(born August 14, 1980) 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, 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 ...

, who fights in the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

division. He is the former

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), ...

Megaton Champion, and has also fought in

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 ...

M-1 Global M-1 Global (Mixfight-1) or MMA-1 (Mixed martial arts-1) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in St. Petersburg, Russia which organizes between 10 and 20 competitions per year. It hosted its first major show (rather than co-promoting with othe ...

and KSW.

Judo

Yusuke Kawaguchi came in third place at the high school-level national

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 ...

championships and third place at the 1999 University Judo Championships in the 100 kg weight class.

Mixed martial arts

DEEP

Kawaguchi 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 April 13, 2007, at ''DEEP: 29th Impact'' and defeated his opponent Hirotaka Fujiyama by majority decision. He went on to win his next two fights by way of

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

in the first round and in 2008, he took part in the

Megaton Grand Prix. He TKO'd Nobuyoshi Takahara in the preliminary round and advanced to the quarter-finals where he faced former

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

wrestler

Wakashoyo Wakashoyo Shunichi (born 8 March 1966 as Yoichi Babaguchi) is a Japanese mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and former sumo wrestler. Career Although born in Chiba, he grew up in Nakano, Tokyo. He joined sumo in 1981, wrestl ...

. Wakashoyo rushed Kawaguchi at the beginning of the fight and was knocked out after just 16 seconds. Kawaguchi then advanced to the final stage, where the semi-finals and final were held in one night. In the semis, he came up against Shunji Kosaka, and beat him after his corner threw in the towel within 45 seconds of the first round. Shunsuke Inoue was then to be his opponent in the final. After two four-minute rounds, Kawaguchi emerged the victor by way of split decision to become the DEEP Megaton Champion. On October 23, 2008, Kawaguchi defended his title against Mongolian challenger Baru Harn aka Seryu at ''DEEP: 38th Impact''. He blitzed Seryu with machinegun punches in the first round of the fight but could not finish him. With both men gassed by the second period, the fight quickly devolved into moments of sloppy punching and leaning on each other in the clinch. A majority decision for Kawaguchi resulted after two judges ruled in his favor, with one judge ruling it a draw. Seigo Mizuguchi, who Kawaguchi already beat in 2007, then challenged him at ''DEEP: 44th Impact'' on October 10, 2009. Kawaguchi opened the bout with an initial barrage of machine gun punches, dropping Mizuguchi in a corner. Mizuguchi recovered, however, tossed the champ over his hip in the ''harai-goshi'' and landed in side control, where he squeezed Kawaguchi's head with a neck crank. Kawaguchi escaped and, as the visibly fitter of the two, proceeded to string together big punches for the rest of the bout. Gassed but still tough, Mizuguchi ate all of Kawaguchi's punches while throwing winging singles of his own. Though his face was red and swollen, Mizuguchi would not go down, prompting Kawaguchi to switch tactics midway through the bout, as he chopped him down with kicks. When Mizuguchi limped into a corner at the 1:27 mark of the third round, cornerman

Kazuhiro Nakamura Kazuhiro Nakamura ( , born July 16, 1979) is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist who competed as a Middleweight in DREAM, and is a former DEEP Middleweight Champion. He fought out of the Yoshida Dojo and also competed in the Pride Fighting ...

threw in the towel. Referee Yoshinori Umeki did not see the towel but stopped the bout soon after. Another challenger then stepped up, this time in the form of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

Roque Martinez Roque Martinez (born March 4, 1986) is a Guamanian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division. He has formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Rizin Fighting Federation. Background Born and raised on Guam unt ...

. He, too, was unable to defeat Kawaguchi who won by unanimous decision after three rounds.

M-1 Challenge

In 2009, he represented Team Japan in the

M-1 Challenge M-1 Challenge is a competitions organized by M-1 Global with a series of events held in different places around the world where MMA fighters compete against each other. The events are broadcast in over 100 countries. Fighters in over 30 countries ...

. His first fight came against England's

Rob Broughton Rob Broughton (born 3 March 1983) is an English former mixed martial artist who competed in the heavyweight division. A professional competitor between 2004 and 2015, Broughton is a former British Cage Rage heavyweight champion and has also co ...

on April 29, where he recorded the first loss of his career. Every time Kawaguchi stepped in to engage, Broughton's left hook was there to meet him, and every time Kawaguchi tried to retreat, Broughton's sharp left jab was there to chase him. Broughton also controlled Kawaguchi on the mat, as he shut him down in both rounds and won via unanimous decision. Kawaguchi's second fight representing Japan was on April 16 in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He took on Cirio Tejera of Spain and won by unanimous decision after two rounds.

KSW

On May 7, 2010, Kawaguchi faced 5-time World's Strongest Man

Mariusz Pudzianowski Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski (; born 7 February 1977), also known as "Pudzian" and "Dominator", is a Polish entrepreneur, mixed martial artist and former strongman competitor. With 43 international victories at a record 70% winning percentage ...

at ''KSW XIII: Kumite'' in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, Poland. Pudzianowski rushed Kawaguchi at the opening bell and took him down with a lateral drop, but Kawaguchi proved tougher than anticipated. A quickly gassing Pudzianowski had to dig deep to keep control of the fight after he failed to finish with the opening salvo. Kawaguchi got some strikes in on the Pole in the second round, but Pudzian scored two takedowns, likely the convincing factor for the judges, who ruled in favor of Pudzianowski, who won by unanimous decision.

DREAM

Kawaguchi made his

debut against James Thompson at DREAM.16 and won via a controversial split decision.

Professional wrestling

As a

, Kawaguchi worked exclusively for the

Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) was a Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion founded by Antonio Inoki in 2007. History Antonio Inoki left New Japan Pro-Wrestling, a promotion he founded in 1972, to start the IGF. The first IGF show was held on J ...

(IGF), where he performed under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

. He retired in 2016.

Championships and accomplishments

** DEEP Megaton Champion (1 Time, First) **Three Successful Title Defenses **2008 DEEP Megaton Grand Prix Tournament Winner

Kickboxing record

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Nagoya, Japan is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the List of Japanese cities by population, fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast i ...

, , TKO , , 3 , , 0:47 , , 0–1 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 18–10 , Aori Gele , TKO (punches) , Road FC 34 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:38 ,

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s North China's Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about southwest of Beijin ...

, China , , - , Win , align=center, 18–9 , Kozo Urita , Decision (unanimous) , Grachan / Blue Dog Gym – Grachan 25 / BFC Vol.2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 17–9 , Richard Odoms , KO (knee) , WSOF-GC 2 – World Series of Fighting Global Championship: Japan 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:29 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 17–8 , Yoon Seob Kwak , Submission (arm-triangle choke) , Real Fight Championship 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:18 ,

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 , , - , Loss , align=center, 16–8 , Mu Bae Choi , TKO (punches) , Road FC 24 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:50 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 16–7 , Fumio Yoshimura , TKO (punches) , BFC: Blue Dog Fighting Charity Match Vol.1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:17 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 15–7 ,

Brett Rogers Brett Charles Rogers (born February 17, 1981) is an American former mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2005, Rogers has fought in EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Bellator. Ba ...

, KO (punches) , Inoki Genome Fight 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:28 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 15–6 , Se Yun Kim , TKO , Gladiator 61 – Bushido , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:20 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 14–6 , Justin Morton , Decision (Unanimous) , Tenkaichi Fight – Tenkaichi Fight 68 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–6 ,

Rolles Gracie Jr. Rolles Gracie (born July 14, 1978) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and professional wrestler. As the son of Rolls Gracie, he is a third generation martial arts member of the Gracie family, an ...

, Submission (arm-triangle choke) , Inoki-Bom-Be-Ye 2012 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–5 , Jörgen Kruth , TKO (punches and elbows) , Rumble of the Kings 6 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:18 ,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–4 ,

Soa Palelei Soa Palelei (born 12 July 1977) is an Australian retired mixed martial artist. A professional from 2002 until 2015, he most notably competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championships. Background Born in 1977, Newc ...

, TKO (punches) , AFC Fight Nite 01 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:20 ,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–3 , Peter Graham , TKO (elbows) , Xtreme MMA 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Sydney, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 13–2 , Edmund Cavalcante Jr. , Decision (unanimous) , Gladiator 11: G-1 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 12–2 , James Thompson , Decision (split) , DREAM.16 , , align=center, 2 , 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 , , - , Loss , align=center, 11–2 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , KSW 13: Kumite , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Poland , , - , Win , align=center, 11–1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , Deep: Cage Impact 2009 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , Defended DEEP Megaton title. , - , Win , align=center, 10–1 , Seigo Mizuguchi , TKO (leg kicks) , Deep: 44 Impact , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:27 , Tokyo, Japan , Defended DEEP Megaton title. , - , Win , align=center, 9–1 , Cirio Tejera , Decision (unanimous) , M-1 Challenge 18: Netherlands Day Two , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

, Netherlands , , - , Loss , align=center, 8–1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , M-1 Challenge 14: Japan , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 8–0 , Baru Harn , Decision (majority) , Deep: 38 Impact , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , Defended DEEP Megaton title. , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Shunsuke Inoue , Decision (split) , Deep: Megaton Grand Prix 2008 Finals , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:00 , Tokyo, Japan , Grand Prix final bout. Won DEEP Megaton title. , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 , Shunji Kosaka , TKO (corner stoppage) , Deep: Megaton Grand Prix 2008 Finals , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:45 , Tokyo, Japan , Grand Prix semi-final bout. , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 ,

, TKO (punches) , Deep: Megaton Grand Prix 2008 Semifinal , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:16 , Tokyo, Japan , Grand Prix quarter-final bout. , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Nobuyoshi Takahara , TKO (punches) , Deep: Megaton Grand Prix 2008 Opening Round , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:40 , Tokyo, Japan , Grand Prix prelim round bout. , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Seigo Mizuguchi , TKO (punches) , Deep: 32 Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:07 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Iro Zeki , KO (punch) , Deep: 31 Impact , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:06 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Hirotaka Fujiyama , Decision (majority) , Deep: 29 Impact , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawaguchi, Yusuke 1980 births Living people Japanese male mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists Japanese male judoka Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing Japanese male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Akita Prefecture Deep (mixed martial arts) champions