Yusuke Kawaguchi

Kawaguchi made his mixed martial arts debut on April 13, 2007 at DEEP: 29th Impact and defeated his opponent Hirotaka Fujiyama by majority decision. He went on to win his next two fights by way of knockout in the first round and in 2008, he took part in the DEEP Megaton Grand Prix. He TKO'd Nobuyoshi Takahara in the preliminary round and advanced to the quarter-finals where he faced former sumo wrestler Wakashoyo. Wakashoyo rushed Kawaguchi at the beginning of the fight and was knocked out after just 16 seconds. Kawaguchi then advanced to the final stage, where the semi-finals and final were held in one night. In the semis, he came up against Shunji Kosaka, and beat him after his corner threw in the towel within 45 seconds of the first round. Shunsuke Inoue was then to be his opponent in the final. After two four-minute rounds, Kawaguchi emerged the victor by way of split decision to become the DEEP Megaton Champion.

On October 23, 2008, Kawaguchi defended his title against Mongolian challenger Baru Harn aka Seryu at DEEP: 38th Impact. He blitzed Seryu with machinegun punches in the first round of the fight but could not finish him. With both men gassed by the second period, the fight quickly devolved into moments of sloppy punching and leaning on each other in the clinch. A majority decision for Kawaguchi resulted after two judges ruled in his favor, with one judge ruling it a draw.[2]

Seigo Mizuguchi, who Kawaguchi already beat in 2007, then challenged him at DEEP: 44th Impact on October 10, 2009. Kawaguchi opened the bout with an initial barrage of machine gun punches, dropping Mizuguchi in a corner. Mizuguchi recovered, however, tossed the champ over his hip in the harai-goshi and landed in side control, where he squeezed Kawaguchi’s head with a neck crank. Kawaguchi escaped and, as the visibly fitter of the two, proceeded to string together big punches for the rest of the bout. Gassed but still tough, Mizuguchi ate all of Kawaguchi's punches while throwing winging singles of his own. Though his face was red and swollen, Mizuguchi would not go down, prompting Kawaguchi to switch tactics midway through the bout, as he chopped him down with kicks. When Mizuguchi limped into a corner at the 1:27 mark of the third round, cornerman Kazuhiro Nakamura threw in the towel. Referee Yoshinori Umeki did not see the towel but stopped the bout soon after.[3]

Another challenger then stepped up, this time in the form of Guam's Roque Martinez. He, too, was unable to defeat Kawaguchi who won by unanimous decision after three rounds.

In 2009, he represented Team Japan in the M-1 Challenge. His first fight came against England's Rob Broughton on April 29, where he recorded the first loss of his career. Every time Kawaguchi stepped in to engage, Broughton's left hook was there to meet him, and every time Kawaguchi tried to retreat, Broughton's sharp left jab was there to chase him. Broughton also controlled Kawaguchi on the mat, as he shut him down in both rounds and won via unanimous decision.[4]

Kawaguchi's second fight representing Japan was on April 16 in the Netherlands. He took on Cirio Tejera of Spain and won by unanimous decision after two rounds.

On May 7, 2010, Kawaguchi faced 5-time World's Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW XIII: Kumite in Katowice, Poland. Pudzianowski rushed Kawaguchi at the opening bell and took him down with a lateral drop, but Kawaguchi proved tougher than anticipated. A quickly gassing Pudzianowski had to dig deep to keep control of the fight after he failed to finish with the opening salvo. Kawaguchi got some strikes in on the Pole in the second round, but Pudzian scored two takedowns, likely the convincing factor for the judges, who ruled in favor of Pudzianowski, who won by unanimous decision.[5]

Kawaguchi made his DREAM debut against James Thompson at DREAM.16 and won via a controversial split decision.[6]