Takashi Sugiura

Mixed martial arts career Sugiura also dabbled in mixed martial arts, given his amateur background. His first fight was against the Brazilian rookie Daniel Gracie, which saw Takashi giving a strong impression. The Japanese wrestler dropped Gracie with a right punch at the first round, defended a back mount for a long time and blocked all of Daniel's submissions. He eventually tossed Gracie to the ground with an amateur throw and held top position over the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist. At the end, however, after Gracie dominated the final round from his guard, he was given the split decision over Sugiura.

Takashi's second fight was against another pro wrestler, Giant Silva, who had a 160lbs weight advantage over him. However, Sugiura dominated the bout, taking him down and throwing knee strikes until the referee brought the stoppage. The fight featured a controversial moment afterwards when Sugiura cut a promo which moved Silva to try to attack him with a wood club, having to be restrained by a team of officials. The brawl is cut from the DVD version distributed in United States, and is believed to be a professional wrestling angle or promotional stunt.

He also participated in the Pancrase Heavyweight Championship Tournament but was eliminated by Ryuta Noji. Sugiura's final match was against Alexandre Ribeiro in Sengoku, being finished by strikes and stomps at the third round.

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Alexandre Ribeiro TKO (strikes) World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 5

Tokyo, Japan Loss

Ryuta Noji KO (stomps) Pancrase: Blow 3

Tokyo, Japan Win

Paulo Cesar Silva TKO (punches) PRIDE Bushido 4

Nagoya, Japan Loss

Daniel Gracie Decision (split) Pride 21

Saitama, Saitama, Japan Personal life Sugiura is a fond lover of dogs; his shiba-inu, Kenta, was the mascot of his unit Sugiura-gun. He has a wife and two children, an unnamed elder son and a younger daughter, Kaho. Kaho Sugiura currently plays for the Yamato Sylphid football club in the Japan Women's Football League, or Nadeshiko League. Whilst an active wrestler, he founded his own adult wrestling club, Gloria, which is located in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Championships and accomplishments

Nikkan Sports Best Tag Team Award (2014) with Masato Tanaka Fighting Spirit Award (2009, 2011) MVP Award (2010) Pro Wrestling Illustrated Ranked No. 5 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011 Pro Wrestling Noah GHC Heavyweight Championship (4 times) GHC National Championship (2 times) GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Yoshinobu Kanemaru GHC Tag Team Championship (12 times) – with Naomichi Marufuji (3), Masato Tanaka (1), Kenoh (1), Kazma Sakomoto (1), Kazushi Sakuraba (1), Hideki Suzuki (1), Satoshi Kojima (1), Shuhei Taniguchi (1) and Masa Kitamiya (2) Global League (2014) Global Tag League (2014, 2015, 2019) – with Masato Tanaka (2) and Kazma Sakomoto One Night Junior Heavyweight Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2003) – with Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Makoto Hashi Best Bout Award (2014) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto on November 8 Global League Outstanding Performance Award (2013) Global Tag League Fighting Spirit Award (2010) – with Shuhei Taniguchi Global Tag League Technique Award (2013) – with Atsushi Kotoge

Pro Wrestling Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Masato Tanaka Furinkazan (2014) – with Masato Tanaka Tokyo Sports Best Tag Team Award (2014) – with Masato Tanaka Best Tag Team Award (2020) – with Kazushi Sakuraba MVP Award (2010) Outstanding Performance Award (2009) Westside Xtreme Wrestling Trios Tournament (2006) – with Doug Williams and Yoshinobu Kanemaru