33 Facts About Hayato Sakurai

Hayato Sakurai was born on August 24,1975 and known as Mach, is a Japanese mixed martial artist.

Hayato Sakurai began training in judo during middle school, gaining several championships and then began training in karate.

Hayato Sakurai later became interested in shootboxing and joined Caesar Takeshi's dojo, competing for his promotion during years.

Trigg continued dominating through the second round, until Hayato Sakurai finally came back knocking him down with a left hook, and he managed to finish the fight with multiple knee strikes to the face, winning by KO.

On March 22,2002, Hayato Sakurai stepped into Ultimate Fighting Championship to fight the UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes at UFC 36.

The fourth would see the final action, with Hughes managing to knock down Hayato Sakurai and perform ground and pound until the referee stopped the fight as a TKO in favor of Hughes.

Some speculated Hayato Sakurai's seeming loss of spirit and mental focus came from his infamous car accident he suffered after fighting Silva.

Hayato Sakurai made an underwhelming debut before Daiju Takase in PRIDE Shockwave 2003.

Takase controlled a part of the first round, taking down Hayato Sakurai and bloodying his nose with punches.

Hayato Sakurai fought an uneventful match against the former, stopping him from passing guard for the first round and being stopped himself from passing guard in the second, before receiving some knees to the head which gained Gracie the decision; and he then lost by submission to the latter, despite him showing a better performance until the last minutes.

In 2005 Hayato Sakurai regained focus and went to the US to train with legendary Pancrase coach Matt Hume.

Hayato Sakurai silenced his critics when he defeated former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver and former Shooto Lightweight Champion Joachim Hansen on the same night to advance to the tournament finals.

Hayato Sakurai peppered his opponent with strikes and kicks before receiving a left hand which seemed to put him down.

Hayato Sakurai recovered and injured Pulver's eye with a combo, only to immediately land a front kick directly to the same eye, but then Hayato received another sudden left hook, which anticipated a possible finish.

However, for a second time, Hayato Sakurai came back and pressed action, finally bringing him down with a body shot and a knee strike for the TKO.

Similarly back and forth would be the fight against Hansen: the two fighters exchanged strikes, hip throws and leglocks through the entire bout, while Hayato Sakurai landed spinning back kicks and a close armbar attempt.

Hayato Sakurai got the decision win, and it set off a match in the finals against Takanori Gomi, Hayato Sakurai's former colleague and training partner.

Takanori capitalized and rained down punches on him, and although Hayato Sakurai was able to return to his feet, he was overwhelmed and knocked out with a punching combo.

Hayato Sakurai fought against former King of the Cage Lightweight Champion and future The Ultimate Fighter 6 Winner Mac Danzig at PRIDE 33.

Hayato Sakurai won the fight via knockout in the second round.

Hayato Sakurai was then defeated by David Baron by submission in the first round.

Hayato Sakurai faced top-ranked lightweight Shinya Aoki at DREAM 8 in a match with revenge overtones, as Sakurai had defeated Aoki back in Shooto in what was called a controversial decision.

Hayato Sakurai then lost at DREAM 10 in the semi-final of the tournament to eventual winner Marius Zaromskis in a huge upset, conceding the loss via knockout from a head kick and punches.

Hayato Sakurai controlled the fight early on, outstriking Gono both standing and from the half guard, but eventually lost via armbar submission in the second round.

Hayato Sakurai fought Nick Diaz at DREAM 14 and was caught in an armbar submission again.

Hayato Sakurai was to have a rematch against Marius Zaromskis in DREAM 17 a non-title fight.

Hayato Sakurai returned at Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 where he faced Ryo Chonan.

Hayato Sakurai then faced Phil Baroni at the subsequent New Year's card by Dream, DREAM 18, defeating him via unanimous decision.

Hayato Sakurai competed in the Tokyo International Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship 2009, ranking himself as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for his grappling expertise.

Hayato Sakurai opened the first round against Akira Uemura, but was eliminated.

Hayato Sakurai faced Wataru Sakata at Rizin World Grand-Prix 2016: Final Round on December 31,2016 and won the fight via TKO in the second round.

Hayato Sakurai was renowned for his well rounded set of skills, excelling on every field of the MMA game.

Hayato Sakurai was the only user of this discipline in reaching the ADCC finals both in his weight and absolute division, defeating heavier and more decorated grapplers like Ricco Rodriguez and Vinny Magalhaes.