Yuichi Watanabe
Other namesSuper Rider
Kamen Shooter
Hopper King
Kamen Shooter Super Rider
"Shooter"
Birth dateNovember 9, 1962
Birth placeFukuoka, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight152 lb (69 kg; 10.9 st)
Weight classLightweight
StyleShoot wrestling, Pro wrestling, Shoot boxing, Catch wrestling, Submission wrestling, sambo, judo
TeamShooting Gym Mobara
Years active1989–1992 (MMA)
Mma subwin5
Mma decwin1
Mma koloss1
Mma subloss2
Sherdog8794
RelativesShooto Watanabe, son

Yuichi Watanabe (渡部 優一, Watanabe Yūichi, born November 9, 1962) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler.[1][2] He competed in Shooto's Lightweight division and was the inaugural Shooto Lightweight Champion defeating Kazuhiro Kusayanagi. As a pro wrestler he competes for Real Japan Pro Wrestling under the name Super Rider (スーパーライダー, Sūpā Raidā). He has also wrestled for notable promotions such as W*ING, Big Japan Pro Wrestling, IWA Japan, Battlarts, Dramatic Dream Team, Pro Wrestling Kageki, Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Diamond Ring.[3]

Background and career

Watanabe trained under Satoru Sayama in Shooto and was also one of his first trainees at his Seikendo school. He also learned shootboxing under Caesar Takeshi, was an amateur wrestling champion in high school, was the captain of his high school club wrestling club with Mitsuharu Misawa as his vice-captain and Toshiaki Kawada as his junior, competed in the 1984 All Japan Student Wrestling Championships representing Nihon University losing to future Olympic medalist Kosei Akaishi in the finals in the 68 kg freestyle division, and also trained in sambo and judo. Watanabe initially worked as a trainer at Shooting Gym Mobara, as well as an instructor for Sayama's Seikendo school. He now runs the Super Tiger Gym Gunma as a head trainer.

Personal life

Watanabe is the father of professional MMA fighters Kenshiro and Shuto "Shooto" Watanabe.[4]

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts record

|- | Win | align=center| 6–3 | Naoki Sakurada | Submission (kneebar) | Shooto - Shooto | May 29, 1992 | align=center| 3 | align=center| 0:57 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Win | align=center| 5–3 | Tomonori Ohara | Submission (kneebar) | Shooto - Shooto | March 27, 1992 | align=center| 1 | align=center| 0:00 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Loss | align=center| 4–3 | Naoki Sakurada | Submission (armbar) | Shooto - Shooto | August 25, 1991 | align=center| 5 | align=center| 2:03 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Win | align=center| 4–2 | Kazuhiro Kusayanagi | Submission (kneebar) | Shooto - Shooto | March 29, 1991 | align=center| 1 | align=center| 0:00 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Win | align=center| 3–2 | Tomonori Ohara | Decision (unanimous) | Shooto - Shooto | January 13, 1991 | align=center| 5 | align=center| 3:00 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Loss | align=center| 2–2 | Yuji Ito | TKO (punches) | Shooto - Shooto | May 12, 1990 | align=center| 3 | align=center| 1:49 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Win | align=center| 2–1 | Kazuhiro Sakamoto | Submission (armbar) | Shooto - Shooto | January 13, 1990 | align=center| 2 | align=center| 2:54 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Loss | align=center| 1–1 | Naoki Sakurada | Submission (heel hook) | Shooto - Shooto | July 29, 1989 | align=center| 1 | align=center| 0:00 | Tokyo, Japan | |- | Win | align=center| 1–0 | Yuji Ito | Submission (armbar) | Shooto - Shooto | May 18, 1989 | align=center| 1 | align=center| 0:00 | Tokyo, Japan |

See also

References

  1. ^ "Yuichi Watanabe". Sherdog. Archived September 24, 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ "Yuichi Watanabe". mixedmartialarts.com. Archived October 8, 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ^ "Super Rider". cagematch.net.
  4. ^ James Goyder (May 20, 2021). "Shooto Watanabe's journey from reluctant student to Rizin contender". asianmma.com