Sentoryū Henri

Henry Armstrong Miller (born July 16, 1969) is a former sumo wrestler, raised in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, who competed under the shikona Sentoryū Henri (戦闘竜 扁利). The first wrestler from the US mainland to reach the top makuuchi division, he made his professional debut in 1988 and reached a highest rank of maegashira 12 before retiring in 2003. He is currently a mixed martial artist.

Early life

He was born in Tachikawa, Japan, the son of an African-American father and Japanese mother.^[1] He was born on the same day that the Apollo 11 lunar mission left Earth and his middle name was given to him by his father in honor of Neil Armstrong.^[1] He lived on Yokota Air Base until the age of six, when he moved with his family to St Louis, Missouri. He grew up in Ferguson.^[1] His dream of becoming a professional football player was ended by a knee injury in his senior year of high school, but he had also been wrestling since elementary school and he had qualified for the state championships. After graduating in 1987 he returned to Japan to try professional sumo.

Sumo career

He joined the Tomozuna stable of wrestlers, also the home of future ozeki Kaio. He was given the shikona of Sentoryū, meaning "fighting war dragon" but also a play on words for his hometown of St Louis.^[2] He was relatively small at 174 cm and 94 kg when he made his debut in July 1988. He won the yusho or tournament championship in his first official tournament in the jonidan division in September 1988, defeating a fellow American, Shinnishiki from Los Angeles.^[2] In 1991 he reached makushita for the first time but injury problems meant he did not establish himself in the division until 1993. In November 1994 he became a sekitori for the first time but lasted only two tournaments in the jūryō division before being demoted.

It took Sentoryū more than four years of hard toil in the unsalaried makushita division (including a change of name to Kaishinzan in 1997) before he could win promotion back to the second division in July 1999, after an unbeaten 7-0 yusho in May. His final day victory over the former amateur champion Kototamiya (the future ozeki Kotomitsuki) was regarded as one of the high points of his career.^[3]

After reverting to the name Sentoryū, a strong 13-2 record in March 2000 sent him to the top of the jūryō division. With an 8-7 mark in May 2000, he finally achieved his goal of promotion to the top makuuchi division in July.^[4] It had taken him 72 tournaments from his professional debut to reach makuuchi, by far the slowest amongst foreign-born wrestlers.

Sentoryū came through with a winning record of 8-7 in his debut but was then demoted after only recording a 5-10 score in September 2000. He had to withdraw from the following tournament in November and missed the January 2001 basho. Nevertheless, he managed to hold his own in jūryō, and had one more visit to the top division in January 2002. However, he suffered a serious injury and was unable to compete in the March and May 2002 tournaments, falling all the way back to makushita. He refused to give up and fought his way back to sekitori status in September 2003, becoming the fifth oldest wrestler to return to jūryō in the postwar era at 34 years, 1 month. However, another injury convinced him to retire at the end of the year, in the same tournament as Musashimaru. His great fighting spirit, despite all his injuries, won him many admirers.^[5]

He defeated Asashōryū in their only meeting in November 2000, when both were in the jūryō division. He also had three wins over Kotomitsuki in their four meetings.

Fighting style

Sentoryū favoured pushing and thrusting techniques, winning most of his matches by oshi dashi (push out), hatakikomi (slap down) or hikiotoshi (pull down).

Mixed martial arts career

Since his retirement from sumo, Sentoryū has tried his luck at mixed martial arts.^[6] His debut was for PRIDE in April 2004. He has six wins and sixteen losses in his 23 fights to date.^[7] He styles himself Henry "Sentoryu" Miller. He made an agreement with World Victory Road and fought Yoshihiro Nakao. On 25 December 2010 he faced Yoichi Babaguchi (former sekiwake Wakashoyo) in the first ever K1 fight between former sekitori.^[3] There was an edge to the match because Miller blamed Babaguchi for an injury he sustained in a sumo bout between the two in November 1994 (his debut juryo tournament).^[3] Miller won the match in the first round.^[8]

Sumo career record

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

1 win (1 KO), 2 losses Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Win 1-2 Wakashoyo TKO (3 knockdowns) Survivor: Round 6 000000002010-12-25-0000December 25, 2010 1 1:09 Tokyo, Japan Loss 0-2 Tsutomu Takahagi TKO (corner stoppage) Big Bang 2: The Way to Unification 000000002010-07-31-0000July 31, 2010 2 1:09 Japan Loss 0-1 Taiei Kin KO (right high kick) K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hong Kong 000000002007-08-05-0000August 5, 2007 1 1:43 Hong Kong 2007 Hong Kong Grand Prix quarter-final bout. Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest

Mixed martial arts record

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	6-16 (1)	Kazuhiro Nakamura	KO (punch)[10]	DEEP: 63 Impact	000000002013-08-25-0000August 25, 2013	1	4:42	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	6-15 (1)	Soa Palelei	TKO (punches)	K-Oz Entertainment: Bragging Rights	000000002012-09-03-0000September 3, 2012	1	1:26	Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Loss	6-14 (1)	Shunsuke Inoue	TKO (punches)	HEAT 20	000000002011-12-17-0000December 17, 2011	1	1:43	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	6-13 (1)	Myles Tynanes	TKO (punches)	HEAT 19	000000002011-09-25-0000September 25, 2011	1	3:29	Nagoya, Japan
Loss	6-12 (1)	Takaaki Oban	Submission (rear-naked choke)	Gladiator 23	000000002011-09-03-0000September 3, 2011	1	1:40	Hiroshima, Japan
Loss	6-11 (1)	Taiei Kin	TKO (corner stoppage)	HEAT 16	000000002010-11-06-0000November 6, 2010	1	4:01	Osaka, Japan
Loss	6-10 (1)	Yoshihiro Nakao	TKO (punches)	Sengoku Raiden Championships 12	000000002010-03-07-0000March 7, 2010	2	3:27	Tokyo, Japan
Win	6-9 (1)	Kim Min-Soo	KO (punches and knees)	The Khan 2	000000002009-11-27-0000November 27, 2009	1	1:12	Seoul, South Korea
Loss	5-9 (1)	Lee Chang-Seob	TKO (punches)	HEAT 12	000000002009-11-01-0000November 1, 2009	1	0:53	Nagoya, Japan
Loss	5-8 (1)	Cristiano Kaminishi	TKO (punches)	HEAT 11	000000002009-09-26-0000September 26, 2009	3	3:36	Tokyo, Japan
NC	5-7 (1)	Cristiano Kaminishi	No contest (groin strike)	HEAT 10	000000002009-07-18-0000July 18, 2009	1	0:54	Tokyo, Japan
Win	5-7	Ryuta Noji	KO (punches)	HEAT 9	000000002009-03-28-0000March 28, 2009	1	1:14	Nagoya, Japan
Win	4-7	Junpei Hamada	KO (punches)	HEAT 8	000000002008-12-14-0000December 14, 2008	1	0:52	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	3-7	Cristiano Kaminishi	KO (head kick)	DEEP: 29 Impact	000000002007-04-13-0000April 13, 2007	1	4:00	Tokyo, Japan
Win	3-6	Kim Ji-Fun	KO (punch)	HEAT 3	000000002007-03-23-0000March 23, 2007	1	4:58	Nagoya, Japan
Loss	2-6	Mostapha al-Turk	TKO (punches)	Cage Rage 18	000000002006-08-27-0000August 27, 2006	1	0:56	London, England
Win	2-5	Seiji Ogura	Submission (rear-naked choke)	Pancrase	000000002006-08-27-0000August 27, 2006	1	1:37	Yokohama, Japan
Loss	1-5	Robert Berry	TKO (punches)	Cage Rage 17	000000002006-07-01-0000July 1, 2006	1	1:06	London, England
Loss	1-4	Zuluzinho	TKO (knees)	Pride 30	000000002005-10-23-0000October 23, 2005	1	1:31	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss	1-3	James Thompson	KO (punch)	Pride Bushido 8	000000002005-07-17-0000July 17, 2005	1	1:21	Nagoya, Japan
Loss	1-2	Makoto Takimoto	Decision (unanimous)	Pride Shockwave 2004	000000002004-12-31-0000December 31, 2004	3	5:00	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Win	1-1	Mal Foki	KO (punches)	Pride Bushido 5	000000002004-10-14-0000October 14, 2004	1	0:21	Osaka, Japan
Loss	0-1	Giant Silva	Submission (kimura)	Pride Total Elimination 2004	000000002004-04-25-0000April 25, 2004	1	4:04	Saitama, Saitama, Japan	2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix opening round

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists
• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers

References

External links

• Sentoryū Henri's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage
• Official website
• Professional MMA record for Sentoryū Henri from Sherdog