is a Japanese retired

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 ...

, a designer, and an owner of MMA gym. He was born in

Yokohama, Kanagawa 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 Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on January 5, 1968, as .

Mixed martial arts career

A former amateur wrestler, Asahi was trained in

Satoru Sayama (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestling, Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, MMA and wrestling promoter and writer, best known as the original Tiger Mask (professional wrestling), Tige ...

's Super Tiger Gym, where he learned

shoot wrestling 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 ...

, and later moved to Noriaki Kiguchi's dojo to polish his skills. He made his debut in

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 ...

in 1992 submitting

Tomoyuki Saito Tomoyuki Saito is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He competed in the Bantamweight division. Mixed martial arts record , - , Loss , align=center, 2-3-4 , Mamoru Okochi , Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 1 ...

. Showing his grappling excellence, Noboru captured the Shooto Featherweight Championship from

Kazuhiro Sakamoto Kazuhiro Sakamoto is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He competed in the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions. Sakamoto is a longtime Shooto and Vale Tudo Japan veteran and currently serves as a representative and promoter for Shooto and ...

and enjoyed a thirteen-fights winning streak, with victories over

Yuki Nakai is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist. He currently teaches Shooto and Jiu-Jitsu, and is the president of the Japanese Confederation of Jiu-Jitsu. He competed in Shooto, an early MMA promotion where he won the Shooto World Welterweight Champ ...

and

Masato Suzuki Masato Suzuki is a Japanese mixed martial artist. Mixed martial arts record , - , Loss , align=center, 4-5-2 , Rumina Sato , Technical Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Vale Tudo Junction 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:00 ...

, as well as

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

grappler Leandro Lima de Azevedo. His streak snapped, however, when he was sent to the 1996

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 ...

and fought another Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist

Royler Gracie Royler Gracie (born December 6, 1965) is a Brazilian-American retired mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Gracie ran the Gracie Humaitá school in Rio de Janeiro for many years under his father Helio's dir ...

. Asahi was taken down and held in

side control In grappling, side control (often also called side mount, cross mount, 100 kilos) is a dominant ground grappling position where the top combatant is lying perpendicularly over the face-up bottom combatant in such a way that the legs are free and ...

, ending up with Gracie taking his back; he eventually escaped, but the game repeated itself and he got caught in a

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 keiko ...

, being submitted. At the next Shooto event, Asahi lost to

Alexandre Franca Nogueira Alexandre Franca "Pequeno" Nogueira (born January 15, 1978) is a Brazilian Luta Livre fighter and the former Shooto Lightweight Champion, a Japanese mixed martial arts organization. Nogueira began his professional career at the age of 20, defea ...

by technical submission due to Nogueira's famed

guillotine choke The guillotine choke, also known as Mae Hadaka Jime (前裸絞, "front naked choke"; compare to a rear naked choke) in judo, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from in front of the opponent, often on the ground but can also be done while stan ...

. Noboru did better in the next VTJ, fighting to a draw with yet another BJJ expert in the form of

João Roque João Manuel Roque (born July 22, 1971) is a Portuguese-Angolan former featherweight Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) black belt World Champion and a retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the Featherweight division in MMA (Mixed Mar ...

, but he fell again to Nogueira in a much longer fight, losing his title. In 2001, Asahi retired from Shooto and founded the Tokyo Yellowmans gym.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 19-6-5 , Tomomi Iwama , TKO (punches) , Deep - 10th Impact , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 0:42 , Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 19-5-5 ,

Naoya Uematsu Naoya Uematsu (born September 10, 1978) is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist who competed in the bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight divisions in Cage Force, DEEP and Shooto. He is the head instructor of the NEXUSENSE gym. In addi ...

, Decision (2-0) , Shooto - R.E.A.D. 10 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 19-4-5 ,

, Technical submission (guillotine choke) , Shooto - Renaxis 4 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:29 , Japan , , - , Draw , align=center, 19-4-4 ,

Uchu Tatsumi Uchu Tatsumi (born January 23, 1972) is a retired Japanese people, Japanese mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He competed in the Bantamweight (MMA), Bantamweight and Featherweight (MMA), Featherweight division. Tatsumi fought in Shooto an ...

, Decision (1-1) , Shooto - Renaxis 1 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Japan , , - , Draw , align=center, 19-4-3 ,

, Draw , Vale Tudo Japan 1998 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 8:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 18-4-3 , Trent Bekis , Submission (keylock) , Shooto - Las Grandes Viajes 5 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:01 , Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 18-3-3 ,

, Technical submission (guillotine choke) , Shooto - Shoot the Shooto XX , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:06 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 18-2-2 , Denis Hall , Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Las Grandes Viajes 1 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:18 , Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 17-2-2 ,

, Submission (rear-naked choke) , Vale Tudo Japan 1996 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:07 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 17-1-2 , Leandro Lima De Azevedo , Technical submission (heel hook) , Shooto - Vale Tudo Junction 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:04 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 16-1-2 , Iwan Njangka , Submission (punches) , Shooto - Vale Tudo Junction 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:21 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 15-1-2 , Anthony Lange , Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Vale Tudo Perception , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:41 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 14-1-2 , Leonid Zaslavsky , Submission (heel hook) , Shooto - Complete Vale Tudo Access , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 0:48 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 13-1-2 , Kyuhei Ueno , Decision (unanimous) , Shooto - Vale Tudo Access 2 , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 12-1-2 , Nozomu Matsumoto , Submission (keylock) , Shooto - Vale Tudo Access 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:13 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 11-1-2 , Shinji Abe , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:41 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 10-1-2 ,

, Decision (2-0) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 9-1-2 ,

, Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 1:39 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 8-1-2 , Takashi Ishizaki , Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 0:43 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 7-1-2 , Hiroyuki Kanno , Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:05 , Japan , , - , Draw , align=center, 6-1-3 ,

Kenichi Tanaka Kenichi Tanaka is a Japanese mixed martial artist and referee. He competed in the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions. Tanaka is one of the earliest Satoru Sayama trainees under Super Tiger Gym, and was the inaugural Shooto Lightweight 65 ...

, Decision (0-0) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , Asahi fought to a draw with Tanaka to remain the Shooto Featherweight Champion. , - , Win , align=center, 6-1-2 ,

, Decision (2-0) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , Asahi defeated Sakamoto to become the Shooto Featherweight Champion. , - , Draw , align=center, 5-1-2 ,

, Decision (0-0) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 5-1-1 ,

, Submission (kneebar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 1 , align=center, ? , Japan , , - , Draw , align=center, 4-1-1 , Tomohiro Tanaka , Decision (1-0) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 4-1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 4-0 , Takashi Ishizaki , Decision (unanimous) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3-0 , Hiroyuk Sugano , Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:38 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2-0 , Kazumi Chigira , Decision (unanimous) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 3:00 , Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 1-0 ,

, Submission (armbar) , Shooto - Shooto , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:54 , Japan ,

Mixed martial arts exhibition record

, - , Draw , align=center, 0-0-1 ,

Manabu Yamada Manabu Yamada (山田学, born May 18, 1969 in Tochigi, Japan) is a retired Japanese mixed martial arts fighter. He is best known for his participation in Shooto and Pancrase fighting organizations. On December 17, 1994 Yamada advanced to the fi ...

, Technical Draw , Pancrase - Proof 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , -

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 , - , Loss, , Hidehiko Matsumoto , , Points , , ZST GT-F , , 2004, , , , , , , -

References

External links