43 Facts About Tatsuya Tsubakihara

Tatsuya Tsubakihara is a Japanese kickboxer, currently fighting in the featherweight division of K-1.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara is the former K-1 featherweight champion, having held the title in 2021.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was named the K-1 Rookie of the Year following early professional success and captured the K-1 Featherweight championship three years later.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was inspired to pursue martial arts at the age of five, after seeing an episode of the Fist of the North Star anime, which motivated him to begin training Shorin-ryu karate at the Gesshinkai Team Samurai.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara practiced karate until late middle school, when he began to transition to kickboxing, before fully transitioning after graduating from high school.

At the age of 13, Tatsuya Tsubakihara participated in the Kyoken Junior Kickboxing tournament.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara would go on to defend his title three times, all three times against Taiga Imanaga.

The first two title defenses ended in split decisions, after an extra round was fought, while Tatsuya Tsubakihara managed to defeat Imanaga by unanimous decision in his third title defense.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won unanimous decisions against Akito Watanabe in the quarterfinals and Ruka Oonuki in the semifinals, and won the tournament with a majority decision against Tsubasa Okamoto in the finals.

Two months later, Tatsuya Tsubakihara fought in a K-1 Koshien tournament, for the first time in his career.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won the first three fights of the tournament, most notably beating Taito Gunji by split decision after two additional rounds were fought, before losing a split decision in turn to Haruma Saikyo in the finals.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara fought the second round of the tournament, against Kaito Nagashima, on July 30,2016, two months after making his professional debut at the age of 17.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won the first three bouts of the tournament against Nagashima, Souta Saito and Yuta Hayashi, but fell short in the finals, losing a unanimous decision to Taito Gunji.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was eligible to participate in the 2017 K-1 Koshien tournament as well.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara managed to win the tournament in his third attempt, beating Toki Tamaru in the semifinals and Itsuki Kobori in the finals.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his professional debut against Yuki Tanioka at HIGHSPEED EX, on May 22,2016.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara notched his first professional victory against Tatsuya Izumi at ALL BOX WORLD 9th, winning the fight by a second-round knockout.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara's last fight outside of K-1 was against Jin Mandokoro at Hoost Cup Kings Kyoto 2.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his K-1 debut at KHAOS 2, against Taito Gunji.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won their first professional meeting by majority decision, with two of the three judges scoring the bout in his favor.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Haruma Saikyo at K-1 Survival Wars.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight the future Krush Super Bantamweight champion Masashi Kumura at Krush 86.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Riku Morisaka at KHAOS 5.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won the fight by a second round technical knockdown, managing to knock Kanemoto down three times.

The first knockdown came as Tatsuya Tsubakihara countered Kanemoto's step-in knee with a right straight, the second knockdown came as a result of another right straight, while the third knockdown came as a result of a combination of punches after Kanemoto was pressured into a corner.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Yuto Kuroda at Krush 108.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his featherweight debut against Shoya Masumoto at Krush 114.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won the fight by a third-round head kick knockout.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was granted his request, as he was scheduled to fight the newly crowned K-1 Featherweight champion and the 2019 K-1 "Fighter of the Year" Yuki Egawa.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara kept to his patented outfighting style, keeping distance from Egawa and scoring points through jabs and front kicks.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara won the fight by majority decision, with two of the judges scoring the bout in his favor, while the third judge scored the bout as a draw.

Accordingly, the fight went into an extra round, after which Tatsuya Tsubakihara won by split decision.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara came under criticism for his outfighting style, perceived as boring by the fans, who called for a change in the K-1 ruleset to make for more exciting fights.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Shuhei Kumura in a non-title bout at K-1 World GP 2021: Japan Bantamweight Tournament.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his first K-1 Featherweight title defense against the former two-time Krush Super Bantamweight title challenger Taito Gunji at K-1 World GP 2021 Japan on December 4,2021.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara faced the Krush Featherweight champion Takahito Niimi at K-1: K'Festa 5 on April 3,2022.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara faced the one-time Krush featherweight title challenger Toma Tanabe in the quarterfinals of the 2022 K-1 Featherweight World Grand Prix at K-1 World GP 2022 in Fukuoka on August 11,2022.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara lost the fight by a narrow majority decision.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara faced Shoki Kaneda at K-1 World GP 2022 in Osaka on December 3,2022.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara faced the reigning Krush Featherweight champion Riku Morisaka at K-1 World GP 2023 in Yokohama on June 3,2023.

The bout was a rematch five years in the making, as Tatsuya Tsubakihara had previously overcome Morisaka by unanimous decision at KHAOS 5.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara faced Kensuke at K-1 ReBIRTH 2 on December 9,2023.

Tatsuya Tsubakihara faced Shuhei Kumura at K-1 World GP 2024 in Osaka on October 5,2024.