Hayato Sakurai

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (Japanese: 桜井“マッハ”速人) (August 24, 1975-) is a Japanese mixed martial arts fighter. He was born in Ibaraki Prefecturegg, Japan. His nickname, "Mach", is pronounced ma-ha in Japanese. He has a professional MMA record of 27-7-2gg as of January 6, 2006gg. Sakurai has been fighting in mixed martial arts since October of 1996 and was at one time considered pound for pound one of the greatest fightersgg. He has fought in many of the largest fight organizations including Shooto, PRIDE Fighting Championships, UFC and DEEPgg. Sakurai is a very well rounded fighter who possesses a great striking skills, grappling and submission skills having finished 2nd in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Competition. He holds impressive victories over the likes of UFC Veterans Frank Trigg, Jens Pulver, Dave Menne and Yves Edwards, former Shooto 160lb Champion Joachim Hansen, Shooto superstar Caol Uno, and Luiz Azeredogg. On December 31, 2005 Sakuari fought mixed martial arts superstar Takanori Gomi for the first ever PRIDE Fighting Championships 160lb champsionship of the world. Sakuari was knocked out at the 3:56 mark of the first round. On June 4th, 2005 Hayato Sakurai fought fan favorite fighter Olaf Alfonso. Sakurai knocked out Alfonso within two minutes of the first round with a right punch.