Shooto Watanabe

Shooto Watanabe is a Japanese male mixed martial artist who competed in the Bantamweight division.

Background As the name "Shooto" implies, he is the son of Yuichi Watanabe, the first welterweight champion of Shooto, as his father . He studied judo from the 5th grade of elementary school, belonged to the wrestling club in parallel from junior high school, and entered high school at Ashikaga Institute of Technology, a prestigious school for wrestling. He entered college and stayed away from wrestling for a while, but was impressed by Masato's retirement match and decided to follow the same martial arts path as his father.

Career Debut He made his debut at Pancrase Progress Tour 4, earning a draw against Yoshifumi Ishiki.

ZST 3 months following his pro debut, he entered ZST's Bantamweight tournament, earning his first victory against Tadayuki Nakamura with what would become his patented rear-naked choke at ZST: Battle Hazard 6. He followed this up by scoring a unanimous decision victory in the semifinals against Nobuyuki Kanaizuka at ZST: SWAT! 47 He met future ZST Flyweight Champion, Seiichiro Ito in the finals, scoring an emphatic submission in just 62 seconds to capture the bantamweight tournament championship at ZST: SWAT! in Face 11 Despite winning a tournament only 5 months into his career, he would face a dip in form, going 2-1-3 in his next 6 fights, with his sole victory coming against Shintaro Kubo at VTJ 2nd in June 2013. He started 2014 off with a stoppage loss to future foe Go Kashiwazaki, but strung together a 7-fight unbeaten streak lasting 2 and a half years, earning a rematch with Kashiwazaki - this time for the ZST Bantamweight Championship. His fate would be nearly identical, losing via stoppage in the 2nd round. This would prove to be his final appearance with ZST, finishing with a 8-3-4 record in the promotion (9-3-5, 1NC overall).

Fighting NEXUS & GLADIATOR Watanabe would make his Fighting NEXUS debut 3 months following his failed title challenge for the ZST title, kicking off his NEXUS career nearly identical to his ZST debut, a rear-naked choke victory in just 85 seconds. 4 months later he competed under the GLADIATOR banner, scoring a second successive rear-naked choke victory against Yutaka Imamura; a victory which would catapult him to his second title challenge in 12 months. However, he first competed at Fighting NEXUS 9, finishing Jun Ikkyu with a guillotine choke in just 24 seconds. This allowed for a quick turnaround, to face Naritoshi Kakuta for the GLADIATOR Bantamweight Championship. However, once again, Watanabe would come up short, dropping a unanimous decision. He closed out 2017 with a unanimous decision victory of his own, over Kotaro Kazama. This win would spur on a 9-fight unbeaten streak, in which he would capture the vacant Fighting NEXUS Bantamweight Championship in December 2018, and score 2 victories under the DEEP promotion.

RIZIN Fighting Federation With an impressive unbeaten streak stretching back 2 and a half years, Japan's premier MMA promotion, Rizin Fighting Federation announced that Watanabe would be facing rising prospect and UFC veteran, Naoki Inoue on August 9, 2020 at Rizin 22. Watanabe was defeated at 1:40 of the first round via rear-naked choke.

On February 16, it was announced that Watanabe would face Takumi Tamaru at Rizin 27 to earn a spot in RIZIN's upcoming Japan Bantamweight Grand Prix, with the winner of the grand prix being expected to face RIZIN Bantamweight Champion, Kyoji Horiguchi in 2022. Watanabe defeated Tamaru by rear-naked choke in the 2nd round.

4 days later, RIZIN held a press conference where the drawing for the Grand Prix would occur. Former RIZIN Bantamweight Champion Kai Asakura chose the slot to face Watanabe. They faced each other at Rizin 28 on June 13, 2021 at the Tokyo Dome. Shooto lost the fight by a first-round technical knockout.

Watanabe was scheduled to face Kuya Ito on October 10, 2021 at Rizin Landmark Vol.1. Ito later withdrew from his bout with Watanabe due to COVID-19 protocols, and was replaced by Nobutaka Naito. He won the bout after choking Naito unconscious via brabo choke in the first round.

Watanabe was booked to face Takuma Sudo on April 16, 2022 at Rizin Trigger 3. He lost the fight by split decision.

DEEP Watanabe faced Takuma Uchiyama at Deep 108 Impact on July 10, 2022. He won the bout by unanimous decision.

Watanabe faced Rikiya Matsuzawa on February 11, 2023 at DEEP 112, losing the bout via TKO stoppage 27 seconds into the bout.

Personal life Watanabe is the son of MMA pioneer and Shooto's inaugural Lightweight Champion, Yuichi Watanabe. His mother also competed in Shooto.

Championships and accomplishments Fighting NEXUS Fighting Nexus Bantamweight Championship (One time) One successful title defense Pound For Pound Fighting Championship PFPFC Bantamweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record Win

Hiroki Sugimoto TKO (punches) Roots of Martial Arts Network 5

Tokyo, Japan Win

Keisuke Hashimoto Submission (bow and arrow choke) Roots of Martial Arts Network 4

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Kenta Hayashi Technical Submission (ninja choke) Deep 121 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Win

Hiroto Kamematsu Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) Pound For Pound FC 32

Tokyo, Japan Win

Takuya Ogura Decision (majority) Fighting NEXUS vol.32

Tokyo, Japan Win

Kazuki Aoki Submission (rear-naked choke) Fighting NEXUS vol.31

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Rikiya Matsuzawa TKO (punches) DEEP 112 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Win

Takuma Uchiyama Decision (unanimous) DEEP 108 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Takuma Sudo Decision (split) Rizin Trigger 3

Chōfu, Japan Win

Nobutaka Naito Technical Submission (brabo choke) Rizin Landmark 1

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Kai Asakura TKO (punches) Rizin 28

Tokyo, Japan Win

Takumi Tamaru Submission (rear-naked choke) Rizin 27

Nagoya, Japan Win

Takashi Terada Submission (rear-naked choke) Fighting NEXUS vol.21

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Naoki Inoue Submission (rear-naked choke) Rizin 22

Yokohama, Japan Win

Hiroto Sakuma Submission (rear-naked choke) Fighting NEXUS vol.18

Tokyo, Japan Win

Yoichiro Kuranobu Decision (unanimous) DEEP 91 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Win

Hiroyuki Kobayashi Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) DEEP 90 Impact

Tokyo, Japan Win

Kodai Murata Decision (unanimous)

Win

Takeya Takemoto DQ (illegal upkick)

Win

Masato Arai Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) Fighting NEXUS 14

Tokyo, Japan Win

Teppei Suwabe Decision (unanimous) Fighting NEXUS vol.13

Tokyo, Japan Draw

Takeya Takemoto Draw (split) Gladiator 005

Osaka, Japan Win

Kotaro Kazama Decision (unanimous) Fighting NEXUS vol.11

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Naritoshi Kakuta Decision (unanimous) Gladiator 004

Wakayama, Japan Win

Hitoya Sumisojun Submission (guillotine choke) Fighting NEXUS vol.9

Tokyo, Japan Win

Yutaka Imamura Submission (face crank) Gladiator 003

Wakayama, Japan Win

Yoshiyuki Sakurazawa Submission (rear-naked choke) Fighting NEXUS vol.8

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Go Kashiwazaki TKO (punches) ZST 53

Tokyo, Japan Win

Yasuhiro Wakabayashi TKO (punches) ZST 50

Tokyo, Japan NC

Zheng Junfeng NC (overturned) WLF E.P.I.C. 2

Zhengzhou, China Win

Kohei Kuraoka Submission (rear-naked choke) ZST 49

Tokyo, Japan Draw

Atsushi Kato Draw (split) ZST 46

Tokyo, Japan Win

Shintaro Kubo Submission (rear-naked choke) ZST 44

Tokyo, Japan Win

Seio Date TKO (punches) ZST 42

Tokyo, Japan Win

Ryutaro Watanabe Submission (rear-naked choke) ZST in Yokosuka Vol. 1

Yokohama, Japan Loss

Go Kashiwazaki TKO (knee) ZST 39

Tokyo, Japan Draw

Kengo Okubo Draw (time limit) ZST 37

Tokyo, Japan Win

Shintaro Kubo Decision (unanimous) Vale Tudo Japan 2nd

Tokyo, Japan Draw

Takao Ueda Draw (time limit) ZST 35

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Toshihiro Shimizu Submission (triangle choke) ZST 34

Tokyo, Japan Draw

Tetsuya Fusano Draw (time limit) ZST 33

Tokyo, Japan Win

Seiichiro Ito Submission (rear-naked choke) ZST: SWAT! in Face 11

Tokyo, Japan Win

Nobuyuki Kanaizuka Decision (unanimous) ZST: SWAT! 47

Chōfu, Japan Win

Tadayuki Nakamura Submission (rear-naked choke) ZST: Battle Hazard 6

Tokyo, Japan