Kazuo
Misaki
oftentimes gets lost in the historical shuffle due to
the exploits of many of his contemporaries, but the 2006
Pride Fighting Championships welterweight grand prix winner
enjoyed quite a run of success at the peak of his powers—enough so
that many view him as one of the
Top 10 Japanese mixed martial artists of all-time.
Misaki retired at the age of 35 in 2012, and though he missed out
on a major MMA championship, his 25-11-2 record points to sustained
excellence. He fought for the
Pancrase
middleweight championship on one occasion and the
Sengoku
middleweight title twice, engaging in one of the sport’s most
spectacular modern rivalries with
Jorge
Santiago. Misaki’s second of two encounters with the Brazilian
resulted in
Sherdog’s 2010 “Fight of the Year” at Sengoku 14, where his
corner threw in the towel in the fifth round. He bounced back from
the defeat and closed out his career with three consecutive
victories over
Mike Seal,
Akira
Shoji and
Paul
Daley.
Now more than a decade removed from Misaki’s exit, a look at some
of the numbers that accompanied him along his journey:
46: Years of age for Misaki, who was born on April 25, 1976 in
Katori, Japan—roughly 50 miles northeast of Tokyo.
210: Days spent by Misaki as an undefeated fighter. He made his
debut on May 5, 2001 and rattled off five straight victories before
dropping a unanimous decision to
Chris Lytle at
Pancrase Proof 7 on Dec. 1, 2001.
36: Appearances by Misaki in his native Japan, where he spent the
bulk of his career. He compiled a 23-10-2 record with one no
contest in his homeland.
12: Consecutive calendar years in which Misaki fought at least
once. He went 5-1 in 2001, 3-1 in 2002, 2-1-2 in 2003, 3-1 in 2004,
1-1 in 2005, 4-2 in 2006, 0-1 with one no contest in 2007, 3-0 in
2008, 1-2 in 2009, 1-1 in 2010, 1-0 in 2011 and 1-0 in 2012.
9: Misaki victories by submission, accounting for 36% of his career
total (25). His methods of choice: four guillotine chokes, two
rear-naked chokes, one armbar, one arm-triangle choke and one
north-south choke. Misaki holds six other victories by knockout or
technical knockout (24%) and 10 more by decision (40%).
65: Rounds completed by Misaki as a professional mixed martial
artist. He went the distance on 18 different occasions and carried
a 10-6-2 record in those bouts.
2: Stalemates on the Misaki resume. He fought to a unanimous draw
with
Yuji
Hisamatsu at Pancrase Hybrid 3 in March 2003 and fought to a
majority draw with
Jake Shields
at Pancrase Hybrid 10 some nine months later.
8: Seconds needed for Misaki to punch out
Takaku Fuke
under the Pancrase banner Oct. 30, 2001. Having occurred in just
his fifth appearance as a pro, it remained fastest finish of his
career.
7: Organizations for which Misaki suited up as a mixed martial
artist. He went 13-4-2 in Pancrase, 4-4 in Pride Fighting
Championships, 4-2 in Sengoku, 2-0 in
Deep, 2-0 in
Strikeforce,
0-0 with one no contest in Yarennoka and 0-1 in K-1.
.664: Cumulative winning percentage between the nine men—Lytle,
Santiago (twice),
Nate
Marquardt (twice),
Melvin
Manhoef,
Frank Trigg,
Paulo
Filho,
Dan
Henderson,
Daniel
Acacio and
Ricardo
Almeida—who defeated Misaki. They sport a combined record of
244-121-11.