Kazuo Misaki

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Profile

Kazuo "Grabaka Hitman" Misaki (born April 25, 1976) is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist training out of Team Grabaka.

He stands 5 ft. 10 in. (178 cm) tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.).

Misaki was the 2006 PRIDE Welterweight (183 lbs.) Tournament Champion and currently fights as a middleweight for Sengoku.

Pancrase

Kazuo Misaki made his professional mixed martial arts debut on May 5, 2001 for Pancrase as part of their 2001 Neo-Blood Tournament. He made it through to the next round of the tournament when he defeated Kenichi Serizawa via unanimous decision.

Misaki went on to defeat three opponents in the one night as part of the Neo Blood Tournament a little under three months later to quickly move to 4-0.

A knockout win in October was followed by the first defeat of his career as he found himself on the losing end of a unanimous decision to Chris Lytle.

Misaki bounced back with a decision win over Ryuki Ueyama, but suffered an unfortunate loss to Nate Marquardt a month after that as he sustained a broken arm in just 29 seconds of the first round.

Out of action for six months, Misaki eventually returned and went 4-0-1 in his next five fights.

That little streak came to an end in October, 2003 when he was defeated via majority decision by Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Ricardo Almeida.

After a draw with Jake Shields in his next bout, Misaki rolled off three impressive victories over Kiuma Kunioku (TKO), Jorge Patino (decision)- in his PRIDE debut and Ed Herman (technical submission) to get himself into title contention.

He faced Nate Marquardt in a rematch for the vacant King of Pancrase middleweight title but couldn't come up with the goods and was defeated via unanimous decision.

A submission win over Flavio Luiz Moura in his next bout ended Misaki's tenure in Pancrase.

PRIDE

Having made an appearance already in PRIDE, Misaki made a more permanent move to the organization in July, 2005 when he faced Daniel Acacio at PRIDE: Bushido 8. Misaki dropped a disappointing unanimous decision to the Brazilian after 15 minutes.

Misaki reestablished himself as one Japan's top middleweights when he made his DEEP debut and put fan favorite, Akira Shoji to sleep with a guillotine choke just over two minutes into the fight.

The win brought him back into PRIDE where he faced PRIDE welterweight champion, Dan Henderson in a non-title bout. Henderson dropped Misaki's PRIDE record to 1-2 with a unanimous decision victory.

In June, 2006, Misaki entered PRIDE's 16-man 2006 Welterweight (183 lbs.) Grand Prix which began at PRIDE: Bushido 11. He faced UFC veteran, Phil Baroni in the opening round and outpointed the New York Badass enroute to a unanimous decision victory.

A little under three months later at PRIDE: Bushido 12, Misaki faced Henderson in a rematch in the quarter finals. This time it was Misaki who came out on top, scoring the upset with a unanimous decision victory.

At PRIDE: Bushido 13, Misaki met undefeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Paulo Filho in the semis. With 17 seconds left in the first round, Misaki was forced to submit to an armbar which would have eliminated him from the competition.

However, Filho was injured in the fight and Misaki was instead moved into the final to face Denis Kang later that night. The two fought a tight battle for the full 15 minutes with Misaki getting the fight on two judges scorecards at the end to take out the tournament.

The euphoria from winning the tournament wore off pretty quickly at PRIDE 33 though as Misaki was defeated via unanimous decision by former UFC welterweight title challenger, Frank Trigg.

That win marked Misaki's last for the PRIDE organization as it would soon cease to function. Former PRIDE staff inconjunction with K-1 staff put on a farewell show for PRIDE fans, entitled Yarennoka!, on New Year's Eve, 2007. Misaki faced Yoshihiro Akiyama in a grudge match stemming from Akiyama's greasing against Japanese legend, Kazushi Sakuraba. The two fought a brutal battle with Akiyama dropping Misaki only for Misaki to return to his feet to knock Akiyama down and end his night with a vicious kick. Unfortunately for Misaki the bout was changed to a No Contest after Akiyama protested the fight ending kick as he was technically on the ground and soccer kicks were deemed illegal.

Sengoku

With the demise of PRIDE, Misaki signed to recently established Japanese promotion, Sengoku. He faced Siyar Bahadurzada at Sengoku: First Battle and submitted the Afghani with a guillotine choke in the second round.

Three months later, Misaki made it two wins in a row when he defeated Logan Clark via unanimous decision at Sengkou: Third Battle.

Misaki headed over to the US in September, 2008 to face off against Joe Riggs for the Strikeforce promotion. He was dropped by Riggs in the second round but bounced back to drop Riggs and some follow up punches - albeit weak ones - forced the end of the fight.

To kick off 2009, Misaki faced off against Sengoku Middleweight Tournament winner, Jorge Santiago at Sengoku: No Ran 2009 for the Sengoku Middleweight Championship. Misaki controlled the action for the first four rounds and looked to be on his way to a comfortable victory but Santiago wasn't out yet and pounced in the fifth round to get the fight to the floor where he transitioned to Misaki's back and choked him unconscious with a rear naked choke to snatch the title.

Attempting to bounce back from the loss, Misaki signed to fight Kazuhiro Nakamura at Sengoku: Ninth Battle. Prior to the event, he was arrested for driving while talking on a cellphone and then speeding away from the scene which injured a policeman's wrist. Due to this, his whole purse for the fight would be dedicated to the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention and if he were to defeat Nakamura he would not be granted a title shot.

Misaki put this behind him to hurt Nakamura and then choke him out with a guillotine choke in 3:03 of round 1.