| Satoshi Ishii | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 19, 1986 Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Height | 5 ft 11.3 in (1.81 m) |
| Weight | 205 lb (93.0 kg; 14.6 st) |
| Division | Light Heavyweight Heavyweight |
| Style | Judo |
| Team | Kings MMA Reign Training Center |
| Rank | Olympian and 5th dan black belt in Judo |
| Years active | 2009–present (MMA) |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 7 |
| Wins | 4 |
| By submission | 2 |
| By decision | 2 |
| Losses | 2 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| By decision | 1 |
| Draws | 1 |
| Other information | |
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Japan | ||
| Men's Judo | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 2008 Beijing | +100 kg |
| Asian Games | ||
| Silver | 2006 Doha | -100 kg |
| Universiade | ||
| Gold | 2007 Bangkok | Open |
Satoshi Ishii (石井 慧 Ishii Satoshi, born December 19, 1986) is a Japanese judoka and mixed martial artist noted for winning a gold medal in Olympic Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games and two All-Japan Judo Championships. Ishii made his professional MMA debut at Dynamite!! 2009 losing to fellow Judoka gold medallist Hidehiko Yoshida by unanimous decision.[1]
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Ishii won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships on 16 October 2004 in Budapest, Hungary. On 2 December 2006 he won a silver medal at the −100 kg category of the 2006 Asian Games. On April 29, 2006 and 2008, he won the All-Japan Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan. With him Japanese team won the World Judo team competition on 17 November 2007 in Beijing, China, this time in the +100 kg division.
On August 15, 2008 he won a gold medal at the +100 kg category of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
On 30th April 2011 Ishii returned to Judo to play the United States Championship in the open division; he won all the matches, securing the gold medal.
After winning the gold medal, Ishii expressed his wishes to apply his talents in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) to the dismay of the Japanese Judo Federation.[2] Ishii originally confirmed that he signed a contract with Japanese MMA promotion Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) and was rumored to debut in early 2009 in their fight series, DREAM.[3]
Japanese newspaper Sports Nippon then reported that Ishii would make his ring debut on December 31, 2009 at the annual K-1 Premium Dynamite!! event at the Saitama Super Arena. However, Ishii announced that he rejected FEG's offer, and was planning to pursue his MMA career in the US' Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He headed to Florida where he trained with two of MMA's top camps American Top Team and Xtreme Couture.[4]
On June 1, 2009, Ishii announced he would join Japanese MMA organization World Victory Road.[5] He officially signed with the organization at a public signing event on June 4, 2009.[6] On September 14, 2009, it was announced that Ishii would make his MMA debut against fellow Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida.[7] Although the fight was originally to take place at World Victory Road's New Year show on December 31, when that event was cancelled, the fight was moved to DREAM's Dynamite!! 2009 card on New Year's Eve as a co-promoted show.[8] Ishii lost the match by unanimous decision.
For his second fight, Ishii faced New Zealand heavyweight kickboxing champion Tafa "Thumper" Misipati on May 15, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand. The fight was the main event at the ETK production X-plosion: New Zealand vs. Japan. Ishii won via submission (armbar) in the first round.
In June 2010, Ishii caused controversy during an MMA exhibition match on the undercard of X-1 World Events: Nations Collide in Hawaii. After knocking down his opponent Myles Tynanes at the end of the first-round, Ishii failed to stop punching his downed foe despite the referee’s attempts to halt the action. He was subsequently disqualified for his actions.[9]
On September 25, 2010, Ishii fought Ikuhisa Minowa, a catch wrestler known for facing much larger opponents, at Dream.16 and won via unanimous decision.[10][11]
Ishii's next MMA fight was supposed to be against Antz Nansen at the K-1 World MAX 2010.[12] However, his opponent was changed to Katsuyori Shibata at the last minute. Ishii won via Kimura in the first round.
Ishii continued to train with Blackhouse, in Brazil with notably fighters suchs as Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. Prior to Silva's fight with Chael Sonnen Ishii hurt Silva's ribs. Since than he has train at Mark Munoz's gym Reign MMA, along with Mayhem Miller, Fabricio Werdum and other notable fighters.
Ishii then fought French kickboxing star Jerome LeBanner in a mixed martial arts bout at the Dynamite!! 2010 New Year's Eve event.[13] He won the fight via unanimous decision.
Ishii was scheduled to make his North America debut for Strikeforce at Strikeforce Challengers 15 against Scott Lighty, but a visa issue stemming from the recent earthquake and tsunami left him unable to leave Japan. Lorenz Larkin took his place in the fight.[14]
In April 2011, it was reported that Ishii would retire from MMA and return to judo. Surprisingly, he also stated that he plans to earn American citizenship and represent the US at the 2016 Olympic Games.[15] However, he apparently decided against retiring from MMA as he went on to face Paulo Filho at Amazon Forest Combat 1 on September 14, 2011 in his light heavyweight debut. The fight ended in a controversial draw, with journalists as well as the crowd agreeing that Ishii had won all three rounds.[16]
Satoshi Ishii next competed at Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoko 2011 , where he met Fedor Emelianenko.[17] He lost the fight via KO in the first round.
He was married for 9 months to Mika, a university student, divorcing in January 2011.[18]
Ishii holds a 5th dan black belt in judo.
| Professional record breakdown | ||
| 7 matches | 4 wins | 2 losses |
| By knockout | 0 | 1 |
| By submission | 2 | 0 |
| By decision | 2 | 1 |
| Draws | 1 | |
| Result | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 4–2–1 | Fedor Emelianenko | KO (punches) | Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 | December 31, 2011 | 1 | 2:29 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Draw | 4–1–1 | Paulo Filho | Draw | Amazon Forest Combat 1 | September 14, 2011 | 3 | 5:00 | Manaus, Brazil | Light heavyweight debut. |
| Win | 4–1 | Jerome Le Banner | Decision (unanimous) | Dynamite!! 2010 | December 31, 2010 | 3 | 5:00 | Saitama, Japan | |
| Win | 3–1 | Katsuyori Shibata | Submission (kimura) | K-1 World MAX 2010 World Championship Tournament Final | November 8, 2010 | 1 | 3:30 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 2–1 | Ikuhisa Minowa | Decision (unanimous) | Dream 16 | September 25, 2010 | 2 | 5:00 | Nagoya, Japan | Openweight bout. |
| Win | 1–1 | Tafa Misipati | Submission (armbar) | X-plosion: New Zealand vs. Japan | May 15, 2010 | 1 | 2:42 | Auckland, New Zealand | |
| Loss | 0–1 | Hidehiko Yoshida | Decision (unanimous) | Dynamite!! 2009 | December 31, 2009 | 3 | 5:00 | Tokyo, Japan |
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