Yoshiro Maeda

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 WEC
4 DREAM
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Yoshiro Maeda (born October 31, 1981) is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist and former WEC bantamweight title challenger.

He stands 5 ft. 7 in. tall and fights in the bantamweight division (135 lbs.).

Maeda was the first ever featherweight King of Pancrase and currently fights as a featherweight (139 lbs.) for the Japan based, DREAM promotion.

Early Career

Yoshiro Maeda made his professional mixed martial arts debut on February 16, 2003 at Pancrase: Hybrid 2 against Shigeyuki Umeki. Maeda kicked off his career by choking Umeki unconscious with a rear naked choke in the second round.

Maeda fought six more times in 2003, with all fights taking place under the Pancrase banner. At the end of 2003, Maeda was 7-0 with three stoppage victories over all Japanese opposition.

Maeda began 2004 with a highlight reel flying knee TKO over Alexandre de Freitas with the fight once again taking place inside the Pancrase organization.

In April of 2004, Maeda stepped out from under the Pancrase banner when he scored a TKO over Hiroshi Umemura in a DEEP event.

Maeda finished off 2004 with three more wins in Pancrase, two of them finishes to improve his record to 12-0.

An appearance in the DEEP organization began the year for Maeda as he fought to a draw with Masakazu Imanari after three rounds.

An armbar submission victory in Pancrase over Takumi Murata was followed by a call up to the premiere Japanese mixed martial arts promotion, the PRIDE Fighting Championships. Maeda made his PRIDE debut against convicted felon, Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett at PRIDE: Bushido 7. Maeda suffered his first professional loss at the powerful hands of Bennett as he was KO'd in just 1:55 of the first round.

Following the disappointing loss to "Krazy Horse", Maeda returned to Pancrase where he rolled off two straight TKO victories before switching over to the DEEP organization where he rolled off two more KO victories, both by kicks.

The second "kick" victory in the DEEP organization was part of a one night four man tournament for the vacant DEEP featherweight title in which Maeda qualified for the final. He would face Masakazu Imanari in a rematch from their drawn match earlier in his career. Imanari would get the upper hand in this bout however, as he secured a toe hold in the third round that forced Maeda to tap and concede the second loss of his professional career and the championship to Imanari.

The disappointment continued for Maeda as upon his return to Pancrase he was stopped on punches by Daiki Hata at Pancrase: Blow 2 in the second round.

Maeda halted his losing slide with a flying knee knockout of the highly regarded, Atsushi Yamamoto at Pancrase: Blow 5.

The victory over Yamamoto earned Maeda a shot at the vacant featherweight King of Pancrase title. Maeda faced Daiki Hata in a rematch for the title with Maeda prevailing this time via split decision to become the first ever featherweight King of Pancrase.

With the title in hand, another call up to PRIDE was warranted as he faced American, Joe Pearson at PRIDE: Bushido 13. Maeda's disappointment in PRIDE would continue however as he was submitted by Pearson with a guillotine choke in just 55 seconds of the first round.

Nevertheless, Maeda returned to Pancrase still as the featherweight title holder. He faced and defeated Manabu Inoue in a non title bout via TKO before defending his title the once against Danny Batten (unanimous decision) and then scoring a TKO over Johnny Frachey in another non-title bout.

WEC

After fighting to a draw with Jong Man Kim in a DEEP event in December of 2007, Maeda vacated his featherweight King of Pancrase title to take up a contract with the US based, World Extreme Cagefighting organization.

Maeda made his WEC debut at WEC 32 against Charlie Valencia. Valencia got the better of the striking early but just over two minutes in, Maeda unleashed a vicious body kick that crumpled Valencia to the mat, earning Maeda the knockout victory.

With an impressive 23-4-2 record, Maeda was called up as a replacement for an injured Manny Tapia to take on champion, Miguel Torres in a fight for the WEC bantamweight (135 lbs.) championship at WEC 34. In a fight of the year candidate, both fighters traded heavy blows on the feet and nasty leg locks on the ground for a full three rounds. However, towards the end of the third, Torres began to mess up Maeda's face with hard strikes. In between the third and fourth rounds it was judged that Maeda could not continue due to both his eyes being swollen shut, thus Torres was declared the victor via TKO.

Looking to capitalize on the growing popularity gathered from the Torres fight, Maeda disappointed in his next outing as he was submitted quickly by 2007 66 kg ADCC champion, Rani Yahya via guillotine choke at WEC 36.

DREAM

Following the lose to Yahya, Maeda left the WEC for a spot as one of the 15 participants in the 2009 DREAM Featherweight (139 lbs.) Grand Prix. Maeda will face fellow WEC veteran, Micah Miller in the opening round at DREAM 7 on March 8, 2009.