Robert Malcolm Sapp is an American mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler, actor, and former American football player. He is currently under contract with Rizin Fighting Federation. Sapp has a combined fight record of 24–39–1, mostly fighting in Japan. He is well known in Japan, where he has appeared in numerous commercials, television programs, and various other media, and has released a music CD, Sapp Time. He is known there as a gaijin tarento. He is currently working sporadically for various MMA promotions in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
Joachim B. Hansen is a Norwegian retired mixed martial artist. He began his career fighting for FinnFight before moving on to fight for Shooto where he became the first Scandinavian person to hold an MMA world title after winning the Shooto World Lightweight Championship in 2003 from Takanori Gomi. Hansen later fought for the Pride Fighting Championship and most recently Dream where he became the Dream Lightweight Champion.
Alistair Cees Overeem is a Dutch former professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and was the first fighter to hold world titles in MMA and K-1 kickboxing at the same time. Overeem is also a one-time challenger for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Shinya Aoki is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and grappler currently competing in ONE Championship's Welterweight division. He also competes in DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is a former three-time DDT Extreme Champion. A professional competitor since 2003, he is noted for being the DREAM Lightweight Champion, former two time ONE Lightweight World Champion, former WAMMA Lightweight Champion and former Shooto Welterweight Champion. Aoki is an A-class Shootist and BJJ black belt, both under his long-term mentor Yuki Nakai, as well as a black belt Judoka. As of 2008, Aoki, along with DEEP champion Masakazu Imanari, and Sengoku champion Satoru Kitaoka have founded the "Nippon Top Team" as a group of elite Japanese grapplers competing in MMA. As well as his MMA credentials, Aoki has garnered several submission grappling accolades including two All Japan Jiu-Jitsu Championships, a Japan Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship, a Budo Open Championship, and an ADCC Japan Championship.
Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the K-1 Romanex event and various MMA fights on its regular K-1 kickboxing cards, it held its first show on March 26, 2005. The promotion was handled by former Rings head Akira Maeda. At a press conference on February 13, 2008, FEG announced that they discontinued Hero's and were creating a new mixed martial arts franchise, Dream, in collaboration with former Pride FC executives from Dream Stage Entertainment.
Hideo Tokoro is a Japanese mixed martial artist who last competed in the Bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2000, Tokoro has also formerly competed for Vale Tudo Japan, ZST, Shooto, Rings and K-1 Hero's. He is notable for holding the record for most weight divisions competed in by a professional MMA fighter, at seven, ranging from flyweight through to heavyweight.
Hiroyuki Takaya is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Takaya has fought in the WEC, Strikeforce, DREAM, Shooto, K-1 HERO'S, Pancrase, RIZIN, Vale Tudo Japan, and Cage Force. Takaya is the former DREAM Featherweight Champion. He also competed at the Japanese MMA events Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 and Dynamite!! 2010. Due to his experience in street fighting, Takaya is known as the "Streetfight Bancho".
Todd Duffee is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division of Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). He trains predominantly with the Combat Sports Academy and the American Kickboxing Academy in California. Duffee has also competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Super Fight League in India, Jungle Fight in Brazil, and Dynamite!! 2010 in Japan. In addition to his mixed martial arts career he had a role in the 2010 film Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown as well as minor roles in both film and television. Duffee has also appeared on the front cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine.
Hatsu Hioki is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist competing in the featherweight division. He is the former Shooto Lightweight Champion, Sengoku Featherweight Champion, and TKO Featherweight Champion. Hioki is a long time Shooto veteran and has fought most of his fights in Japanese promotions including the largest mixed martial arts organization at the time, Pride Fighting Championships.
Bibiano Fernandes da Silva Neto is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioner. He fought in ONE Championship, where he is a former two-time ONE Bantamweight Champion and holds the record for most title fight wins (11) and is tied for most consecutive title defenses (7).
Dynamite!! 2009 was a mixed martial arts and kickboxing event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group, held in the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on December 31, 2009. The event included bouts that encompass the DREAM, Sengoku Raiden Championship, K-1, and K-1 World MAX banners. The event aired on HDNet in North America.
Kazunori Yokota is a Japanese mixed martial artist and judoka. Yokota fought for the Japanese MMA promotions DEEP and WVR Sengoku.
Georgi Karakhanyan is a Russian-born Armenian-American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, Karakhanyan has competed for the Bellator MMA, Absolute Championship Berkut, World Series of Fighting, DREAM, Tachi Palace Fights, and King of the Cage. Karakhanyan is also the former WSOF Featherweight Champion.
Tatsuya Mizuno is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, he has fought for DREAM, Pancrase, DEEP, M-1 Global, ProElite, ONE FC, K-1, and also participated in the Dynamite!! 2010 event.
Jadamba Narantungalag is a Mongolian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and grappler who has fought for World Victory Road, K-1 MAX, Legend FC, Art of War Fighting Championship, and ONE Championship.
Justin Wilcox is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division of Bellator. A professional competitor since 2006, Wilcox has also competed for Strikeforce, holding a record of 5-3 (1) in the promotion.
Dream: Japan GP Final, also known as Dream Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament Final, was a mixed martial arts event held by Fighting and Entertainment Group's mixed martial arts promotion Dream. The event took place on July 16, 2011 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.
Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011, also known as Fight for Japan. How are you! New Year! 2011 was a mixed martial arts, puroresu and kickboxing event in the annual New Year's Eve event promoted by FEG, M-1 Global and the Inoki Genome Federation that took place on December 31, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The year 2012 was the inaugural year for Super Fight League, an Indian-based mixed martial arts (MMA) league. Its first event was held in March and featured a bout between the two MMA veterans Bob Sapp and James Thompson. The league has scheduled several events to occur throughout India in 2012. On 5 August 2012, the Super Fight League aired their reality show SFL Challengers. Similar to the Ultimate Fighter, the show took young up-and-coming Indian mixed martial artists, placing them in the same house. On October 12, the Super Fight League changed their organisational structure from one event a month in arenas to one event every Friday in a specially designed mini-arena in Mumbai in front of an exclusive invitation only audience. With programming lasting for three hours each week with weigh-ins, live fights, and interviews from Bollywood cage side guests. There was seven fights in total each event, with one of them being a female bout. It aired live on Neo Prime in India and on their YouTube page for the rest of the world.
The year 2012 has seen champions retain their belt, new champions crowned and new promotions begin their campaigns. As of March 30, 2012, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has held seven events with another fourteen so far reported to be held throughout the rest of the year. Bellator Fighting Championship began its sixth season containing tournaments in five different weight classes. A new Indian promotion, Super Fight League, arrived on the scene in 2012 with seven events scheduled throughout the year.
Saitama, Japan