1. Takanori Gomi is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist who gained international fame in Pride Fighting Championships.
95 Facts About Takanori Gomi
1. 2.
Later in his career, Gomi competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
3.
Takanori Gomi is the only Pride FC Lightweight Champion in the organization's history.
4.
Takanori Gomi became the Lightweight Grand Prix Winner at Pride Shockwave 2005, thus winning every lightweight accolade put forth by Pride FC.
5.
Takanori Gomi held a record twelve-fight winning streak in Shooto, where he was a former Shooto Lightweight Champion, as well as a four-time All-Japan Combat Wrestling Champion.
6.
Takanori Gomi later defeated Tatsuya Kawajiri, Luiz Azeredo, and Hayato Sakurai en route to becoming Pride FC's 2005 Lightweight Grand Prix Winner, after which he was awarded the Pride FC Lightweight Championship.
7.
At Pride Bushido 13, Takanori Gomi successfully defended the title against Marcus Aurelio.
8.
Takanori Gomi was born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1978 and started boxing at Sagamihara Yonekura Gym in 1994 while he was attending Kanagawa Prefectural Aikawa Higashi Junior High School.
9.
Takanori Gomi was athletic and the pitcher of the school's baseball team, but dropped out of high school in 1996 when he failed to pass on to the next grade.
10.
Takanori Gomi then went on to learn freestyle wrestling and catch wrestling at Kiguchi Dojo and competed in many wrestling tournaments throughout Japan, the pinnacle of his grappling career being his four All-Japan Combat Wrestling championships, in which he defeated a number of the nation's top grapplers, future opponent Mitsuhiro Ishida amongst them.
11.
Takanori Gomi joined the official Shooto gym in 1997 where he began training and taking part in the amateur Shooto competitions.
12.
Takanori Gomi made his professional mixed martial arts debut on November 27,1998, at Shooto Las Grandes Viajes 6 in Tokyo, where he defeated Hiroshi Tsuruya by decision.
13.
Takanori Gomi won his first 14 MMA matches, mostly in the Shooto organization, but fought in Vale Tudo Japan and in the Hawaiian-based organization SuperBrawl.
14.
Takanori Gomi became the Shooto World Lightweight Champion in 2001 after defeating former teammate Rumina Sato by unanimous decision on December 16.
15.
Takanori Gomi then defeated highly regarded American grappler Chris Brennan on September 16,2002, via unanimous decision.
16.
Takanori Gomi defended the Shooto crown in 2002, beating Dokonjonosuke Mishima by TKO in the second round.
17.
Takanori Gomi lost his title to Norwegian fighter Joachim Hansen by majority decision.
18.
Takanori Gomi's first fight under unified rules, Gomi was defeated in the third round by rear-naked choke submission.
19.
Takanori Gomi made his debut within the organization on February 15,2004, at Pride Bushido 2 where he fought Jadyson Costa of the famed Chute Boxe team out of Brazil.
20.
Takanori Gomi stopped Costa via TKO halfway through the first round.
21.
Takanori Gomi was asked back to Pride to face off with the undefeated Ralph Gracie at Pride Bushido 3.
22.
Unlike his fight with Penn, Takanori Gomi made quick work of Gracie, scoring a six-second KO in the first round, the quickest match in the organization's history, due to repeated knee strikes.
23.
Takanori Gomi remained within the Bushido series, fighting and defeating both Fabio Mello and Charles "Crazy Horse" Bennett in the first round at Pride Bushido 4 and Pride Bushido 5.
24.
Takanori Gomi is a complete fighter who, due to his MMA experience, grows as the bout unfolds.
25.
Takanori Gomi then appeared at Pride's New Year's Eve show, Pride Shockwave 2004, against former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver.
26.
Takanori Gomi scored a knockout with an uppercut at 6:21 in the first round.
27.
Takanori Gomi started off 2005 with a win over Luiz Azeredo at Pride Bushido 7.
28.
Azeredo dominated the fight from the opening bell with knees, punches, and flying kicks, but at the 3:46 mark of the first round, Takanori Gomi caught Luiz with two hooks that sent the Chute Boxe fighter to the mat.
29.
Takanori Gomi was then criticized for continuing to attack, even after Azeredo became unconscious, and was restrained by Dream Stage Entertainment crew and staff.
30.
Takanori Gomi later stated that the extracurricular attack was due to adrenaline and apologized for his actions.
31.
Takanori Gomi won the fight by unanimous decision, securing an armbar in the waning seconds of the fight.
32.
Many MMA critics had Takanori Gomi ranked number one and Kawajiri number two in the Lightweight division.
33.
Takanori Gomi submitted Kawajiri in the first round with a rear-naked choke.
34.
Takanori Gomi then had to fight again later that night in the semi-finals against Luiz Azeredo.
35.
Takanori Gomi won via unanimous decision, becoming a finalist in the 2005 Lightweight Grand Prix.
36.
Takanori Gomi met the other finalist, Hayato Sakurai, at Pride Shockwave 2005.
37.
Sakurai and Takanori Gomi were teammates at the official Shooto gym back in the late 1990s.
38.
Takanori Gomi threw a right hand and then followed up with a left-right combination.
39.
Takanori Gomi was crowned the Pride 2005 Lightweight Grand Prix Champion.
40.
The KO win helped Takanori Gomi earn 2005 Fighter of the Year honors from Sherdog, an honor he shared with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.
41.
Takanori Gomi then faced Marcus Aurelio of American Top Team later that night.
42.
Takanori Gomi said he took the match too easily and that this loss was the best thing for him to refocus and become a better fighter.
43.
Baron seemed willing to trade with Takanori Gomi and managed to slip some punches.
44.
Baron missed a takedown attempt, allowing Takanori Gomi to get around his back and slam Baron to the ground.
45.
Baron rolled in an attempt to shake off his Japanese opponent, but Takanori Gomi held on, sinking in a rear-naked choke.
46.
Baron defended the choke as long as he could, but eventually Takanori Gomi completed the technique, forcing Baron to tap at the 7:10 mark of the first round.
47.
Takanori Gomi rematched Aurelio at Pride Bushido 13 on November 5,2006.
48.
Takanori Gomi, often switching his stance, replied with strikes of his own and landed numerous leg kicks.
49.
Rather than follow him down, Takanori Gomi just kicked Aurelio's legs until the referee would stand the action back up.
50.
Takanori Gomi showed shades of his past catch wrestling accolades when he countered another Aurelio takedown attempt with a half-nelson.
51.
Takanori Gomi did not follow Aurelio to the ground, instead attacking his legs with kicks.
52.
Takanori Gomi refused to follow Aurelio to the ground despite his opponent's taunting.
53.
Takanori Gomi knocked down Aurelio with a body shot late in the last round, and the bout ended with Takanori Gomi connecting with a hard kick to Aurelio's body just before the final bell.
54.
Takanori Gomi's earned a first round knockout against Mitsuhiro Ishida at Pride Shockwave 2006.
55.
Less than a minute into the fight Takanori Gomi countered a right leg kick from Ishida with a straight left punch that knocked him down.
56.
Takanori Gomi immediately went in for the finish, stopping Ishida with a series of hammer fists.
57.
At Pride 33, Takanori Gomi suffered a loss to UFC veteran Nick Diaz by way of gogoplata submission.
58.
However, Diaz came back quickly and began to bombard Takanori Gomi, who had become visibly exhausted, with straight jabs and right hands for the later half of the round.
59.
Takanori Gomi then fought at World Victory Road's Sengoku 4 on August 24,2008, against Sung Hwan Pang.
60.
Takanori Gomi competed on November 1,2008, where he lost a split decision to Russian fighter Sergey Golyaev at Sengoku VI.
61.
Takanori Gomi then fought Satoru Kitaoka on January 4,2009, for the Sengoku lightweight championship.
62.
Takanori Gomi's next fight was then set to for Affliction Entertainment at Affliction: Trilogy, with his opponent being Rafaello Oliveira, but the event was ultimately canceled.
63.
In October 2009, Takanori Gomi fought and defeated Tony Hervey at Shooto's Vale Tudo Japan 2009.
64.
Takanori Gomi said that the fight would be his last fight in Japan before moving to the US.
65.
On January 1,2010, it was announced that Takanori Gomi had signed with the UFC.
66.
Takanori Gomi faced Kenny Florian in his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 21 and was submitted by Florian via rear-naked choke in the third round after being dominated by jabs and body shots for two rounds.
67.
Takanori Gomi was expected to face Joe Stevenson on August 1,2010, at UFC Live on Versus: 2.
68.
Takanori Gomi defeated Griffin via one punch KO at 1:04 of the first round.
69.
Takanori Gomi caught Griffin with a left cross following up with a right hook causing Griffin to fall face first into the canvas where Takanori Gomi then followed up onto Griffin's back with few short punches before the fight was stopped.
70.
Takanori Gomi is the first person to have stopped Griffin via knockout as all of Griffin's previous losses have gone to a decision.
71.
Takanori Gomi was awarded Knockout Of The Night bonus for his performance.
72.
Takanori Gomi faced Nate Diaz on September 24,2011, at UFC 135 where he lost late in the first round by submission due to an armbar.
73.
Takanori Gomi was expected to face George Sotiropoulos on February 26,2012, at UFC 144 but the Australian fighter pulled out after sustaining an injury.
74.
Takanori Gomi instead faced Eiji Mitsuoka and won via TKO in the second round.
75.
Takanori Gomi defeated Mac Danzig via split decision on November 10,2012, at UFC on Fuel TV 6.
76.
Takanori Gomi, keeping true to his plead, came into the fight in considerably better shape and showcased a drastically improved game including taking Danzig down a few times.
77.
Takanori Gomi faced Diego Sanchez on March 3,2013, at UFC on Fuel TV 8.
78.
Takanori Gomi faced Isaac Vallie-Flagg on April 26,2014, at UFC 172.
79.
Takanori Gomi next faced Myles Jury on September 20,2014, at UFC Fight Night 52.
80.
Takanori Gomi lost the fight via TKO in the first round, resulting in the first knockout loss of his career.
81.
Takanori Gomi faced Joe Lauzon on July 25,2015, at UFC on Fox 16.
82.
Takanori Gomi lost the fight via TKO in the first round.
83.
Takanori Gomi next faced Jim Miller on July 9,2016, at UFC 200.
84.
Takanori Gomi lost the fight via TKO in the first round.
85.
Takanori Gomi then faced Jon Tuck on June 17,2017, at UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Correia.
86.
Takanori Gomi faced Dong Hyun Kim on September 23,2017, at UFC Fight Night: Saint Preux vs Okami.
87.
Takanori Gomi had a record of 4 wins and 9 losses with the UFC.
88.
Takanori Gomi lost the last 5 fights of his UFC career, all in the first round and all by stoppage.
89.
Takanori Gomi lost the fight via submission in the first round.
90.
Takanori Gomi won via KO in under 3 minutes in the 1st Round.
91.
Takanori Gomi had his first Kickboxing match in an exhibition fight against Masato at KYOKUGEN 2016 on December 31,2016.
92.
Takanori Gomi faced Tenshin Nasukawa in a two-round exhibition boxing match at Rizin 33 - Saitama on December 31,2021.
93.
Unusual for a Japanese mixed martial artist of his style and class, Takanori Gomi was a strong sprawl and brawl fighter.
94.
Takanori Gomi combined a sterling takedown defense with powerful, aggressive boxing, which gained him the nickname of "Fireball Kid" for his punching power and spectacular knockouts.
95.
Takanori Gomi was skilled on the ground, preferring to use ground and pound over submission attempts.