Yoshitaka Naito (born February 17, 1984) is a Japanese

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 ...

from Inzai,

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

, Japan. He is a former two-time ONE Strawweight World Champion. Naito is furthermore a former Shooto World Flyweight (114 lb) Champion, where he holds the record for flyweight title defenses, and was voted Fighter of the Year for two consecutive years. He is regarded as one of the best strawweights in the world, and is ranked as the #2 all time strawweight by

Fight Matrix Fight Matrix , MMA Rankings, Records, Statistics is an independent, comprehensive, mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter ranking system portal. It is one of the sport's most recognized ranking websites. According to FightMatrix: "The rankings on thi ...

Early life

In his childhood, Naito was a quiet kid who loved manga. One of his favorite titles was ''

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ''tankōbon'' volumes and ...

'', and during his martial arts career, he earned the nickname “Nobita” because of his resemblance to the lead character in the ''Doraemon'' manga. Naito didn't practice any martial arts as a child, but was a member of the soccer club in junior high school. He had few friends during his adolescence and struggled with his grades in school. He later dropped out of high school, a short-sighted decision he later said he regretted. Naito fell in love with mixed martial arts in the early 2000s. He loved watching

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 ...

, who he calls his martial arts hero. He was fascinated by the submissions Sakuraba was able to pull off against foreign athletes in Pride Fighting Championships and soon found himself training at Paraestra Matsudo. He was invited to train at Paraestra Matsudo by his brother Nobutaka. His brother is also a mixed martial artist, currently competing with Shooto.

Martial Arts Career

Shooto

Naito began training mixed martial arts at the age of 22. Despite a rough start to his training and amateur competitions, he won the 2011 All Japan Amateur Shooto Tournament. Naito made his professional debut with the

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 ...

organization on August 25, 2012, at the age of 27. He defeated Tsubasa Fujikawa via guillotine choke in round two in the semifinals of the Rookie Flyweight Tournament. In the finals he beat Shota Kondo by KO to become the Rookie Flyweight tournament champion. He won his next five fights to earn a title shot against reigning Shooto Flyweight Champion

Shinya Murofushi Shinya Murofushi is a professional mixed martial artist from Japan. He competes in the strawweight division of Pancrase. He is ranked as the #1 contender by Pancrase as of March 2020, while Fight Matrix ranks him as the #5 strawweight of all ...

. In the main event of Shooto 7th Round 2014 on September 27, 2014, Naito submitted Murofushi with three seconds remaining in the fight to win the Shooto Flyweight Title. Naito made his first title defense against Ryuto Sawada on July 26, 2015. He won by arm-triangle choke in the fourth round. He made his second title defense against

Junji Ito is a Japanese horror manga artist. Some of his most notable works include ''Tomie'', a series chronicling an immortal girl who drives her stricken admirers to madness; '' Uzumaki'', a three-volume series about a town obsessed with spirals; and ...

on November 29, 2015. He won by decision.

One Championship

In 2016, Naito signed with ONE Championship. Naito moved down to the strawweight division and made his ONE Championship debut against the reigning and undefeated ONE Strawweight World Champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke in his native Bangkok, Thailand on May 27, 2016. He defeated Dejdamrong by rear-naked choke in round four to become the ONE Strawweight World Champion. As the new champ, he made his first ONE Strawweight World Title defense against Joshua Pacio on October 7, 2016. He submitted Pacio by rear-naked choke in the third round to retain the belt. Naito made his next title defense against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Alex Silva on December 9, 2017. After five rounds, Silva defeated Naito by unanimous decision to hand him his first professional loss and take the belt. A rematch between Naito and Silva was set for May 12, 2018. This time, Naito defeated Silva by split decision to reclaim the title. Naito made the first defense of his second ONE Strawweight World Title reign against Joshua Pacio in a rematch from nearly two years earlier on September 22, 2018. He lost the title by unanimous decision. On March 8, 2019, Naito faced Wushu World Champion Rene Catalan. He lost via TKO in the first round. Naito faced Silva for a third time on May 17, 2019. He won by unanimous decision to complete their trilogy. He faced Pongsiri Mitsatit on November 8, 2019, and defeated him by unanimous decision. Naito next faced Yosuke Saruta at Road to One 3: Tokyo Fight Night on September 10, 2020. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Championships and Accomplishments

**2011 All Japan Amateur Shooto Tournament Champion **2012 Shooto Rookie Flyweight Tournament Championship ** Shooto World Flyweight (114 lb) Championship (One time) ***Two successful title defenses **Most consecutive Shooto World Flyweight (114 lb) Championship defenses (2) **2014 and 2015

Fighter of the Year **2015 Fight of the Year **Undefeated in

(10-0) *

ONE Championship ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

** ONE Strawweight World Championship (Two times) ***One successful title defense *

**Strawweight Lineal Champion (One time, former) *eFight.jp **September 2014, May 2016 and May 2018 Fighter of the Month

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 15–4 , Yosuke Saruta , Decision (unanimous) , Road to One 3: Tokyo Fight Night , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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 , , - , Win , align=center, 15–3 , Pongsiri Mitsatit , Decision (unanimous) , ONE Championship: Masters Of Fate , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines , , - , Win , align=center, 14–3 , Alex Silva , Decision (unanimous) , ONE Championship: Enter the Dragon , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the ...

, Singapore , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–3 , Rene Catalan , TKO (punches) , ONE Championship: Reign of Valor , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:32 ,

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Myanmar , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–2 , Joshua Pacio , Decision (unanimous) , ONE Championship: Conquest of Heroes , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 , Jakarta, Indonesia , , - , Win , align=center, 13–1 , Alex Silva , Decision (split) , ONE Championship: Grit and Glory , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 , Jakarta, Indonesia , , - , Loss , align=center, 12–1 , Alex Silva , Decision (unanimous) , ONE Championship: Warriors of the World , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand , , - , Win , align=center, 12–0 , Joshua Pacio , Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) , ONE Championship: State of Warriors , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:33 ,

, Myanmar , , - , Win , align=center, 11–0 , Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke , Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) , ONE Championship: Kingdom of Champions , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 4:00 ,

, Thailand , , - , Win , align=center, 10–0 ,

, Decision (Unanimous) , Shooto - Professional Shooto 11/29 , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Ryuto Sawada , Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) , Shooto - Professional Shooto 7/26 , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 4:46 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 8–0 ,

, Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) , Shooto - 7th Round 2014 , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 4:57 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Yuki Shojo , Decision (Unanimous) , Shooto - 2nd Round 2014 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 , Tadaaki Yamamoto , Decision (Unanimous) , Shooto - 5th Round 2013 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Takeshi Sato , Decision (Unanimous) , Shooto - Shooting Disco 22 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Atsushi Takeuchi , Decision (Majority) , Shooto - Shooting Disco 21: Catch the Moment , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Takafumi Ato , Submission (Armbar) , Shooto - Shooting Disco 20 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 3:10 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Shota Kondo , KO (Punches) , Shooto - The Rookie Tournament Final 2012 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:16 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Tsubasa Fujikawa , Submission (Guillotine Choke) , Shooto - Gig Tokyo 11 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:34 ,

, Japan , , -

Amateur mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 6–1 , Tetsuya Yoshitake , Decision (Unanimous) , 2012 Shooto Rookie Flyweight Tournament , 18 September 2011 , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:00 ,

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...

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, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 4–1 , Yusuke Kamata , Decision (Unanimous) , 2012 Shooto Rookie Flyweight Tournament , 18 September 2011 , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3–1 , Hiroaki Shishino , Decision (Unanimous) , 2012 Shooto Rookie Flyweight Tournament , 18 September 2011 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:00 ,

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 2–1 , Komazawa Takayuki , Decision (Unanimous) , 2010 East Japan Amateur Shooto Tournament , 23 December 2010 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:00 ,

Tokorozawa, Saitama is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 344,194 in 163,675 households and a population density of 4800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Tokorozawa is located in the ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Takuya Okada , DQ (Foul) , DuroFF , 9 March 2008 , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:13 ,

Yokkaichi is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 310,259 in 142162 households and a population density of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Yokkaichi is located in north-centra ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Hidemi Nahata , Decision (Unanimous) , Omiya FF 57 , 21 October 2007 , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:00 ,

Ōmiya, Saitama was a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. On May 1, 2001, Ōmiya was merged with the cities of Urawa and Yono to create the city of Saitama. Since April 1, 2003, the area of former Ōmiya City has been divided into 4 wards: Kita-ku, M ...

, Japan

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naito, Yoshitaka 1984 births Living people Japanese male mixed martial artists Sportspeople from Chiba Prefecture People from Inzai Flyweight mixed martial artists ONE Championship champions