Daiju Takase

Daiju Takase (高瀬 大樹, Takase Daiju, born April 20, 1978 in Tokyo) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and kickboxer.^[1] He has fought as a middleweight and welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championship. He is noted for being the second of six fighters to defeat and first of three fighters to finish former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

Takase's mixed martial arts debut came at PRIDE 3, where he defeated the 600 lb Sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough. He then fought in a variety of organizations, including Pancrase and the UFC, facing tough opposition, including losses to Jeremy Horn, Ikuhisa Minowa, and Nino Schembri.

On June 8, 2003, Takase faced Anderson Silva at PRIDE 26. At the time, Silva was on a 9-match winning streak, and given Takase's unimpressive record, he was a heavy underdog. However, Takase surprised spectators with a first round triangle choke submission victory. With this win, he becomes notable for being one of the six men to ever defeat Anderson Silva.

Takase then fought in PRIDE's Bushido promotion, and continued to face difficult opposition with mixed success, including a victory over Carlos Newton and losses to Rodrigo Gracie and Hayato Sakurai.

Takase most recently fought on July 26, 2014, when he got a TKO win over Hee Seung Kim at ROAD FC 16.^[2]

Mixed martial arts career

PRIDE

A representant of Yoshinori Nishi's Wajyutsu Keishukai MMA dojo, Takase made his debut in PRIDE Fighting Championship at its third event facing amateur sumo champion Emmanuel Yarborough. Outweighted by a total of 430-ib, more than twice his own weight, Takase resolved to get his opponent tired by running around the ring for most of the bout, which gained him a yellow card. At the second round, Daiju tried a single leg takedown only for Yarborough to land on top of him, but the Japanese managed to get his arms free and throw punches to the head for the TKO.^[3]

Takase didn't return to PRIDE until 2002, when he got a win and a loss against Brazilians Johil de Oliveira and Nino Schembri. However, his popularity came in PRIDE 26, when he fought Chute Boxe rising star Anderson Silva. Daiju executed an early takedown and dominated Silva on the ground for most on the fight, and finally locked a tight triangle choke from the top to make him tap out.

He next faced Rodrigo Gracie from the Gracie family at the first event of PRIDE Bushido, which featured a special Team Gracie vs Team Japan series of matches. Takase came to the fight wearing orange tights similar to "Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakuraba's, including his initials on the back. During the match, Gracie took down repeatedly Takase and landed hard ground and pound, but the Japanese was skilled enough to keep him from passing guard or knocking him out. The second round would see similar action, with Takase losing striking exchanges by punches and knees and avoiding submissions on the ground. After the action, Gracie was awarded with a unanimous decision.^[4]

At PRIDE Shockwave 2003, Takase fought former Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai. Daiju controlled a part of the first round, taking down Sakurai and bloodying his nose with punches. At this point, however, Sakurai started coming back, hijacking the standing segments with superior striking and negating Takase's submission attempts in order to do damage through his guard. The Shooto fighter ended the fight taking down Takase several times and controlling the action, which gained him a unanimous decision.

After defeating Chris Brennan by decision, Takase accomplished another of his biggest wins in his match on May 23, 2004 against grappling expert Carlos Newton. The first round of the bout saw multiple exchanges on the mat and increasingly complex submissions attempts by the Japanese, including an omoplata from the guard, a series of triangle chokes and even a cartwheel into a flying triangle choke while standing; however, Newton was able to defend all of them and land minor striking in every opportunity. The last half saw instead the two fighters trading strikes, and it ended with Takase stopping Newton from passing his guard and trying a last triangle choke. After the battle, Takase was awarded the split decision.

Daiju's last apparition in PRIDE would be on April 3, 2005, losing to Daniel Acacio by TKO.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Takase made his debut in Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 16, 1999 at UFC 21, where he was pitted against Jeremy Horn, who sported a large size advantage and a 31-4-4 record. The Japanese lost the fight by TKO after receiving a long punishment in ground and pound.^[5]

He returned at UFC 23, the second event of the promotion in Japanese ground. Takase took part in a four-man tournament which got him pitted against former RINGS fighter Kenichi Yamamoto in the semi-finals. Takase controlled portions of the fight through striking from the guard and defensive grappling, but he was ultimately defeated by unanimous decision.^[6]

Takase's final return to UFC would be in 2000 at UFC 29, fighting Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent Fabiano Iha. The bout was short, with Iha knocking out Takase with punches in 2:24.

Mixed martial arts record

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

3 win, 2 losses Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Loss 5-4 Nangoku Chojin Decision (unanimous) Shootboxing - 2016 Act.2 000000002016-04-03-0000April 3, 2016 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Win 5-3 Ryo Sakai Decision (unanimous) Big Bang - The Fighter 15 000000002015-11-15-0000November 15, 2015 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Loss 4-3 Takeshige Hayashi Decision (unanimous) Big Bang - Consolidation Road 22 000000002015-09-06-0000September 6, 2015 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Win 4-2 Mitsuyo Hosoi Decision (unanimous) Big Bang - The Fighter 12 000000002014-10-14-0000October 14, 2014 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Win 3-2 Soichi Nishida Decision (unanimous) Big Bang - Consolidation Road 15 000000002013-12-01-0000December 1, 2013 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Win 2-2 Takeshige Hayashi Decision (unanimous) Big Bang - Consolidation Road 5 000000002011-05-15-0000May 15, 2011 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Loss 1-2 Naoki Samukawa Decision (unanimous) Fujiwara Festival 2009 000000002009-12-11-0000December 11, 2009 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Loss 1-1 Koichi Takemura Decision (unanimous) RISE XLI 000000002007-11-25-0000November 25, 2007 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Win 1-0 Ken Noisho Decision (unanimous) J-RED Mach Go-GO '06 000000001996-01-27-0000January 27, 1996 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest

Submission grappling record

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Notes
Win	Tetsuo Kondo	Submission (rear–naked choke)	Wardog 08 × Gra-chan 21	2016	1	0:33
Win	Toru Harai	Submission (triangle armbar)	Club Fight	2008	1	1:37
Win	Karl Amoussou	Submission (triangle choke)	Budo Challenge -87 kg	2006	1	N/A
Draw	Sanae Kikuta and Takeshi Yamazaki	Points	The Contenders X-Rage Vol.1	December 14, 2001	1	10:00	Partnered with Minoru Suzuki
Draw	Minoru Suzuki and Takafumi Ito	Points	The Contenders 5 Prospective M-1	October 6, 2001	1	10:00	Partnered with Caol Uno
Draw	Mitsuyoshi Hayakawa	Points	The Contenders 4 Prospective	2000	2	5:00
Loss	Vernon White	Points	ADCC 1999 –99 kg	1999	1	10:00
Loss	Nobuhiro Tsurumaki	Submission (toe hold)	The Contenders	1999	2	01:16

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Daiju Takase from Sherdog
  
• Professional MMA record from Sherdog.com
• PRIDE profile