Takanori Gomi

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Profile

Takanori "The Fireball Kid" Gomi (born September 22, 1978) is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist and former Shooto welterweight champion.

He stands 5 ft. 8 in. (173 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight division (154 lbs.).

Gomi was the first and last ever PRIDE lightweight champion and currently fights as a lightweight for World Victory Road's Sengoku promotion.

Shooto

Takanori Gomi made his professional mixed martial arts debut on November 27, 1998 for the Shooto organization. He faced and defeated opponent, Hiroshi Tsuruya via unanimous decision after two rounds.

By the end of 2000, Gomi was 9-0 with three victories by way of submission or TKO, including Stephen Palling.

On December 16, 2001, Gomi faced off against Rumina Sato for the vacant Shooto welterweight title. After three rounds, Gomi walked away with the unanimous decision and the welterweight belt.

In his next four bouts, Gomi defeated Leonardo Santos, Chris Brennan, Dokonjonosuke Mishima and Nick Ertl to defend his Shooto welterweight title.

On August 10, 2003, Gomi suffered the first loss of his professional career and lost his Shooto title when he went down via a somewhat disputed majority decision to Joachim Hansen.

In the main event of Rumble on the Rock 4, Gomi faced future UFC welterweight and lightweight champion, BJ Penn who was fresh off a draw with Caol Uno in a bout for the vacant UFC lightweight title. In a hard fought bout, Gomi was submitted by Penn in the third round with a rear naked choke to drop his record to 14-2.

PRIDE

Following the successive losses to Hansen and Penn, Gomi signed with the Japan based, PRIDE Fighting Championships. He made his PRIDE debut at PRIDE: Bushido 2, stopping Jadson Costa with punches at the 4:55 mark of round 1.

Three months later at PRIDE: Bushido 3, Gomi propelled himself into the focus of the public when he demolished Ralph Gracie in just six seconds.

After stopping Fabio Mello at PRIDE: Bushido 4, Gomi defeated Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett via technical kimura submission at PRIDE: Bushido 5.

On New Year's Eve, 2004 at PRIDE: Shockwave 2004, Gomi faced former UFC lightweight champion, Jens Pulver. In a great bout, the two slugged it out for just over six minutes before Gomi knocked Pulver cold with a punch, cementing his place as one of the top lightweights in the world.

Gomi began 2005 by knocking out Luiz Azeredo with punches in May at PRIDE: Bushido 7. He followed that up with a unanimous decision win over Jean Silva, pushing his PRIDE record to a spotless, 7-0.

At PRIDE: Bushido 9, Gomi entered the 2005 8-man lightweight tournament, which would see the quarter and semi finals played out in the one night, with the final coming later at PRIDE: Shockwave 2005.

In the opening round, Gomi faced a fellow former Shooto welterweight champion in Tatsuya Kawajiri. The highly anticipated bout did not disappoint as the two waged a ferocious stand-up war that saw Gomi come out on top. Just over 7 minutes in, Gomi seized Kawajiri's back and submitted him with a rear naked choke.

Later that night in the semi-final stage, Gomi rematched Luiz Azeredo. The bout went longer than their last encounter, with Gomi eventually coming out on top via unanimous decision.

Three months later, Gomi faced off against former Shooto middleweight champion, Hayato Sakurai in the lightweight final at PRIDE: Shockwave 2005. Gomi was just too much for Sakurai as he knocked him out with punches just under the four minute mark of round 1 to be declared the first ever, PRIDE lightweight champion.

Riding a 10 fight win streak in PRIDE, Gomi faced Brazilian jiu jitsu ace, Marcus Aurelio in a non-title bout at PRIDE: Bushido 10. In a major upset, Gomi was choked unconscious with an arm triangle choke just over four minutes in.

Gomi rebounded from the loss with a non-title bout submission victory over David Baron at PRIDE: Bushido 12, four months later.

At PRIDE: Bushido 13, Gomi put his title on the line in a rematch with Marcus Aurelio. In a dull affair, a cautious Gomi edged out a somewhat controversial split decision over Aurelio after two rounds.

On New Year's Eve, at PRIDE: Shockwave 2006, Gomi destroyed Mitsuhiro Ishida in just over a minute in a non-title bout.

Gomi's last PRIDE performance came at PRIDE 33 on February 24, 2007. He faced UFC veteran, Nick Diaz in a bout that many considered to be "Fight of the Year". Gomi dropped Diaz early, but Diaz recovered only to start beating on an exhausted Gomi for the rest of the first round. Diaz resumed the battering on the feet in the second round only for Gomi to shoot for a takedown on Diaz. From there, Diaz wrapped up a rare gogoplata submission forcing Gomi to tap at the 1:46 mark.

The bout was later changed to a "no contest" by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after Diaz tested positive to marijuana.

Sengoku

After the collapse of PRIDE, Gomi took a year hiatus from fighting before signing with upstart Japanese promotion, Sengoku. He made his debut for the promotion at Sengoku: First Battle on March 5, 2008. Gomi faced and defeated UFC veteran, Duane Ludwig via cut stoppage in the first round.

In mid-2008, Sengoku set up an 8-man lightweight tournament billed as the "Road to Gomi", with the winner of the tournament to face Gomi for the vacant Sengoku lightweight championship.

On the night of the first round of the tournament - Sengoku: Fourth Battle a sluggish Gomi faced Korean, Seung Hwan Bang in the main event. After three rounds, Gomi squeaked out a unanimous decision win.

At Sengoku: Sixth Battle, Gomi faced off against the unheralded, Sergey Golyaev in the card's main event. After three rounds, Gomi appeared to have scraped a unanimous decision over his less fancied opponent, however the judges had other plans as two of the three awarded the fight to Golyaev giving him the split decision victory.

Although Gomi had been defeated by Golyaev, Sengoku still went ahead with the premise of the tournament and booked Gomi to face tournament winner, Satoru Kitaoka for the vacant Sengoku lightweight title. Gomi continued to disappoint at Sengoku: No Ran 2009 when he was submitted by Kitaoka with an achilles lock at just 1:41 of round 1.