Hirotaka Urabe

Urabe made his debut in July 2007, against Yosuke Nishiyama, winning by a first round knockout. He would have a mixed start to his career, amassing a 8-5-1 record. Nishikawa then entered the 2011 Krush tournament, to crown the inaugural Krush Super Featherweight champion. He won majority decisions against Naoki Ishikawa and Yuta Takahashi in the quarterfinal and semifinal, before knocking out Yuji Takeuchi in the first round.[3]

After winning the title, Urabe won three non-title bouts against Chen Mingming, Zheng Bo and Maik Redan, before being scheduled to defend his title against Naoki Ishikawa. The fight ended in a draw. Urabe won two more non-title bouts against Masato Kobayashi and Yuki Matsuno, before being scheduled to defend for the second time against Fumiya Osawa. He defeated Osawa by a first round spinning back kick knockout.[4] Urabe then went on to beat Takaaki Murasaki and Xavier Bastard by knockout, before being making his third title defense in a rematch with Naoki Ishikawa at Krush 25.[5] The fight once again ended in a draw.[6]

Urabe defeated Shigeru and Antonio Campagna by TKO in non-title bout, before facing Kan Itabashi in his fourth title defense. the fight went into an extra round, after which Itabaski won a decision.[7]

Urabe's next fight was against Ryuji Kajiwara, which he lost by decision. He snapped his losing streak with a unanimous decision win against Park Hyun Sung at Krush 38. He was next scheduled to fight Xavier Bastard for the ISKA oriental rules Super Lightweight title. Urabe defeated Bastard by decision.[8]

After a decision against Masahiro Yamamoto at Krush 44, he challenged Kotaro Shimano at Krush 47 for the Super Featherweight title.[9] Urabe won the fight by unanimous decision.[10]

Urabe participated in the K-1 Super Featherweight GP to crown the inaugual champion.[11] He beat Karim Bennoui by TKO in the quarterfinal and Javier Hernandez by an extra round decision, before facing his brother Koya Urabe in the finals. His brother won the fight by unanimous decision.[12]

Urabe would go on to defend his Krush title two more times, knocking out German Tabuenca at Krush 54[13] and Zhuang Shuson at Krush 58.[14]

In September 2015, Urabe rematched Koya Urabe for the K-1 Super Featherweight title. He won the fight by a third round knockout.[15]

In the 2016 K-1 Japan Super Featherweight Grand Prix, he suffered a majority decision loss to Paulo Tebar in the quarterfinals. In the 2016 Super Featherweight World Grand Prix, he lost to Taiga Kawabe by unanimous decision.[16][17] He was given another chance to fight for the K-1 Super Featherweight title, when he fought Taiga Kawabe in February of 2017. Urabe lost by unanimous decision.[18]

Following this title loss, Urabe went on a 3-2 run, before challenging Yuta Murakoshi for the K-1 Featherweight title at K-1:K'Festa 2. Murakoshi won the fight by unanimous decision.[19] Eight months later, Urabe entered the 2019 K-1 Featherweight GP, defeating Brandon Spain by decision in the quarterfinals, but losing to Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan in the semifinals.[20]

He fought Kizaemon Saiga at K-1 World GP 2020 Winter's Crucial Bout, losing the fight by DQ, after Saiga was unable to continue due to an illegal blow.[21]