Mirko Filipović, better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a retired Croatian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro Cop fought in the UFC, K-1, RIZIN and Bellator. He is widely considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Kickboxers and MMA fighters of all time.
PRIDE Fighting Championships was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide. PRIDE was owned by the holding company Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE).
Wanderlei César da Silva is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist who competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He holds the record for the most wins, knockouts, title defenses and longest winning streak in PRIDE history. He is the former PRIDE Middleweight Champion and the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. He most recently competed for Bellator MMA in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.
Hidehiko Yoshida is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight divisions. He won gold at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games at –78 kg. Yoshida also had two famous fights with MMA pioneer Royce Gracie that resulted in a no-contest and a time-limit draw.
Heath Herring is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Heavyweight division of Rizin. While perhaps best known for competing in PRIDE, he has also formerly competed for the UFC and K-1.
Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and a former amateur wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He has most recently fought in Road FC, but is also known for his work in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, K-1, Rizin Fighting Federation, and World Victory Road.
Ikuhisa Minowa is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler currently competing in IGF as Minowaman. A professional MMA competitor since 1996, he was a longtime veteran of PRIDE and Pancrase and has also competed in other mixed martial arts promotions such as K-1 Hero's, Cage Rage, the SFL, Vale Tudo Japan, UFC, DREAM, and DEEP. He is the former DREAM Openweight Grand Prix Champion. Often undersized and a huge fan favorite in Japan, Minowa earned his nickname "The Giant Killer" by participating in many openweight contests, often submitting much larger opponents. Also renowned for his durability, he is a veteran of 115 fights, and is known for his trademark red speedo and mullet.
Tsuyoshi Kosaka is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist, submission grappler and professional wrestler who competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional MMA competitor from 1994 till 2022, he has competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships, RIZIN, RINGS, Pancrase, and DEEP. Kosaka is the former King of Pancrase Super Heavyweight Champion.
Team Hammer House is a mixed martial arts team operating out of Columbus, Ohio, made up of mostly former NCAA wrestlers. While Hammer House focuses on amateur wrestling they do have cross training deals with notable fighters and camps such as Matt Serra, Pat Miletich and Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts. Founded by former UFC champion Mark Coleman, Team Hammer House has attracted such mixed martial arts fighters as Kevin Randleman and Phil Baroni.
Dream 4: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 2nd Round was a mixed martial arts event held by FEG's mixed martial arts promotion DREAM. The event took place on June 15, 2008 at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, featuring the second round of the promotion's Middleweight tournament, with winners advancing to the Dream 6: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round at the Saitama Super Arena on September 23, 2008.
Roy Nelson is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division. As a professional, he has competed for the UFC, EliteXC, the IFL, BodogFIGHT, and most recently for Bellator MMA. In the UFC, Nelson was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights and achieved success as a top 10 UFC Heavyweight. Nelson is also the former IFL Heavyweight Champion, competing under Ken Shamrock and the Lion's Den. He holds notable victories over Mirko Cro Cop, Cheick Kongo, and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.
UFC 99: The Comeback was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on June 13, 2009 in Cologne, Germany.
Amir Aliakbari is an Iranian mixed martial artist signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Heavyweight division. He has also competed for Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB) and Rizin Fighting Federation.
K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final was a martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization, named in honour of K-1 legend Andy Hug who had died the previous year. It was an elimination tournament involving eight fighters based in Japan, with all bouts being fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs) and the winner qualifying for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001. Six of these fighters had qualified via the earlier K-1 Survival 2001 event while holder Musashi had qualified as last years winner and long time Tokyo resident Nicholas Pettas was a foreign invitee. As well as tournament bouts there were a number of local and international bouts, including special 'Andy Memorial Matches', with matches fought under either K-1 or MMA Rules. In total there were twenty two fighters at the event, representing nine countries.
The year 2006 was the 10th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2006 had 10 events beginning with, Pride 31 - Unbreakable.
Rizin Fighting Federation is a Japanese mixed martial arts organization created in 2015 by the former Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara.
The year 2015 was the first year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. Only two events were held this year, both comprising of the Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015. Rizin events are broadcast through a television agreement with Fuji Television.
The year 2017 was the third year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. The year began with Rizin 2017 in Yokohama: Sakura on April 16, 2017.
The year 2018 is the fourth year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. The year began with Rizin 10 in Fukuoka on May 6, 2018.
Valentin Igorevich Moldavsky is a Russian mixed martial artist and combat sambo practitioner. He is currently signed to Bellator MMA, where he is a former interim Bellator Heavyweight Champion. He is also a two-time world and one-time European Sambo Champion in the +100 kg division. As of March 14, 2023, he is #2 in the Bellator Heavyweight Rankings.
