Ryūshi Yanagisawa

Ryūshi Yanagisawa (柳澤 龍志; born June 22, 1972) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and kickboxer. His real name is Atsushi Yanagisawa (柳澤 敦史). As a martial artist, he competed in K-1, Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling and Fighting Network RINGS. As a professional wrestler he competed in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Inoki Genome Federation.^[2]

Career

Mixed martial arts (1993-2001, 2004, 2009)

Yanagisawa joined Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling upon the formation of the company in 1993. He lost his first two fights to future legends Bas Rutten and Masakatsu Funaki. He then went on a four fight winning streak including a win over Vernon White but his win streak ended when he lost to another future MMA legend: Ken Shamrock. After the Shamrock fight, Yanagisawa entered Pancrase's 1995 Neo Blood Tournament where he made it to the finals before losing to Takafumi Ito.^[3] Following the loss, Yanagisawa would go winless for his next 5 fights including a draw with Guy Mezger, a loss to Frank Shamrock, and losses in rematches to Rutten and Funaki. Yanagisawa would snap his losing streak at Pancrase - Truth 3 in a victory over Larry Papadopoulos by submission but would then lose a rematch to Mezger. After that, Yanagisawa would go a three fight winning streak including victories over Vernon White by submission and a decision victory over UFC 6 tournament winner: Oleg Taktarov. After another loss to Mezger, Yanagisawa went on an 11 unbeaten streak including wins over future K-1 legend: Semmy Schilt and UFC 7 tournament runner-up: Paul Varelans before he lost once again to Mezger. On September 14, 1998, Yanaigisawa challenged Guy Mezger for the King of Pancrase Openweight Championship but lost by Decision. After one more victory, Yanagisawa would go winless for his last 9 fights in Pancrase (including a loss to future UFC Middleweight Champion: Evan Tanner) before leaving Pancrase in early 2000.

In late 2000, Yanagisawa joined Fighting Network RINGS. On October 9, 2000, Yanagisawa entered RINGS' King of Kings tournament where he defeated Borislav Jeliazkov in the first round but lost to former UFC Heavyweight Champion: Randy Couture in the quarterfinals. Yanagisawa would go 1-2 in his next fights including losses to Bobby Hoffman and Fedor Emelianenko before leaving RINGS and MMA in late 2001.

In 2004, Yanagisawa returned to fighting at Pancrase - Brave 10 where he lost to Ryuta Noji by Decision. In 2009, Yanagisawa fought two more fights for DEEP but lost both fights.

Professional wrestling (1992, 2002-2007)

Yanagisawa debuted in wrestling in 1992 originally competing for Pro Wrestling Fujiwawa Gumi^[4] but made no impact on the promotion. By 1993, Yanagisawa left the promotion, following Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki to Pancrase.

Ten years after debuting in wrestling, Yanagisawa returned to the sport when he joined New Japan Pro Wrestling. He originally debuted on August 8, 2002 under a mask as he attacked Masahiro Chono.^[5] After unmasking, he joined Tadao Yasuda's Makai Club stable which feuded with New Japan. In November 2002, Yangisawa teamed with Yasuda and Makai #1 in the Triathlon Survivor Tournament but the group finished in last place with 1 point.^[3] On December 10, 2002, Yanagisawa teamed with Yasuda to challenge Cho-Ten for the IWGP Tag Team Championship but they lost.^[6]

At Wrestling World 2003, Yanagisawa entered the Young Generation Cup tournament. He would emerge victorious, defeating Kenzo Suzuki in the semi-finals and then Yutaka Yoshie in the finals to win the cup.^[7] On February 1, 2003, Yanagisawa entered the Teisen Hall Six Man Tag Team Tournament teaming with Makai #1 and Makai #2 but the team lost in the first round to eventual winners: Hiro Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto, and Shinsuke Nakamura.^[8] A few weeks later on February 16, Yanagisawa challenged Yoshihiro Takayama for the NWF Heavyweight Championship but came up short.^[8] After the NWF Title match, Yanagisawa largely went into the midcard for the next year and a half continuing to represent the Makai Club. After the Club broke up, Yanagisawa joined Masahiro Chono's new stable: Black New Japan. He continued to remain in the midcard with his only notable moment was when he competed in the 2005 New Japan Cup but lost in the first round to Koji Kanemoto.^[9] Yanagisawa would continue to compete in New Japan until leaving January 2006. Since leaving New Japan, Yanagisawa has wrestled once for Antonio Inoki's new promotion: Inoki Genome Federation on their December 20, 2007 show losing to Chris Moore (Chris Masters).^[10]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Cross armbreaker^[11]
• Signature moves
  • High kick^[11]
  • Jumping knee kick^[11]
  • Sleeper hold^[11]
  • Willow Lock (Full nelson)^[11]

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

• Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling
  • 1995 Neo-Blood Tournament Runner-up^[3]
  • 1996 Pancrase Ranking Tournament Runner Up

Professional wrestling

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • Young Generation Cup (2003)^[12]

Mixed martial arts record

Kickboxing record

2 wins (2 KOs), 6 losses, 1 draw
Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	Kim Young-Hyun	Decision (unanimous)	K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Seoul Final 16	000000002007-09-29-0000September 29, 2007	3	3:00	Seoul, South Korea
Loss	Chalid Arrab	TKO (doctor stoppage)	K-1 Survival 2002	000000002002-06-02-0000June 2, 2002	3	3:00	Toyama, Japan
Loss	Mirko Filipović	TKO (doctor stoppage)	K-1 Rising 2002	000000002002-01-27-0000January 27, 2002	1	2:44	Shizuoka, Japan
Loss	Tatsufumi Tomihira	TKO (corner stoppage)	K-1 Survival 2001	000000002001-06-24-0000June 24, 2001	4	3:00	Sendai, Japan
Draw	Nobuaki Kakuda	Draw	K-1 Rising 2001	000000002001-01-30-0000January 30, 2001	3	3:00	Matsuyama, Japan
Win	Takashi Sonoda	TKO	Wolf Revolution Second Wave	000000002001-01-12-0000January 12, 2001	4	3:00	Japan
Loss	Musashi	Decision (unanimous)	K-1 Spirits 2000	000000002000-07-07-0000July 7, 2000	3	3:00	Sendai, Japan	K-1 Spirits 2000 quarter-final bout.
Win	Edward Thurston	KO	All Japan Kickboxing Federation: Kick Over VIII	000000001997-07-25-0000July 25, 1997	1	2:04	Japan
Loss	Vitali Klitschko	Decision (unanimous)	All Japan Kickboxing Federation: Evolution Step 8	000000001993-11-27-0000November 27, 1993	3	5:00	Japan

Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists

References

External links

Professional MMA record for Ryūshi Yanagisawa from Sherdog