Satoshi Ishii MMA debut vs Hidehiko Yoshida

Satoshi Ishii made his MMA debut at the Dynamite!! 2009: DREAM vs. World Victory Road card held on New Year’s Eve at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. After winning a judo gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Satoshi received interest from several MMA organizations, including Affliction, DREAM, UFC, and Sengoku.

He ultimately signed with Sengoku and in his debut faced fellow Olympic judo champion and countryman Hidehiko Yoshida. The veteran fighter had previously faced top fighters including Josh Barnett, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and Wanderlei Silva. Unfortunately, Satoshi lost by unanimous decision.

Prior to the fight, Satoshi trained with Tactical for one month.

Dustin Kimura wins MMA: Destiny 145lb title

Dustin Kimura, 19 years old, won the amateur 145lb title at the mixed martials arts event, Destiny: The 2nd Coming, on Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Filcom Center in Waipahu.  In the second round, Dustin dropped his opponent with a right hand strike and used a rear naked choke submission to earn his win and the title. 

Dustin began training at Tactical Strength at the recommendation of his Jiu-Jitsu coach, Rylan Lizares, of Gracie Technics Academy.  Coach Darin put Dustin through six weeks of grueling circuits to simulate an entire MMA fight.  In the first week of training, Dustin could not finish his training circuit without throwing up.  By week six, Dustin had cut his rest periods between circuits from 2 minutes to 30 seconds and completed the entire training session with a 20lb vest on.  Dustin said that, “I definitely feel that since training at Tactical, my game has gone to another level.”

Congratulations Dustin!  All of your hard work and dedication paid off!  We look forward to more impressive victories in the future.

Update: Here’s a video of the fight, Dustin Kimura vs. Vernon Perengit. Dustin is in the black and white shorts.