Kyotaro

Early life Fujimoto was born in Osaka, Japan, on June 23, 1986. He started learning karate of Uomoto-ryū (魚本流) as a child. His parents divorced in 1997 and he lived with his mother, sisters and grandmother.

Kickboxing career Kyotaro moved to Tokyo and joined Dragon Dojo established by Kensaku Maeda. He debuted on May 17, 2006, against Junichi Hanada.

Kyotaro entered the world of K-1 when he fought and won the K-1 Tryout 2007 Survival tournament in Tokyo by defeating Tatsunori Momose in the semi-final and Takumi Sato in the final, all by decision. This tournament was designed to showcase new talent. He then fought Kyoung Suk Kim during the opening fights at K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Seoul Final 16 defeating Kim by 2nd Round Knockout.

He further proved himself as a top K-1 contender by defeating the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Las Vegas II and the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hawaii tournament champion Mighty Mo at K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Yokohama. Kyotaro was then invited to fight in the K-1 World GP 2008 in Fukuoka in which he became the runner up losing to Brazilian Karateka Ewerton Teixeira.

On March 28, 2009, Kyotaro won the K-1 Heavyweight (-100 kg) Title tournament by knocking out Melvin Manhoef in semifinals and beating Gokhan Saki in finals by extra round majority decision. Kyotaro became the second fighter after Badr Hari to win the title in K-1 Light Heavyweight division.

On December 5, 2009, he faced Tyrone Spong at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final and lost by unanimous decision.

Kyotaro defended his title against 3 time K-1 Grand Prix Champion Peter Aerts at K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Yokohama. Kyotaro knocked Aerts down twice at the end of the 1st Round and then knocked him out with his right hook in the 2nd Round.

At the K-1 Final 16 Kyotaro defeated another legend in Jerome Le Banner. Kyotaro withstood the Frenchman's early power to give him a severe beating in the 3rd round to earn a draw. Le Banner was angry at the decision and walked out of the ring, giving Kyotaro the win by DQ.

His next fight was at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final against 4-time defending champion Semmy Schilt. He was unable to faze his taller opponent, losing by unanimous decision.

He then chose to fight the DREAM (MMA) Light-heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi. He was knocked down in the second round and again lost by unanimous decision.

In October 2011, Kyotaro relinquished the K-1 Heavyweight title in order to pursue a career in professional boxing.

Return to K-1 In late 2020, Kyotaro announced he would be returning to kickboxing and is expected to compete at K’Festa 4 on January 24, 2021. He was scheduled to fight Kosuke Jitsutaka. The event was later rescheduled for March 31, 2021. He won his fight against Kosuke Jitsutaka by a second-round knockout.

Kyotaro was scheduled to face the K-1 Cruiserweight champion Sina Karimian at K-1 World GP 2021: Yokohamatsuri on September 20, 2021. Kyotaro lost the fight by split decision, after an extra round was fought.

Kyotaro was scheduled to face the J-Network heavyweight champion Hidenori Sakamoto at K-1 World GP 2022 Japan on February 27, 2022. Their fight was later postponed for K-1: K'Festa 5 on April 3, 2022, and was rescheduled as the quarterfinal bout of the 2022 K-1 openweight tournament. He won the fight by a second-round technical knockout and advanced to the tournament semifinals, where he faced Hisaki Kato. Sattari won the fight by majority decision, with scores of 29–29, 30–28 and 30–28.

Kyotaro faced the unbeaten Satoshi Ishii in a super heavyweight bout at K-1 World GP 2023: K'Festa 6 on March 12, 2023. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with two scorecards of 30–29 and one scorecard of 30–27.

Boxing career Kyotaro debuted as a pro boxer on December 31, 2011, when he took a unanimous decision win over Michael O'Donnell in Osaka, Japan. In September 2012, he defeated Chauncy Welliver by unanimous decision, who at the time was ranked #15 in the world by the WBC.

Kyotaro took Welliver's place in the WBC top 15 as a result of this win. Kyotaro lost his next fight against Solomon Haumono via TKO in the 5th round. The fight was held at Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka on December 31, 2012. Kyotaro won his first major regional title against Willie Nasio for the vacant WBC - OPBF heavyweight title in 2017.

Kyotaro retired from professional boxing on November 12, 2020, announcing plans to go into mixed martial arts.

Kickboxing titles Amateur 18th All Japan Shin-Karate Championships(K-2 GRAND PRIX) Heavyweight(+75 kg) tournament winner (May 3, 2007) Professional 2009-2011 K-1 Heavyweight (-100 kg) Champion (1 def.) 2009 K-1 Heavyweight (-100 kg) Tournament Champion 2008 K-1 Japan GP in Fukuoka Runner-up 2007 K-1 Tryouts Young Japan GP champion

Boxing titles Japanese heavyweight title (Ibs) WBC - OPBF heavyweight title (Ibs) WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight title (Ibs)

Awards 18th All Japan Shin-Karate Championship Gaora Award

Ring names Kyōtarō Ranger (狂太郎レンジャー / May 2006 - August 2007) Kyōtarō Ranger (強太郎レンジャー / August 2007 - January 2008) Maeda Keijirō (前田 慶次郎 / January 2008 - August 2009) a.k.a. Keijiro Maeda Kyōtarō (京太郎 / August 2009 – December 2010) Kyotaro Fujimoto (藤本 京太郎 / December 2011–Present)

Kickboxing record Professional kickboxing record 21 Wins (11 (T) KO's, 8 decisions, 1 dq), 7 Losses Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time Record 2023-03-12 Win Satoshi Ishii K-1 World GP 2023: K'Festa 6 Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 21-7 2022-04-03 Loss Mahmoud Sattari K-1: K'Festa 5, Tournament Semifinals Tokyo, Japan Decision (Majority) 3 3:0020–7 2022-04-03 Win Hidenori Sakamoto K-1: K'Festa 5, Tournament Quarterfinals Tokyo, Japan TKO (Referee stoppage) 2 2:11 20–6 2021-09-20 Loss Sina Karimian K-1 World GP 2021: Yokohamatsuri Yokohama, Japan Ext. R. Decision (Split) 4 3:00 19–6 2021-03-28 Win Kosuke Jitsutaka K’Festa 4 Tokyo, Japan KO (Overhand Right) 2 0:29 19–5 2010-12-31 Loss Gegard Mousasi Dynamite!! 2010 Saitama, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 18–5 2010-12-11 Loss Semmy Schilt K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final, Semi Finals Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 18–4 2010-10-02 Win Jérôme Le Banner K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Seoul Final 16 Seoul, South Korea Forfeit 4 N/A 18–3 2010-04-03 Win Peter Aerts K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Yokohama Yokohama, Japan KO (Right hook) 2 1:56 17–3 2009-12-05 Loss Tyrone Spong K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final Yokohama, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 16–3 2009-09-26 Loss Ruslan Karaev K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16 Seoul, Republic of Korea Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 16–2 2009-08-11 Win Jan Soukup K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Tokyo Final 16 Qualifying GP Tokyo, Japan KO (Right hook) 3 1:20 16–1 2009-03-28 Win Gökhan Saki K-1 World GP 2009 in Yokohama Yokohama, Japan Ext R. Decision (Majority) 4 3:00 15–1 2009-03-28 Win Melvin Manhoef K-1 World GP 2009 in Yokohama Yokohama, Japan KO (Right hook) 1 2:02 14–1 2008-09-27 Win Min Ho Song K-1 World GP 2008 Final 16 Seoul, Korea KO (Punches) 3 1:43 13–1 2008-06-29 Loss Ewerton Teixeira K-1 World GP 2008 in Fukuoka Final Fukuoka, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 12–1 2008-06-29 Win Takumi Sato K-1 World GP 2008 in Fukuoka Fukuoka, Japan Semi-final Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 12–0 2008-06-29 Win Musashi K-1 World GP 2008 in Fukuoka Quarter-final Fukuoka, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 11–0 2008-04-13 Win Mighty Mo K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Yokohama Yokohama, Japan Ext R. Decision 4 3:00 10–0 2007-12-22 Win Tsuyoshi Nakasako AJKF "Enter the Dragon The 1st" Japan KO 2 2:07 9–0 2007-09-29 Win Kyoung Suk Kim K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Seoul Final 16 Seoul, Korea KO 2 2:14 8–0 2007-08-16 Win Takumi Sato K-1 Tryout 2007 Survival K-1 Young Japan GP Final Tokyo, Japan Ext.R Decision (Unanimous) 4 3:00 7–0 2007-08-16 Win Tatsunori Momose K-1 Tryout 2007 Survival K-1 Young Japan GP Semi-final Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 6–0 2007-06-03 Win Ryo Takigawa J-Network "Team Dragon Quest 1" Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 5–0 2007-01-12 Win Tank Sugimura MAJKF "Shidokan Spring New Year Event Breakdown-1" Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan KO (Punches) 2 1:42 4–0 2006-11-05 Win Turbo Weerasakreck M-1 "M-1 Fairtex Shingha Beer Muay Thai Challenge -Thai King's Enthronement 60th Anniversary Cup 2006-" Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan TKO (Right low kick) 4 2:13 3–0 2006-09-01 Win Toshi Saenchai Gym J-Network "Mach! Go! Go! '06 -Flyweight Strongest Decision Tournament 1st Match- Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 2–0 2006-05-17 Win Junichi Hanada J-Network "Go! Go! J-Net '06 -Invading the Dragon- Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan KO 2 1:16 1–0 Legend:

Amateur kickboxing record Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 2007-05-03 Win Jun'ichi Kikuchi 18th K-2 GRAND PRIX Heavyweight tournament Final Adachi, Tokyo, Japan Ippon (Awasete) 1 N/ALegend:

Professional boxing record