Satoshi Ishii

Ishii won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships on 16 October 2004 in Budapest, Hungary.

On 2 December 2006 he won a silver medal at the 100 kg category of the 2006 Asian Games.

On April 29, 2006, and 2008, he won the All-Japan Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

With him the Japanese team won the World Judo team competition on 17 November 2007 in Beijing, China, this time in the +100 kg division.

Ishii won the gold medal in Olympic Judo at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games and two All-Japan Judo Championships representing Japan.

On August 15, 2008, he won a gold medal at the +100 kg category of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

Ishii made his professional MMA debut at Dynamite!! 2009 losing to fellow Judoka gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida by unanimous decision, but currently holds a record of 24–12–1.

Ishii is currently under contract with Professional Fighters League.

A professional mixed martial artist since 2009, Ishii has also competed for Rizin Fighting Federation and Bellator, and is the current HEAT Heavyweight Champion and SBC Heavyweight Champion.

Ishii started Judo under the guidance of his father when he was in fifth grade of elementary school.

He attended Kokushikan High School and then Kokushikan University in the Department of Physical Education.

Ishii originally confirmed that he signed a contract with Japanese MMA promotion Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) and was rumored to debut in early 2009 in their fight series, DREAM.

Japanese newspaper Sports Nippon then reported that Ishii would make his ring debut on December 31, 2009, at the annual K-1 Premium Dynamite!! event at the Saitama Super Arena.

However, Ishii announced that he rejected FEG's offer, and was planning to pursue his MMA career in the US' Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

He headed to Florida where he trained with one of MMA's top camps American Top Team.

On June 1, 2009, Ishii announced he would join Japanese MMA organization World Victory Road.

He officially signed with the organization at a public signing event on June 4, 2009.

On September 14, 2009, it was announced that Ishii would make his MMA debut against fellow Olympian judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida.

Although the fight was originally to take place at World Victory Road's New Year show on December 31, when that event was cancelled, the fight was moved to DREAM's Dynamite!! 2009 card on New Year's Eve as a co-promoted show.

Ishii, who was a large favorite in the fight, was dominated in the first round by the more-experienced Yoshida, taking many strikes including a right overhand that staggered the newcomer, along with a series of knees and uppercuts from the clinch.

Ishii, however, came back with a more competitive second round, but took a point deduction after illegally kneeing Yoshida in the groin.

Ishii continued to find his range in the third round with punches, but ultimately lost via unanimous decision.

For his second fight, Ishii faced New Zealand heavyweight kickboxing champion Tafa "Thumper" Misipati on May 15, 2010, in Auckland, New Zealand.

The fight was the main event at the ETK production X-plosion: New Zealand vs. Japan.

Ishii won via submission (armbar) in the first round.

In June 2010, Ishii caused controversy during an MMA exhibition match on the undercard of X-1 World Events: Nations Collide in Hawaii.

After knocking down his opponent Myles Tynanes at the end of the first-round, Ishii failed to stop punching his downed foe despite the referee's attempts to halt the action.

He was subsequently disqualified for his actions.

On September 25, 2010, Ishii fought Ikuhisa Minowa, a shoot wrestler known for facing much larger opponents, at Dream.16 and won via unanimous decision.

Ishii's next MMA fight was supposed to be against Antz Nansen at the K-1 World MAX 2010.

However, his opponent was changed to Katsuyori Shibata at the last minute.

Ishii won via Kimura in the first round.

Ishii continued to train at Black House in Brazil with notable fighters such as Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva.

Prior to Silva's fight with Chael Sonnen Ishii hurt Silva's ribs.

Since then he has trained at Mark Muñoz's gym Reign MMA, along with Mayhem Miller, Fabrício Werdum and other notable fighters.

Ishii then fought French kickboxing star Jérôme Le Banner in a mixed martial arts bout at the Dynamite!! 2010 New Year's Eve event.

He won the fight via unanimous decision.

On 30 April 2011 Ishii returned to Judo to compete in the United States Championship in the open division; he won all the matches, securing the gold medal.

After winning the gold medal, Ishii expressed his wishes to apply his talents in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) to the dismay of the Japanese Judo Federation.

Satoshi Ishii (石井 慧) is a Japanese-Croatian judoka, mixed martial artist, kickboxer and submission grappler who has held Croatian citizenship since 2019.