PFL 9 Playoffs 3 | 31 Oct 19 | |||||
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Satoshi Ishii (Japanese: 石井 慧, Ishii Satoshi, born December 19, 1986) is a Japanese-Croatian judoka, mixed martial artist, kickboxer and submission grappler who has held Croatian citizenship since 2019.
Ishii won the gold medal in Olympic Judo at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games and two All-Japan Judo Championships representing Japan. Ishii made his professional MMA debut at Dynamite!! 2009 losing to fellow Judoka gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida by unanimous decision, but currently holds a record of 24–12–1. Ishii is currently under contract with Professional Fighters League. A professional mixed martial artist since 2009, Ishii has also competed for Rizin Fighting Federation and Bellator, and is the current HEAT Heavyweight Champion and SBC Heavyweight Champion.
Ishii started Judo under the guidance of his father when he was in fifth grade of elementary school. He attended Kokushikan High School and then Kokushikan University in the Department of Physical Education.
Ishii won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships on 16 October 2004 in Budapest, Hungary. On 2 December 2006 he won a silver medal at the –100 kg category of the 2006 Asian Games. On April 29, 2006, and 2008, he won the All-Japan Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan. With him the Japanese team won the World Judo team competition on 17 November 2007 in Beijing, China, this time in the +100 kg division.
On August 15, 2008, he won a gold medal at the +100 kg category of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.
On 30 April 2011 Ishii returned to Judo to compete in the United States Championship in the open division; he won all the matches, securing the gold medal.
On August 3, 2021, it was announced that Ishii had signed with K-1. He was scheduled to make his kickboxing debut against the one-time cruiserweight title challenger Ryo Aitaka at K-1 World GP 2021: Yokohamatsuri on September 20, 2021. Ishii won the fight by unanimous decision, after an extra round was fought.
Ishii was scheduled to make his second professional kickboxing appearance against RUI at K-1 World GP 2021 in Osaka on December 4, 2021. Ishii won the fight by unanimous decision.
Ishii took part in the 2022 K-1 openweight tournament, held at K-1: K'Festa 5 on April 3, 2022. He faced BigBang heavyweight champion Kosuke Jitsukata in the tournament quarterfinals. He won the fight by a second-round knockout. Ishii withdrew from the tournament after this bout, due to a rib injury.
Ishii faced the former K-1 Heavyweight Champion in a super heavyweight bout at K-1 World GP 2023: K'Festa 6 on March 12, 2023. He lost the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 30–29, 30–29 and 30–27.
Ishi made his professional boxing debut against Shuho Takayama (1–0) on August 14, 2022, as part of the "3150 Fight Vol 3" event. He won the fight by majority decision.
Ishii faced Chang Soo Han on January 6, 2023, as part of the "3150 Fight Vol 6" event. The fight was ruled a majority decision draw. Ishii announced his retirement from the sport of boxing during the post-fight press conference.
Ishii was married for 9 months to Mika, a university student, divorcing in January 2011. In 2013, he married singer Asuka Hayashi. They divorced in 2016. They have one son.
In 2019, Ishii obtained Croatian citizenship and passport and had to give up Japanese citizenship and passport due to Japan's policy against dual citizenship.
2010-2011 |
2015-2019 |
2016 |
2019 |
2019-2023 |