Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (Japanese: 桜井�マッハ�速人)
(August 24, 1975-) is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter. He was born
in Ibaraki Prefecture[1], Japan. His nickname, "Mach", is pronounced
ma-ha in Japanese. He has a professional MMA record of 29-7-2 as of
October 26, 2006. Sakurai has been fighting in mixed martial arts
since October of 1996 and was at one time considered pound for pound one
of the greatest fighters. He holds impressive victories over the
likes of UFC Veterans Frank Trigg, Jens Pulver, Dave Menne and Yves
Edwards, former Shooto 160lb Champion Joachim Hansen, Shooto superstar
Caol Uno, and Luiz Azeredo. Sakurai is a very well rounded fighter
who possesses a great striking skills, grappling and submission skills
having finished 2nd in the Absolute Class (no weight limit) Abu Dhabi
Combat Club submission wrestling annual competition in 1999.
Sakurai made his professional debut in the
Shooto organization on October 4, 1996 by submitting Caol Uno. Over the
next five years he would go undefeated in twenty bouts, a feat rarely
achieved in professional mixed martial arts, and would win that
organization's middleweight (167 lbs.) title. Sakurai was finally
defeated in August of 2001 by Brazilian ace and current UFC middleweight
(185 lbs.) champion Anderson Silva.
After the loss Sakurai and subsequent to a severe car accident, would
travel to the United States to fight the UFC's welterweight champion
Matt Hughes, losing by TKO in
the fourth round.
After losing to Hughes, Sakurai fought
periodically in Shooto and Deep before joining PRIDE Fighting
Championships, Japan's largest MMA organization. During this time he was
inconsistent in his performances, often losing to much lower ranked
opponents. He also attempted to fight at 183lbs., but it was clear that
his frame was far to small for that weight, and his performances
suffered. Some speculated Sakurai's seeming loss of spirit and mental
focus came from a car accident he suffered a month before fighting
Silva. However, in 2005 Sakurai regained focus and went to the US to
train with legenary coach Matt Hume and AMC Pankration before rattling
off 4 impressive wins against tough competition. It was announced that
he would drop down to 160 lbs. in order to participate in Pride's
Lightweight Grand Prix. Despite his legendary early career some
questioned if Sakurai could make an impact in the division. Sakurai
silenced his critics when he defeated former UFC champion Jens Pulver
and former Shooto champion Joachim Hansen on the same night to advance
to the tournament finals. On December 31, 2005 Sakuari fought mixed
martial arts superstar Takanori Gomi for the first ever PRIDE Fighting
Championships 160lb championship of the world. Although fighting with a
torn ACL he sufered in training just three weeks prior to the fight,
though this was not known outside of his coaching circle at the time,
Sakurai initially had the upper-hand, pounding Gomi with brutal
inside-leg kicks; however, after a failed judo-throw Gomi was able to
get Sakurai's back and rain down strikes upon him. Sakurai was knocked
out at the 3:56 mark of the first round. Despite the loss to Gomi,
Sakurai would continue to impress with his performances. At Bushido 11
he scored a brutal KO over fan favorite Olaf Alfonso.[1] On August 26,
2006, Mach fought Luciano Azevedo at Bushido 12. After several minutes
of attempted ground-and-pound by Azevedo, the fighters were stood back
up. Mach then consistently stuffed Azevedo's takedowns, and landed a
fight-ending knee on Azevedo over his left eye. The fight was stopped,
TKO by cut.
Sakurai's last fight was against former King of the Cage lightweight
champion Mac Danzig at PRIDE 33. Sakurai won the fight via knockout in
the second round.
- From
wikipedia.org
Official Website:
www.machweb.jp