Kiyoshi Tamura

Japanese
hometown=Okayama Prefecture, Japan
fightstyle=Catch wrestling
wins=27 [http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=1451]
losses=12
draws=3|

Kiyoshi Tamura (田村潔司) (born December 17, 1969 in Okayama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese middleweight professional Wrestler and Mixed Martial Arts fighter.

Once a student of legendary Pro Wrestler Akira Maeda, Tamura is known for his skill in catch wrestling as well as his ability to deliver exciting and realistic professional wrestling bouts.

He has competed in some form or another for the following organizations: Universal Wrestling Federation, UWF International, Fighting Network RINGS, K-1, PRIDE, and U-STYLE, his own promotion. He is at his best when fighting at or near his own weight, but since 1999 has made a habit of fighting much larger opponents.

Professional wrestling career

He debuted in 1989 in the old Japanese UWF, but made his mark when he later joined its main successor group, UWFI. Tamura was spunky and could even demand respect from older veterans, as demonstrated during a bout against Yoji Anjo where Tamura broke a hold and delivered several kicks to Anjo's head and kicked him out of the ring.

Despite many pundits (such as "Pro Wrestling Illustrated") comparing him to UWFI champion Nobuhiko Takada, Tamura never challenged for the title. As the interpromotional feud against New Japan Pro Wrestling started, Tamura jumped to RINGS, founded by old mentor Maeda. He was briefly pushed as the top star, being given the first (worked) RINGS heavyweight title, but as RINGS transitioned to real MMA bouts, his star began to flicker, as he struggled to keep pace despite winning bouts.

MMA career

Tamura's 30 career wins [http://fcfighter.brinkster.net/fighter.asp?FighterID=9493] include victories over Mixed Martial Arts greats such as Jeremy Horn, Renzo Gracie, Ikuhisa Minowa, Nobuhiko Takada and Pat Miletichref|sherdog. He also handed Joop Kasteel his first defeat via armbar and held Frank Shamrock to a draw at a time when Shamrock was reigning UFC champion.

However, in spite of his many accomplishments inside the arena of MMA, his record is somewhat marred by a proponderance of match-ups against top-light heavyweight and light-heavyweight competitors, including Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the 350-pound Bob Sapp and the former Olympic gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida amongst others. His later mixed martial arts performances have also been criticized as being relatively apathetic compared to the fast-paced bouts that characterized the earlier part of his career. Part of this may owe to an absence of grappling in the bouts in question, where Tamura has often seemed more content to pursue a cautious stand-up game rather than engage in the submission exchanges he was at one point famed for. Interestingly, one of the foremost mixed martial arts record databases, Sherdog.com, neglects to acknowledge his draw against Frank Shamrock, which many consider to be the finest performance of Tamura's mixed martial arts career.

For several years, efforts have been made by Pride Fighting Championships to put Kiyoshi Tamura and fellow UWFi alum and mixed martial artist Kazushi Sakuraba together in a fight due to their status as two of the best Japanese fighters of their time as well as a rumored rivalry. An announcement was made at Pride 34 by Nobuhiko Sakakibara that promised the fans a future fight between the two. However, Pride ceased being an active promotion after that event.

Tamura's most recent fight was a win over Hideo Tokoro (trained at least in part by Akira Maeda) on December 31st, 2007 at the K-1 Premium 2007 Dynamite card, by armlock submission in the third round.

Championships and accomplishments

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
**Best Technical Wrestler (1998)

References

External links

*sherdog|id=1451