Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Japanese Fighters

10. Kazuo Misaki

Misaki is a frequently overlooked and forgotten fighter nowadays, so it's nice that he got his due in cracking this list. He also possesses a quality that none of the others ahead of him do; he retired on a big win and at 35, was still reasonably close to his prime then. That's a pleasant contrast to the other fighters here, who continued competing long after the wheels had fallen off and they were shadows of their former selves. Misaki debuted at middleweight but found his greatest success at welterweight. He was a good grappler and a good striker, though not the best in either area, which explains why he was a top contender and defeated many tough foes but was never No. 1. He began fighting in Pancrase, and while he easily handled lesser martial artists, he couldn't defeat the very best, losing decisions to Nate Marquardt, Chris Lytle and Ricardo Almeida, in addition to suffering a broken arm in an earlier fight against Marquardt. He defeated Jorge Patino and submitted a young Ed Herman, though his best result was a draw against a young Jake Shields. Misaki then started competing more regularly in Pride, which would see the biggest wins of his career. Choking out Akira Shoji and Flavio Luiz Mora, he dropped decisions to Daniel Acacio and Dan Henderson. Misaki then won a dominant decision against Phil Baroni, still a very significant win in 2006, and shocked Henderson in their rematch, taking the judges' verdict.

Beating Henderson, one of the 20 greatest fighters ever, was a huge feat, but it didn't get any easier for Misaki. He then faced the undefeated Paulo Filho who, as we covered on Sherdog's list of 10 biggest underachievers, should have been an all-time Top 20 fighter himself, if not higher. Filho submitted Misaki at the very end of the 10-minute first round. However, since Filho was too injured to continue, it was Misaki who faced another very talented but mercurial martial artist, Denis Kang, in the Grand Prix finals that same night. Misaki would squeak by via split decision, winning the only major title of his career. Despite being a heavy favorite, Misaki also lost to another top welterweight in Frank Trigg. Misaki then had a big showdown against Yoshihiro Akiyama, with the Japanese crowd cheering him and booing Akiyama. Initially, it appeared to be a huge triumph for Misaki, who finished his hated foe via soccer kicks, but it was later changed to a no contest, as there was some confusion about the rules, which actually banned the blows. Misaki went back to winning, choking out skilled striker Siyar Bahardurzada, decisioning Logan Clark, and then knocking out long-time UFC veteran Joe Riggs. He met Jorge Santiago for the Sengoku middleweight championship and succumbed to his larger opponent via submission in the fifth and final round. After choking out skilled judoka Kazuhiro Nakamura, Misaki was knocked out by the much larger Melvin Manhoef in under 2 minutes and was unsuccessful in a rematch bid against Jorge Santiago, with the fight being stopped by Misaki's corner with 29 seconds left. As noted, Misaki left the sport on a high note, winning three in a row, the last a split decision over world-class striker Paul Daley. Misaki was never a champion, but he was a top 10 contender who had a number of big wins, including one over an all-time legend, and only lost against the very best.

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