Kiyoshi Tamura

Kiyoshi Tamura (田村潔司, Tamura Kiyoshi, born December 17, 1969 in Okayama, Okayama) is a Japanese middleweight professional wrestler and mixed martial artist.

Once a student of legendary pro wrestlers Billy Robinson, Nobuhiko Takada and Akira Maeda, Tamura is known for his skill in catch wrestling as well as his ability to deliver exciting and realistic professional wrestling bouts.

He has competed in some form or another for the following organizations: Universal Wrestling Federation, UWF International, Fighting Network RINGS, K-1, PRIDE, and U-STYLE, his own promotion, often fighting much larger opponents.

Professional wrestling

He debuted in 1989 in the old Japanese UWF, but made his mark when he later joined its main successor group, UWFI. Tamura was spunky and could even demand respect from older veterans, as demonstrated during a bout against Yoji Anjo where Tamura broke a hold and delivered several kicks to Anjo's head and kicked him out of the ring.

Despite many pundits (such as Pro Wrestling Illustrated) comparing him to UWFI champion Nobuhiko Takada, Tamura never challenged for the title. As the interpromotional feud against New Japan Pro Wrestling started, Tamura jumped to RINGS, founded by old mentor Maeda. He was briefly pushed as the top star, being given the first (worked) RINGS heavyweight title, but as RINGS transitioned to real MMA bouts, his star began to flicker, as he struggled to keep pace despite winning bouts.

Mixed martial arts

Tamura's 30 career wins^[2] include victories over mixed martial arts greats such as Jeremy Horn, Renzo Gracie, Ikuhisa Minowa, Nobuhiko Takada, Pat Miletich and held Frank Shamrock to a draw at a time when Shamrock was reigning UFC champion.

However, in spite of his many accomplishments inside the arena of MMA, his record is somewhat marred by a proponderance of match-ups against top heavyweight and light-heavyweight competitors, including Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the 350-pound Bob Sapp and the former Olympic gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida amongst others. His later mixed martial arts performances have also been criticized as being relatively apathetic compared to the fast-paced bouts that characterized the earlier part of his career. Part of this may owe to an absence of grappling in the bouts in question, where Tamura has often seemed more content to pursue a cautious stand-up game rather than engage in the submission exchanges he was at one point famed for.

For several years, efforts have been made by Pride Fighting Championships to put Kiyoshi Tamura and fellow UWFi alum and mixed martial artist Kazushi Sakuraba together in a fight due to their status as two of the best Japanese fighters of their time as well as a rumored rivalry. An announcement was made at Pride 34 by Nobuyuki Sakakibara that promised the fans a future fight between the two. However, Pride ceased being an active promotion after that event.

Finally it was announced that Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba were set to fight at the K-1 Fields Dynamite!! event on December 31, 2008. The fight was characterized by Tamura generally countering take-down and submission attempts by Sakuraba while applying ground-and-pound from the top position throughout the bout. At the end of the first round, Sakuraba appeared to have an armbar locked in, but Tamura held on and in the second controlled much of the action until being taken down by Sakuraba in the final minute. Ultimately, Tamura was awarded a unanimous decision, to finally beat Sakuraba.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Cross armbreaker^[3]
  • Cross kneelock^[4]
  • High-speed roundhouse kick to the opponent's head^[4]
  • Rear naked choke^[3]

• Signature moves
  • German suplex^[4]
  • Guillotine choke^[4]
  • Jumping high kick^[4]
  • Palm strike^[4]
  • Single leg Boston crab^[4]

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed Martial Arts

• Fighting Network RINGS
  • RINGS Open-Weight Championship (2 Times, first)
  • 1997 RINGS Mega Battle Tournament Winner
  • 1996 RINGS Mega Battle Tournament Runner Up
  • 1999 RINGS King of Kings Tournament Semifinalist

Pro Wrestling

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #98 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003^[5]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Best Technical Wrestler (1998)

Mixed martial arts record

Mixed rules

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Kiyoshi Tamura from Sherdog