzuki and Funaki pr ...

and has also competed in other

mixed martial arts 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, inc ...

promotions such as

K-1 Hero's Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the ''K-1 Romanex' ...

, Cage Rage, the SFL,

Vale Tudo Japan is an annual mixed martial arts competition held in Japan. Originally arranged by promoter and former professional wrestler Satoru Sayama, he had previously created a hybrid martial art organization named Shooto in 1985. He arranged VTJ in 1994 w ...

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

DREAM A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

, 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), ...

. He is the former DREAM Openweight Grand Prix Champion (Super Hulk). Often undersized and a huge fan favorite in Japan, Minowa earned his nickname "The Giant Killer" by participating in many openweight contests, often submitting much larger opponents. Also renowned for his durability, he is a veteran of 115 fights, and is known for his trademark red

speedo Speedo International Limited is a distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England, known for its swim briefs. The company has roots in Australia but is no longer based there. Founded in Sydney in 1914 by A ...

and mullet.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Minowa made his professional debut in the Lumax Cup in 1996, but would spend most of his early career in the

promotion. Minowa had a poor start to his MMA career, going 1–8–1 in his first ten fights, taking on MMA pioneers such as

Yuki Kondo is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division. He has officially 111 professional fights, making him one of the most experienced mixed martial artists ever. He has also competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Seng ...

and

Jason DeLucia Jason DeLucia (born July 24, 1969) is an American retired mixed martial artist. Biography DeLucia practiced the Five Animals style of Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Aikido, Karate, and Judo. He is remembered by UFC enthusiasts for being in the very first fi ...

, and with the win being in his

debut. The young Minowa would turn his career around, however, improving to 12–11–6 with a win over

Daiju Takase is a Japanese mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He has fought as a middleweight and welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championship. He is noted for being the second to defeat, and first to finish, former U ...

before fighting in his first and only fight in the

UFC 25 ''UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 14, 2000 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. History The event was the third UFC event to be held in Japan. UFC 25 w ...

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

, Japan. The bout was against Joe Slick and Minowa won via TKO from a cut that Slick received. Minowa continued to fight in

as well as another Japanese organization,

, before leaving the Pancraseism team in April 2003.

PRIDE

Minowa made his PRIDE Fighting Championships debut against future

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

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 ...

. Around this time, he would briefly join the

Brazilian Top Team The Brazilian Top Team (BTT) is an academy specialized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts. It established in April 2000 by Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Libório, Mário Sperry and Luis Roberto Duarte, former members of the Carlson Grac ...

, becoming its first Japanese member and the only who didn't come from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu background. Minowa was known in PRIDE for his entertaining entrances and sporting of the

Japanese flag The national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red circle at its center. This flag is officially called the , but is more commonly known in Japan as the . It embodies the country's sobriquet: the Land of the Rising S ...

as a cape as well as his aggressive, high-risk style of fighting which has seen him employ flying dropkicks amongst other pro-wrestling derived maneuvers. It was also during his career with PRIDE that he continued to cement his legacy in taking on fighters that were much bigger than himself, winning most of the resultant

freak show fight In kickboxing and mixed martial arts (MMA), "freak show fight" is an idiom for a bout featuring a deep disparity in skill, experience or weight between the fighters. This kind of matchup was common in the early period of mixed martial arts hist ...

s and earning the nickname "The Giant Killer". He participated in PRIDE's first 185 lb tournament where he won over

Phil Baroni Philip George Baroni (April 16, 1976) is a retired American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and former kickboxer. A professional MMA competitor since 2000, Baroni has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, Cage Rage, DREAM, Elit ...

, but went on to lose in the second round to former UFC Middleweight Champion

Murilo Bustamante Murilo Bustamante (; born 30 July 1966, in Rio de Janeiro) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Middleweight Champion. He is one of the founders of the ''Brazilian Top Team'' and is the current leader. In addition to compe ...

. On December 31, 2005, Minowa fought the legendary

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestling, submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling NOAH, Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC T ...

, in which he almost landed a

kneebar A leglock is a joint lock that is directed at joints of the leg such as the ankle, knee or hip joint. A leglock which is directed at joints in the foot, is sometimes referred to as a foot lock and a lock at the hip as a hip lock. Leglocks are f ...

and then a

heel hook Heel hook may refer to: * Heel hook, in grappling * A climbing technique {{disambig