The "Crusher's" Calamitys Continues

 
"I have to carry out another fine moment before I die."

If you are a hardcore fan of MMA then you know of the organization of SHOOTO. You know it's fabled history, and the long list of fantastic fighters that have come from the organization. This is a story about one of these fighters, Tatsuya Kawajiri. Born on the island of Kanto in the Inashiki District of Ibaraki Prefecture, Kawajiri said "there is nothing else to do beside train in Ibaraki." Kawajiri stood out among his peers with with his unique appearance. In an interview with DREAM in 2008 Kawajiri said he "always had a weird hair style". He liked his hair style because it made him stand out, soon fans gravitated to his hair and fighting style. In Kawajiri's first fight he lost to relatively unknown Takumi Nakayama. After the loss Kawajiri took a year off from SHOOTO to rebuild himself, technically and physically. One of the most physically gifted Japanese fighters; Kawajiri achieved the nicknamed " The Crusher" for his strength in the clinch and his ground and pound techniques. In his first seven fights Kawajiri went 5-1-1.  It was his fight against Daisuke Sugie that forced MMA hardcores to take notice to Kawajiri. The fight was an exciting grappling match that ended when Kawajiri finally figured out how to get passed Sugie's butterfly guard, achieved mount and "Crushed" Sugie. It was against Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro Kawajiri faced his biggest test. "Shaolin" had an impressive record of 5-0 and a equally noteable Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu pedigree. You can watch part 1 of the fight here and part two here. Kawajiri showed great heart and determination to not tap to a tight americana when Riberiro had Kawajiri in mount. Kawajiri was very emotional after the fight, he felt he let his family and friends down. Although Kawajiri lost the fight it was clear that he belonged with the rest of the the elite Shooto fighters.

Kawajiri's next big test would be against Yves Edwards. Edwards at the time was 23-7-1 and a serious force at the lightweight division. Edwards by far was Kawajiri's most experienced opponent to date. Though the fight was expected to be a barn burner it mostly consisted of Kawajiri clinching Edwards against the ropes, Kawajiri getting takedowns with idle ground and pound from guard. It is important to note that Kawajiri got the win and his confidence continued to grow. In Kawajiri'snext fight he would be tested against feared wrestler and UFC and Shooto veteren Caol Uno. Uno was coming off a brutal knockout loss against Hermes Franca. Uno had vacated the Shooto belt to fight in the UFC. Kawajiri knew the only thing standing in the way of his dream was to defeat Uno. The first roundof the fight which can be found here, was Uno using good movement in the ring; along with leg kicks to try and set up takedowns. Kawajiri negated most of Uno's offence and countered relatively effectively. In 2002 Kawajiri could not stop Vitor Reberio's takedowns; but now Kawajiri was stuffing Uno's takedowns every time. Kawajiri landed a few clean strikes but I think Uno might have done enough to win the round. In round2 which can be found here, consisted mostly of clinching. Kawajiriwon that battle by throwing strong timely knees, along with some powerful dirty boxing. In the 3rd roundwhich can be found here, Kawajiri lands some nice strikes standing and even takes Uno back. As the fight comes to a close Uno trys an ankle lock; It proved unsuccessful though as Kawajiri was able to escape and take mount on Uno. The fight ends and Kawajiri gets emotional as he shows respect to Uno by thanking Uno for the unbelievable war. Kawajiri goes back to his corner with a mob of people their waiting for him; They all are going absolutely nuts because they know Kawajiri has defeated a legend. The announcer steps up to the mic, "DRAW!" is his agonizing answer. Kawajiri lies on the canvas knowing he has been robbed of this obvious victory. After this fight Kawajiri would go on and say to reporters that he never feels comfortable with a decision and this fight has changed the way he fights in the future.

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With a career record of 11-2-2 Kawajiri had revenge on his mind. He had already dispatched of the first person that beat him (Takumi Nakayama). Now he was moving on to the second, a rematch with Vitor "Shaolin" Riberiro. Since the Kawajiri fight, Riberiro has been undefeated going 4-0. With wins over Ivan Menjivar, Joachim Hansen, and Kawajiri'sbest friend Mitsuhiro Ishida. This fight was personal for Kawajiri; Kawajiri was not playing any games in this fight and finished Ribeiro 3:11 in the 2nd round. Kawajiri captured the Shooto Welterweight belt and became arguably the #1 Japanese fighter in the world (Kawajiri's goal and dream). 

Kawajiri would go on and win his next 3 fights and was set to face "The Fireball Kid" Takanori Gomi in the Bushido 9 Lightweight tournament. Gomi was on a 7 fight win streak and seemed to be unstoppable. These two seemed to be on a collision course in Shooto but Gomi lost his title to Joachim Hanson, and decided to pursue fights elsewhere. Leading up to the fight there was some bad blood. At the Bushido 7 press conference, Gomi said:

"I don’t wanna use bad word. … Yes, we need to respect each other. But … that’s not good to bring a delivery boy like [Kim In Seok] to the ring for Kawajiri. They have to bring athletes. Well, they didn’t have enough time to bring good opponent to Kawajiri. I understand but …" 

Kawajiri's Response:

"Well, maybe both of us can’t face off in next fight. I understand the situation. But, if I’m fighting Mr. Gomi I want to make that fight an ‘Everybody Wants To See’ kind of fight. I want that fight to be all that the fight fans desire to see."

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Just 4 months later the fight was made. The hype behind the fight was tremendous as Kawajiri said it would be. The fight was being called "the battle of the twenty first century boys". At the time Gomi was the #1 Lightweight in the world. If Kawajiri wins this bout he will achieve his dream, everything that he has worked for came down to one fight. You can watch the fight here. The fight lived up to all expectations; Kawajiri comes out with the Shooto belt a very sentimental moment for him and Shooto fans alike. Both fighters cam out and were throwing bombs, Gomi landed the more effective and clean punches. Eventually Kawajiri could not take much more of Gomi's power and got knocked down. Gomi quickly scrambled and secured back mount and finished Kawajiri with a rear naked choke. The two embraced each other and showed great respect for one another, Kawajiri got emotional once again in the ring and cried. This could be Kawajiri only shot at glory...

In 2006 Kawajiri made his way back to Shooto and was set to fight one of the only men to beat Gomi, Joachim Hansen. The highly anticipated bout ended when Hansen landed a kick to the groin and was DQ'ed. Kawajiri won his next three fights in the first round and spent a total time of 7:09 in the ring. Kawajiri's next fight would be at Pride Schockwave 2006. He would be facing undefeated prospect Gilbert Melendez. The fight was another Kawajiri classic, you can watch the fight here. Kawajiri and Melendez were trading bombs with each other for two rounds, the judges controversially scored it for Melendez. Although Kawajiri lost the fight he continued to garner more and more fans and kept showing his best in the biggest stage.

Kawajiri was then set to defend his Shooto Welterweight belt against the Norwegian Warrior Joachim Hansen. Unfortunately during his fight with Melendez, Kawajiri suffered a broken thumb and was faced with the pulverizing acknowledgement that he must pull out of the fight and vacate his hard fought Welterweight title. After giving up the title Kawajiri said that he was "depressed." He also said "Even though I have lost the Shooto belt, I can live with that if I can improve and continue to get stronger." Next, Pride was purchased Kawajiri did not wait on the sidelines and worry about not fighting. All he did was train and continued to grow as a Mixed Martial Artist.  In Pride's ashes Dream hosited itself as the #1 promotion in Japan. Dream signed Kawajiri up to be in their first event and compete in their Lightweight tournament. Dream's plan was to set up a tournoment that Kawajiri should win. If Kawajiri won the tounoment, Dream would have him fight Aoki for the belt. At the Dream 1 press confrence Kawajiri stated ""Tomorrow is a very important day for MMA in Japan, it is a new beginning and a writing of history, so I want to have a great result at this great time!" Kawajiri won the first two matches sending him into the finals to face Philadelphia slugger Eddie Alvarez. In Alvarez's last fight he had a fight of the year candidate against Joachim Hansen. The fight between Alverez and Kawajiri was action packed and you can watch it here. Another amazing fight Kawajiri gave us, and Kawajiri was given another devastating loss. Kawajiri's goal is to become the #1 Japanese fighter in the world but it does not look like it will ever happen...

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After the loss to Alverez Dream put Kawajiri in another Lightweight tournament to determine who fights Hansen for the title.This is what Kawajiri has wanted and waited for, a chance to prove he is the best Japanese fighter. Kawajiri dispatched of Ross Ebanez in the opening round quickly. In the second round of the tournament Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante would be Kawajiri's next opponent.  A few years ago Kawajiri called out JZ when he was the best fighter HERO's had at Lightweight. JZ had previously fought Dream champion Shinya Aoki and lost. JZ was coming off multiple injuries in the past year. The 1st round of the fight which can be found here, JZ lands painful blows to Kawajiri seconds into the bout. While against the ropes JZ sneakly applies a guillotine choke. Kawajiri indures the offensive barrage and starts to create offence of his own. The rest of the round consists of Kawajiritaking down JZ and inflicting some idle ground andpound while in guard. In the 2nd round which can be found here,  Kawajiri starts landing powerful blows on the feet. Throughout the 2nd round Kawajiri got takedowns and used effective ground andpound in route to a decision victory.

It took 4 years but it is finally happening. Kawajiri consistently climbed the ladder of lightweight competitors to reach a shot at the title. Although he might have fallen off the latter a few times, he has always come back stronger than before.  Kawajiri said this after the JZ fight, "Today’s fight was to determine a title challenger, so now that I’ve become a frontrunner, my image is one where I’d fight in a big fight on New Year’s Eve for the title." Kawajirisaid this before Hansen and Aoki fought "Wouldn’t that be great if Aoki wins the belt and I face him as a challenger?" With Kawajiri's sights on a title fight on NYE, he took a tune up bout against Melchor Manibusan at Dream 11. Meanwhile on the same card Aoki wins the rubber match between him and Hansen and takes the Dream title.

Kawajiri won impressively and stated in the press conference he wants a shot at the title on NYE. Months before this Aoki made statements that Kawajiri was a pervert and other disparaging remarks towards Kawajiri and T-Blood. So it was not a surprise when Aoki mocked Kawajiri at the press conference. 

Instead, Aoki promised to "consider" Kawajiri's New Year’s Eve challenge, and then he took the opportunity to ridicule "Crusher's" direct request for a title shot in his post-fight comments.

"I was thinking, 'Why is hehere?' I can't reply immediately," said Aoki of the challenge before concluding that, rather than fight, he would rather take a break on Dec. 31.

"I don't even want to say anything about (New Year’s Eve). I've been fighting one bout after another, so I'm exhausted. I was thinking this was my last fight. I just want to rest. After that, then maybe I can decide on something. I'd like to fight B.J. Penn."

Kawajiri replied back:

"He is good at talking. He's a very talkative person, so I can't have a verbal battle with him. So … well, I'd like to battle him in the ring."

"As he's good at escaping attacks, he's also good at escaping comments."

All the pieces seemed to be coming together for Kawajiri, but a gut punching, discusting, unbeleiveable, unforgiveable mistake was made by Dream. Kawajiri loyally waited a year without fighting. The reason for doing this was to contiune to fight in Japan. So Kawajiri wouldn't have to leave behind friends, family and fans to peruse fights elsewhere.  Kawajiri patiently waited for Dream to set up there promotion. Dream decided that the Dream vs SRC fighters was going to draw more views instead of putting on the best match ups. Disgusting. Kawajiri stated that he was "unmotivated" to fight Kazunori Yokota. So Kawajiri will have to wait. He is yet again so close to his goal, but will he stumble once more? Or will he prevail and get his chance to fight the elusive Aoki? There have been many ups and downs in Kawajiri's career. He has always stayed determined and hungry to be the absolute best fighter possible. His dream of becoming the best Japanese lightweight is just that, a dream... for now.