List of Shooto champions

This is a list of Shooto world champions at each weight class. Shooto is a Japan-based mixed martial arts (MMA) promoting and sanctioning organization founded first in 1985 as a particular fighting system, and then in 1989 as an MMA promotion.

Shooto used to promote different weight classes than the Association of Boxing Commissions, which are used by most MMA promotions. On January 1, 2015, weight limits were changed to the divisions established by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.^[1] Then, on January 1, 2017, the names of the weight classes were also changed to the names established by NSAC.^[2]

Current champions

Men

Division	Champion	Since	Defenses
Middleweight	Vacant	April 14, 2012	—
Welterweight	Hernani Perpetuo	August 25, 2013	1
	Ryuichiro Sumimura (interim)	July 21, 2025	0
Lightweight	Shutaro Debana	July 27, 2024	0
Featherweight	Sasuke	July 25, 2021	3
Bantamweight	Shoji Saito	July 21, 2024	0
Flyweight	Yuto Sekiguchi	May 18, 2025	0
Strawweight	Koyuru Tanoue	December 28, 2024	0

Women

Division	Champion	Since	Defenses
Strawweight	Emi Fujino	May 18, 2024	0
Super Atomweight	Ayaka Watanabe	May 21, 2023	0
Atomweight	Aira Koga	August 3, 2024	0

Men's championships

Middleweight Championship

Weight limit of 83.9 kg (185 lb)
The weight limit was 83 kg (183 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Middleweight Championship was known as the Light Heavyweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[3]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Kenji Kawaguchi def. Manabu Yamada	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	May 31, 1991	1,803 days	1. def. Satoshi Honma on October 17, 1991 2. def. Manabu Yamada on July 23, 1992 3. drew with Satoshi Honma on November 27, 1992
2	Erik Paulson	Shooto: Vale Tudo Junction 3 Tokyo, Japan	May 7, 1996	1,605 days	1. def. Masanori Suda on August 29, 1998
Paulson vacated the title on September 28, 2000 when he retired from the sport.
3	Masanori Suda def. Lance Gibson	Shooto: Treasure Hunt 1 Tokyo, Japan	January 12, 2002	1,497 days	1. def. Egan Inoue on May 9, 2003 2. drew with Dustin Denes on July 9, 2004
Suda vacated the title on February 17, 2006, at his retirement ceremony.
4	Shiko Yamashita def. Dustin Denes	Absolute Fighting Championships 16 Boca Raton, FL, US	April 22, 2006	449 days
5	Siyar Bahadurzada	Shooto: Back To Our Roots 4 Tokyo, Japan	July 15, 2007	1,735 days	1. def. Leandro Silva on August 27, 2009 2. def. Carlos Alexandre Pereira on August 6, 2010
Bahadurzada vacated the title on April 14, 2012 after signing with the UFC.[citation needed]

Welterweight Championship

Weight limit of 77.1 kg (170 lb)
The weight limit was 77 kg (169.8 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Welterweight Championship was known as the Middleweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[4]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Yasuto Sekishima def. Yoshimasa Ishikawa	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	May 12, 1990	448 days	1. drew with Naoki Sakurada on November 28, 1990
2	Yoshimasa Ishikawa	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	August 3, 1991	? days
Ishikawa vacated the title in 1991 to compete as a lightweight.
3	Naoki Sakurada def. Yasuto Sekishima	Shooto: Shooto Osaka, Japan	October 17, 1991	1,920 days	1. def. Kazuhiro Kusayanagi on September 25, 1992
Sakurada vacated the title on January 18, 1997, when he retired.
4	Hayato "Mach" Sakurai	Shooto: Las Grandes Viajes 3 Tokyo, Japan	May 13, 1998	1,201 days	1. def. Tetsuji Kato on March 17, 2000
5	Anderson Silva	Shooto: To The Top 7 Osaka, Japan	August 26, 2001	136 days
Silva vacated the title on January 9, 2002, after signing with Pride.
6	Jake Shields def. Ray Cooper	Shooto Hawaii: Soljah Fight Night Honolulu, HI, US	July 9, 2004	158 days
7	Akira Kikuchi	Shooto: Year End Show 2004 Tokyo, Japan	December 14, 2004	430 days
8	Shinya Aoki	Shooto: The Victory of the Truth Tokyo, Japan	February 17, 2006	1,554 days	1. def. Akira Kikuchi on February 17, 2007
Aoki vacated the title on May 21, 2010 after years of not defending it, fighting for other promotions, and fighting primarily as a lightweight.
9	Luis Ramos def. Igor Fernandes	Shooto Brazil 17 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	August 6, 2010	368 days
Ramos vacated the title on August 9, 2011, after signing with the UFC.[5]
10	Hernani Perpetuo def. Tommy Depret	Shooto: Gig Tokyo 15 Tokyo, Japan	August 25, 2013	4,370 days (incumbent)	1. def. Yukinari Tamura on November 23, 2023
—	Ryuichiro Sumimura def. Souki Toyama for interim title	Shooto 2025 Vol.6 Tokyo, Japan	July 21, 2025	—

Lightweight Championship

Weight limit of 70.3 kg (155 lb)
The weight limit was 70 kg (154.3 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Lightweight Championship was known as the Welterweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[6]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Yuichi Watanabe def. Kazuhiro Kusayanagi	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	March 29, 1991	149 days
Watanabe vacated the title on August 25, 1991 for unknown reasons.
2	Tomonori Ohara def. Yoshimasa Ishikawa	Shooto: Shooto Osaka, Japan	October 17, 1991	? days	1. def. Yomohiro Tanaka on September 25, 1992
Ohara announced his retirement in November 1992 and thus vacated the title.
3	Yuki Nakai def. Kazuhiro Kusayanagi	Shooto: Vale Tudo Access 2 Tokyo, Japan	November 7, 1994	? days
Nakai suffered an eye injury at Vale Tudo Japan 1995 which forced him into retirement in April 1995.
4	Caol Uno def. Rumina Sato	Shooto: 10th Anniversary Event Yokohama, Japan	May 29, 1999	568 days	1. def. Rumina Sato on December 17, 2000
Uno vacated the title on December 17, 2000 to compete in the UFC.
5	Takanori Gomi def. Rumina Sato	Shooto: To The Top Final Act Urayasu, Japan	December 16, 2001	602 days	1. def. Dokonjonosuke Mishima on December 14, 2002
6	Joachim Hansen	Shooto: 8/10 in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium Yokohama, Japan	August 10, 2003	126 days
7	Vítor Ribeiro	Shooto: Year End Show 2003 Urayasu, Japan	December 14, 2003	366 days
8	Tatsuya Kawajiri	Shooto: Year End Show 2004 Tokyo, Japan	December 14, 2004	770 days	1. def. Joachim Hansen on February 17, 2006
Kawajiri vacated the title on January 23, 2007, after suffering a knee injury which prevented him from defending his title in the mandatory time period per Shooto regulations.
9	Takashi Nakakura def. Ganjo Tentsuku	Shooto: Shooto Tradition 1 Tokyo, Japan	May 3, 2008	506 days
Nakakura vacated the title on September 21, 2009, declaring that he wasn't ready to properly defend it after losing a non-title fight to Takanori Gomi.[7]
10	Willamy Freire def. Kenichiro Togashi	Vale Tudo Japan 2009 Tokyo, Japan	October 30, 2009	212 days	1. def. Yusuke Endo on May 30, 2010
Freire vacated the title on May 30, 2010 to compete in the UFC.[8]
11	Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Kotetsu Boku	Shooto: Shootor's Legacy 3 Tokyo, Japan	July 18, 2011	1,595 days	1. def. Giovani Diniz on May 18, 2012 2. def. Yoshihiro Koyama on September 29, 2013
Hironaka vacated the title on November 29, 2015 for unknown reasons.[9]
12	Koshi Matsumoto def. Yuki Kawana	Mobstyles Present Fight & Mosh Tokyo, Japan	April 23, 2016	1,394 days	1. def. Yuki Okano on March 25, 2018 2. def. Naoyuki Kotani on May 6, 2019
Matsumoto vacated the title in February 16, 2020, when he signed with ONE Championship.[10]
13	Yuki Kawana def. Captain Africa	Professional Shooto 2020 Vol.4 in Osaka Osaka, Japan	July 12, 2020	435 days
14	Yamato Nishikawa def. Yuki Kawana	Professional Shooto 2021 Vol.6 Tokyo, Japan	September 20, 2021	998 days
Kawana vacated the title on June 14, 2024.[11]
15	Shutaro Debana def. Nobumitsu Osawa	Shooto 2024 Vol.6 Osaka, Japan	July 27, 2024	381 days (incumbent)

Featherweight Championship

Weight limit of 65.8 kg (145 lb)
The weight limit was 65 kg (143.3 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Featherweight Championship was known as the Lightweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[12]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Kenichi Tanaka def. Kazuhiro Sakamoto	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	September 8, 1990	265 days
2	Kazuhiro Sakamoto	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	May 31, 1991	301 days	1. def. Hiroyuki Kanno on October 17, 1991
3	Noboru Asahi	Shooto: Shooto Tokyo, Japan	March 27, 1992	2,718 days	1. drew with Kenichi Tanaka on July 23, 1992 2. drew with Uchu Tatsumi on March 28, 1999
4	Alexandre Franca Nogueira	Shooto: Renaxis 4 Tokyo, Japan	September 5, 1999	2,436 days	1. def. Uchu Tatsumi on August 27, 2000 2. def. Tetsuo Katsuta on September 2, 2001 3. def. Katsuya Toida on December 16, 2001 4. def. Hiroyuki Abe on December 14, 2002 5. drew with Stephen Palling on August 10, 2003 6. def. João Roque on March 11, 2005
Nogueira vacated the title on May 7, 2006, after suffering a knee injury which prevented him from defending his title in the mandatory time period per Shooto regulations.
5	Lion Takeshi def. Antonio Carvalho	Shooto: The Devilock Tokyo, Japan	May 12, 2006	371 days
6	Akitoshi Tamura	Shooto: Back To Our Roots 3 Tokyo, Japan	May 18, 2007	315 days
7	Hideki Kadowaki	Shooto: Back To Our Roots 8 Tokyo, Japan	March 28, 2008	246 days
8	Lion Takeshi (2)	Shooto: Shooto Tradition 4 Tokyo, Japan	November 29, 2008	547 days (918 days)	1. def. Rumina Sato on May 10, 2009
9	Hatsu Hioki	Shooto: The Way of Shooto 3: Like a Tiger, Like a Dragon Tokyo, Japan	May 30, 2010	366 days
Hioki vacated the title on May 31, 2011 to compete in the UFC.[13]
10	Yutaka Saito def. Yoshifumi Nakamura	Professional Shooto Tokyo, Japan	January 11, 2016	1,906 days	1. def. Caol Uno on April 23, 2017
Saito vacated the title on March 31, 2021 to compete in Rizin.[14]
11	Sasuke def. Ryoji Kudo	Professional Shooto 2021 Vol.5 Tokyo, Japan	July 25, 2021	1,479 days (incumbent)	1. def. Tateo Iida on March 19, 2023 2. def. Hiroshige Tanaka on December 2, 2023 3. def. Asuka Tsubaki on March 16, 2025

Bantamweight Championship

Weight limit of 61.2 kg (135 lb)
The weight limit was 60 kg (132.3 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Bantamweight Championship was known as the Featherweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[15]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Mamoru Yamaguchi def. Jin Akimoto	Shooto: R.E.A.D. Final Urayasu, Japan	December 17, 2000	343 days
2	Masahiro Oishi	Shooto: To The Top 10 Tokyo, Japan	November 25, 2001	623 days	1. drew with Hisao Ikeda on September 16, 2002
3	Ryota Matsune	Shooto: 8/10 in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium Yokohama, Japan	August 10, 2003	858 days	1. def. Kentaro Imaizumi on November 12, 2004
Matsune vacated the title on December 15, 2005, after suffering a knee injury which prevented him from defending his title in the mandatory time period per Shooto regulations.[16][17]
4	Akitoshi Hokazono def. Kenji Osawa	Shooto 2006: 7/21 in Korakuen Hall Tokyo, Japan	July 21, 2006	554 days
Hokazono vacated the title on January 26, 2008, when he retired.[18]
5	Masakatsu Ueda def. Koetsu Okazaki	Shooto: Back To Our Roots 8 Tokyo, Japan	March 28, 2008	724 days	1. drew with Marcos Galvao on September 28, 2008 2. def. So Tazawa on March 20, 2009 3. def. Eduardo Dantas on July 19, 2009
6	Shuichiro Katsumura	Shooto: The Way of Shooto 2: Like a Tiger, Like a Dragon Tokyo, Japan	March 22, 2010	403 days
7	Koetsu Okazaki	Shooto: Shooto Tradition 2011 Tokyo, Japan	April 29, 2011	385 days
8	Hiromasa Ougikubo	Great East Japan Earthquake Reconstruction Support Charity Tokyo, Japan	May 18, 2012	302 days
9	Kyoji Horiguchi	Shooto: 2013 2nd Round Tokyo, Japan	March 16, 2013	948 days	1. def. Shintaro Ishiwatari on June 22, 2013
Horiguchi vacated the title on October 20, 2015 to compete in the UFC.[19]
10	Shoko Sato def. Keita Ishibashi	Professional Shooto Urayasu, Japan	October 15, 2017	1,142 days	1. def. Tristan Grimsley on July 15, 2018 2. def. Yo Saito on November 17, 2018
—	Ryo Okada def. Kazuma Kuramoto for interim title[20]	Professional Shooto 2020 Vol.3 Tokyo, Japan	May 31, 2020	—
Sato vacated the title on November 30, 2020, in order to compete with ONE Championship.[21]
11	Ryo Okada promoted to undisputed champion	—	November 30, 2020	476 days	1. def. Takafumi Otsuka on March 20, 2021
12	Tatsuya Ando def. Ryo Okada	Professional Shooto 2022 Vol.2 Tokyo, Japan	March 21, 2022	813 days
Ando vacated the title on June 11, 2024.[22]
13	Shoji Saito def. Nobuki Fujii	Shooto 2024 Vol.5 Tokyo, Japan	July 21, 2024	387 days (incumbent)

Flyweight Championship

Weight limit of 56.7 kg (125 lb)
The weight limit was 56 kg (123.5 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Flyweight Championship was known as the Bantamweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[23]

No.	Name	Date	Defenses
1	Mamoru Yamaguchi def. Yasuhiro Urushitani	December 14, 2003	1. drew with Robson Moura on September 26, 2004 2. drew with Shinichi Kojima on March 24, 2006
2	Shinichi Kojima	October 14, 2006	1. drew with Yasuhiro Urushitani on March 16, 2007 2. def. Mamoru Yamaguchi on July 18, 2008 3. def. Yuki Shoujou on March 20, 2009
Kojima vacated the title on February 27, 2010 after suffering an ACL injury in his right knee which prevented him from defending his title in the mandatory time period per Shooto regulations.[24]
3	Yasuhiro Urushitani def. Ryuichi Miki	May 30, 2010	1. def. Yuki Shoujou on July 18, 2011
Urushitani vacated the title on December 10, 2011 to compete in the UFC.
Ryuichi Miki drew with Yosuke Saruta for the vacant title on July 27, 2013.
4	Ryuichi Miki def. Yosuke Saruta	November 9, 2013
5	Masaaki Sugawara	May 3, 2015
6	Hiromasa Ougikubo	April 23, 2016	1. def. Tadaaki Yamamoto on October 15, 2017 2. def. Kiyotaka Shimizu on May 6, 2019
—	Ryuya Fukuda def. Yoshiro Maeda for the interim title.	July 12, 2020
Ougikubo vacated the title on January 31, 2021.[25] Fukuda was promoted to undisputed status.[26]
7	Ryuya Fukuda promoted to undisputed champion	January 31, 2021
8	Tatsuro Taira	July 3, 2021
Taira vacated the title on May 21, 2023 to compete for the UFC.[27]
9	Jo Arai def. Wataru Yamauchi	November 19, 2023
—	Yuto Sekiguchi def. Shuto Aki for the interim title.	January 19, 2025
Arai vacated the title on May 18, 2025. Sekiguchi was promoted to undisputed status.[28]
10	Yuto Sekiguchi promoted to undisputed champion	May 18, 2025

Strawweight Championship

Weight limit of 52.2 kg (115 lb)
The weight limit was 52 kg (114.6 lb) prior to January 1, 2015. The Strawweight Championship was known as the Flyweight Championship prior to January 1, 2017.^[29]

No.	Name	Date	Defenses
1	Rambaa Somdet def. Noboru Tahara	November 23, 2009	1. def. Hiroyuki Abe on July 19, 2010
Somdet vacated the title on April 16, 2011 due to a partially torn left bicep.[30]
2	Junji Ikoma def. Junji Sarumaru	April 29, 2011
3	Mikihito Yamagami	November 5, 2011	1. def. Junji Sarumaru on September 30, 2012
Yamagami vacated the title in December 2013 when he moved up in weight.[31]
4	Shinya Murofushi def. Junji Sarumaru	January 13, 2014
5	Yoshitaka Naito	September 27, 2014	1. def. Ryuta Sawada on July 26, 2015 2. def. Junji Sarumaru on November 29, 2015
Naito vacated the title on April 7, 2016 when he signed with ONE Championship.[32]
6	Ryohei Kurosawa def. Ryuto Sawada	July 17, 2016
Kurosawa vacated the title in 2017.
7	Yosuke Saruta def. Ryuto Sawada	October 15, 2017	1. def. Itchaku Murata on May 13, 2018
Saruta vacated the title on November 30, 2019, after signing with ONE Championship.[33]
8	Hiroshi Minowa def. Yohei Komaki	January 26, 2020
—	Junji Sarumaru def. Ryohei Kurosawa for the interim title[34]	November 7, 2021
Sarumaru was promoted to undisputed champion status on August 1, 2022, after Minowa vacated the title.[35]
9	Junji Sarumaru promoted to undisputed champion	August 1, 2022
10	Jo Arai def. Junji Sarumaru	September 19, 2022	1. def. Shuto Aki on July 23, 2023
Arai vacated the title on December 2, 2024, after moving up to flyweight.[36]
11	Koyuru Tanoue def. Ken Asahina	December 28, 2024

Women's championship history

Women's Strawweight Championship

Weight limit of 52.2 kg (115 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Emi Fujino def. Megumi Sugimoto	Professional Shooto 2024 Vol.4 Tokyo, Japan	May 18, 2024	451 days (incumbent)

Women's Super Atomweight Championship

Weight limit of 50 kg (110 lb)^[37]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Mina Kurobe def. Megumi Sugimoto	Professional Shooto 2020 Vol.5 Tokyo, Japan	August 1, 2020	462 days
2	Satomi Takano def. Mina Kurobe	Professional Shooto 2021 Vol.7 Tokyo, Japan	November 6, 2021	561 days
3	Ayaka Watanabe def. Satomi Takano	Professional Shooto 2023 Vol.3 Tokyo, Japan	May 21, 2023	408 days

Women's Atomweight Championship

Weight limit of 47.6 kg (105 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Chihiro Sawada def. Yuki Ono	Professional Shooto 2022 Vol.7 Tokyo, Japan	November 27, 2022	989 days (incumbent)	1. def. Miku Nakamura on December 2, 2023
Sawada vacated her title on July 24, 2024, after signing with ONE Championship.[38]
2	Aira Koga def. Zenny Huang	Shooto Colors vol.3 Tokyo, Japan	August 3, 2024	814 days (incumbent)

Defunct title

Heavyweight Championship

Weight limit of 120.2 kg (265 lb)
The weight limit was 100 kg (220.5 lb) prior to January 1, 2015.^[39]

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Enson Inoue def. Joe Estes	Shooto: Reconquista 4 Tokyo, Japan	October 12, 1997	693 days
Inoue vacated the title on September 5, 1999.

Records

Most wins in title bouts

The following includes all fighters with four or more championship and/or interim championship title wins.

Title wins	Champion	Division	W	L	D	NC
6	Alexandre Franca Nogueira	Lightweight	6		1
4	Kenji Kawaguchi	Light Heavyweight	4	1		1
	Hiromasa Ougikubo	Featherweight Bantamweight	1 3			1

Most consecutive title defenses

The following includes all Shooto champions who were able to consecutively defend their title three times or more. Fighters with the same number of title defenses are listed chronologically.

Defenses	Champion	Division	Period
6	Alexandre Franca Nogueira[a]	Lightweight	September 5, 1999 – May 7, 2006
3	Kenji Kawaguchi[b]	Light Heavyweight	May 31, 1991 – May 7, 1996
	BJ[c]	Bantamweight	October 16, 2006 – March 1, 2010
	Masakatsu Ueda[d]	Featherweight	March 28, 2008 – March 22, 2010

1. Nogueira successfully defended the Shooto Lightweight Championship five times and retained the title once following a draw against Stephen Palling at Shooto: 8/10 in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium.
2. Kawaguchi successfully defended the Shooto Light Heavyweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against Satoshi Honma on November 27, 1992.
3. BJ successfully defended the Shooto Bantamweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against Yasuhiro Urushitani at Shooto: Back To Our Roots 2.
4. Ueda successfully defended the Shooto Featherweight Championship twice and retained the title once following a draw against Marcos Galvão at

Multi-division champions

Fighters who have won championships in multiple weight classes.^[40] Tournament champions are not included.

	Interim title
*	Simultaneous two division champion

No.	Champion	Division	Period	Defense
1	Mamoru	Featherweight	December 17, 2000 – November 25, 2001	0
		Bantamweight	December 14, 2003 – October 14, 2006	2
2	Hiromasa Ougikubo	Featherweight	May 18, 2012 – March 16, 2013	0
		Bantamweight	April 23, 2016 – January 31, 2021	2
3	Jo Arai	Strawweight	September 19, 2022 – December 2, 2024	1
		Flyweight	November 19, 2023 – Present	0

By nationality

The following include championship title holders by nationality.

Country	Titles
Japan	62
Brazil	6
United States	3
Afghanistan	1
Thailand	1
Norway	1

See also

• List of Shooto Pacific Rim champions
• List of current mixed martial arts champions
• List of Bellator MMA champions
• List of Dream champions
• List of EliteXC champions
• List of Invicta FC champions
• List of ONE Championship champions
• List of Pancrase champions
• List of Pride champions
• List of PFL champions
• List of Strikeforce champions
• List of UFC champions
• List of WEC champions
• Mixed martial arts weight classes