“Thunder” took the next step in his long and distinguished career when he signed with One Championship a little more than two years ago. Okami lost his first two fights in the Singapore-based organization but rebounded in October 2019, when he took a split decision from Agilan Thani at One Championship Century, Part 1. The Japanese standout has not competed since, leading some to wonder whether or not the final chapter of his career has been written.
As the MMA world awaits word on Okami’s future, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied him during his combat sports journey:
40: Years of age for Okami, who was born on July 21, 1981 in Kanagawa, Japan.
14: Okami victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 39% of his career total (36). His list of victims includes Kalib Starnes, Rory Singer, Evan Tanner, Lucio Linhares and Buddy Roberts. Okami owns three other victories by submission (8%), another by disqualification and 18 more by decision (50%).
10: Countries in which Okami has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 18-2 in his native Japan, 16-5 in the United States, 0-2 in Brazil, 1-0 in South Korea, 1-0 in Germany, 0-1 in Russia, 0-1 in Ireland, 0-1 in Australia, 0-1 in Indonesia and 0-1 in the Philippines.
8: Middleweights in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, including Okami (1:20:39), who have piled up at least one hour of control time inside the Octagon. Chael Sonnen (1:31:28), Thales Leites (1:19:01), Nate Marquardt (1:06:37), Derek Brunson (1:04:26), Matt Lindland (1:03:04), Antonio Carlos Jr. (1:01:09) and Ed Herman (1:00:12) are the others.
18: Consecutive calendar years in which Okami fought at least once. He went 3-0 in 2002, 3-1 in 2003, 3-1 in 2004, 4-0 in 2005, 6-1 in 2006, 2-1 in 2007, 2-0 in 2008, 0-1 in 2009, 3-0 in 2010, 0-1 in 2011, 2-1 in 2012, 1-1 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 0-1 in 2015, 3-0 in 2016, 1-1 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018 and 1-2 in 2019. Okami’s remarkable run ended in 2020.
1: Submission loss on the Okami resume. He was rendered unconscious by an Ovince St. Preux shoulder choke in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 117 main event on Sept. 22, 2017.
3: Six-fight winning streaks put together by Okami during his 50-bout career. They occurred from Sept. 8, 2002 to July 21, 2003, from Oct. 12, 2004 to Jan. 20, 2006 and from May 13, 2006 to April 7, 2007.
4: Okami wins over former Strikeforce, Bellator MMA or UFC champions. He has defeated Tanner, Marquardt, Anderson Silva and Hector Lombard.
13: Promotions in which Okami has appeared as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 14-7 in the UFC, 8-0 in Greatest Common Multiple, 4-0 in Pancrase, 2-2 in the World Series of Fighting, 1-2 in One Championship, 2-0 in Pride Fighting Championships, 1-1 in Rumble on the Rock, 1-0 in K-1, 1-0 in MARS, 1-0 in Deep, 1-0 in the Professional Fighters League, 0-1 in SuperBrawl and 0-1 in M-1 Global.
.734: Cumulative winning percentage between the 14 men who have beaten Okami: Silva, Sonnen, Amar Suloev, Falaniko Vitale, Jake Shields, Rich Franklin, Tim Boetsch, Ronaldo Souza, David Branch, Jon Fitch, Ovince St. Preux, Alexey Kunchenko, Kiamrian Abbasov and James Nakashima. They sport a combined record of 362-127-4.