is a Japanese

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 ...

, 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 ...

and promoter. Ishikawa is known for his violent shoot-style matches, that often include him and his opponents legitimately hitting each other and ending the match with numerous injuries and/or blood on their faces. He is perhaps best known for his work in

Battlarts , more commonly referred to as simply Battlarts was a professional wrestling promotion based in Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan. The promotion was formed in 1996 by Japanese wrestler Yuki Ishikawa and featured all of the wrestlers from the Fujiwara Gu ...

, a promotion he founded in 1996. Ishikawa has also competed extensively on the Japanese independent circuit as a freelancer, competing for companies such as

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. ...

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 ...

(AJPW) and Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) as a freelancer.

Professional wrestling career

Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (1992–1995)

Ishikawa idolised Antonio Inoki as a child and dreamed of being a professional wrestler his entire life. After graduating from

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

, he travelled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and enrolled in Boris Malenko's school of professional wrestling, where he trained under Malenko and

Karl Gotch Charles Istaz (August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007) was a Belgian-born German-American professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch. In Japan, Gotch was known as the "God of Wrestling" due to his influence in shaping the ...

. After returning to Japan in 1991, Ishikawa joined

Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Group (''Purofesshonaru-resuringu Fujiwara-Gumi'', プロフェッショナルレスリング藤原組) was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan, operating from 1991 to 1996. It was formed ...

and received further training from owner

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 Wr ...

. Ishikawa spent the early years of his career in both PWFG and

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV ...

, where he took part in the 1995

Young Lions Cup __NOTOC__ The is an infrequent professional wrestling tournament promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a means of showcasing the younger talent on their roster. The tournament is the successor to the Karl Gotch Cup that NJPW promoted in t ...

but failed to win. On November 19, 1995, after discovering that the sponsors of Fujiwara Gumi planned to massively restructure the roster and change the landscape of the entire promotion, Ishikawa led an exodus which resulted in the entire roster except for Fujiwara himself leaving the promotion.

Battlarts (1996–2002)

After breaking away from PWFG, Ishikawa announced the formation of his own promotion, Battlarts, set to follow the same shoot style rules and themes of PWFG. As well as using the entirety of the former Fujiwara Gumi roster, Battlarts would make use of fellow independent promotions such as

Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their f ...

(FMW),

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather ...

and

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasaki, ...

(BJW). Battlarts quickly gained notoriety for its violent matches, often ending with Ishikawa either breaking his nose or having blood coming out of his mouth. In 1998, Ishikawa entered the Young Generation Battle, where he would go on to win the tournament by defeating Victor Krüger in the final. In November of the same year he also won the 1998 B Cup, beating Bob Backlund to win. He once again made it to the final of the Young Generation Battle in 1999, however this time he lost to his biggest rival

Daisuke Ikeda is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently wrestling in the Independent circuit in Japan. Since debuting in 1993, Ikeda has worked for a number of promotions in Japan, including Battlarts, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah ...

. Ikeda eventually left Battlarts for

(AJPW) in March 2000, and the promotion ceased running regular shows and events in 2001 due to "management aggravation". Battlarts eventually began to run monthly shows mainly in Tokyo, Saitama, and Shizuoka Prefecture, often co-promoting with other promotions such as

Kiyoshi Tamura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz and Akira Maeda, Tamura was known for his skills in catch wrestling and is considered to be one of ...

's Style-E and Satoru Sayama's Real Japan Pro Wrestling (RJPW).

Freelance (2001–present)

Yuki Ishikawa & Timothy Thatcher 16 Carat Gold 2020 N3 (2)

As Battlarts ran shows less often, Ishikawa began competing for other promotions in early 2002, working for a number of promotions including

Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling Fighting of World Japan Pro-Wrestling, frequently shortened to World Japan or WJ was a professional wrestling promotion formed in Japan in 2002 by former New Japan Pro-Wrestling employees Riki Choshu and Katsuji Nagashima, who also served as chairm ...

(WJ),

(AJPW), Riki-Pro and U-Style. On April 24, 2005, Ishikawa took part in an infamous match with

in his Futen promotion, where the two willingly

shot Shot may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard *''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck *'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy * "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus * ''Shot'' (2017 f ...

on each other, punching and kicking themselves for real. Ishikawa continued to compete semi-regularly for both Battlarts and Futen until they closed their doors in 2011 and 2013 respectively.

Mixed martial arts career

With a background in

judo is an unarmed 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 Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

and karate, Ishikawa made his

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 ...

debut on November 3, 2001 at

Pride 17 The year 2001 is the 5th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2001 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 13 - Collision Course''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters Th ...

, losing to

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 ...

by knockout. He would compete one more time at Deep 7th Impact, losing to

Yasuhito Namekawa (born October 27, 1974) is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the light heavyweight division. Namekawa made his Mixed martial arts debut for Fighting Network Rings in 1998. He fought in mainly Shoot fighting bouts until 1999 when ...

by submission.

Mixed martial arts record

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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 , , - , Loss , align=center, 1–0 , , TKO ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:52 ,

, Japan ,

Championships and accomplishments

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 ...

(one time) – with

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishikawa, Yuki Living people 1967 births Japanese male professional wrestlers