#8
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Country: Japan 
Weight Category: Lightweight
Team: Tops
Total Fights: 39
Professional MMA Record: 28-7-2
Weight: 70 kg (154 lbs)
Height: 5' 6" Gender: Male
Kawajiri is nicknamed " The Crusher" for his strength in the clinch and his "Ground and Pound" techniquesKawajiri's professional career started in Japan's Shooto organization where he lost to Takumi Nakayama via rear naked choke at 2:44 of the first round. After this loss Kawajiri went on to fight Yohei Suzuki to a Draw at Shooto's "Wanna Shooto 2001." He would then remain undefeated in Shooto until a disappointing decision loss to future Shooto welterweight champion Vitor Ribeiro in 2002. He would then continue on a new winning streak eventually rematching Ribeiro to capture the welterweight crown at Shooto's 2004 Year-End show.On 22 May 2005 Kawajiri made his debut in Pride and score a quick TKO over In Seok Kim. He went on to score a one-sided victory over Luis Firmino at Pride Bushido 8 on July 17, 2005. On 25 September, he entered Pride's first ever Lightweight tournament in hopes of eventually being crowned Pride's first Lightweight Champion as well as holding the Shooto championship at the same time. His first match in the tournament was against MMA lightweight superstar Takanori Gomi. Gomi ended up knocking down Kawajiri after a flurry of punches and proceeded to submit him with a rear naked choke 7:42 into the first round.
Kawajiri went back to Shooto to defend his lightweight championship against Joachim Hansen (one of the five people to have ever beaten Gomi). The match was stopped 8 seconds into the first round when Hansen was disqualified for kicking Kawajiri in the groin, making Kawajiri the victor. Kawajiri came back to Pride in a fight against Charles Bennett whom he submitted by kneebar after 2:30 in the first round. He then made another Pride appearance in which he fought Chris Brennan and scored an even quicker victory 29 seconds in the first round by TKO. His next fight was a non-title bout against Per Eklund in Shooto where he scored a TKO at 4:10 into the first round.
Kawajiri return to Pride was at Pride Shockwave 2006 on New Year's Eve. There he lost a controversial decision to at the time undefeated American fighter and rising star in the lightweight division, Gilbert Melendez.
On January 23, 2007, Tatsuya Kawajiri relinquished his Shooto title because he could not defend his title by the next Shooto event due to a thumb injury that occurred with his fight against Melendez.
In March 2008 Kawajiri entered the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix, where he has advanced to the semifinals after back to back victories over Kultar Gill, and Brazilian Top Team fighter Luiz Firmino.
At Dream 5 Kawajiri lost a semi-final match-up to Eddie Alvarez by TKO at 7:35 of the first round. This slugfest with Alvarez saw both men dropping the other repeatedly with punches and the fight was named 2008 Fight of the Year by several MMA outlets, including Sherdog.[3]
On March 5, 2009, at Dream 7, Kawajiri faced EliteXC veteral Ross Ebanez. Kawajiri choked out the Hawaiian with Rear Naked Choke just over 4 minutes into the first round.
On May 26, 2009, Kawajiri defeated Gesias Calvancante via unanimous decision. The "Crusher" used his strong wrestling and ground and pound to great effect, and he was also able to frustrate "JZ" by matching him in the striking game on the feet.
Kawajiri next faced Guam's Melchor Manibusan, who had not fought in several years in a match that was not expected to be comptetive for Kawajiri. Indeed on October 5, 2009, at Dream 11, Kawajiri overwhelmed his opponent. The "Crusher" easily took down his foe after a wild start in which Manibusan rushed Kawajiri with a flurry of punches, then used his trademark ground and pound to force the TKO via strikes at 3:48 of the very first round. On December 22, 2009, it was announced that Kawajiri would be taking on Sengoku Lightweight Kazunori Yokota in a Sengoku vs. DREAM fight at the annual Dynamite!! event on New Year's Eve in Saitama, Japan.[4] He went on to defeat Yokota via unanimous decision.
Kawajiri faced Champion Shinya Aoki at Dream 15 for the Lightweight title in a highly anticipated match up as the two are both from Pride and were meant to have fought in the now defunct organization. Kawajiri lost via submission at 1:53 into the first round.
Kawajiri fought K-1 veteran Kozo Takeda at Dynamite!! 2008 winning by 1st round KO. His next K-1 fight was at K-1 World Max 2009 Final 8 against Masato who defeated Kawajiri by TKO at 1:43 in the second roundAt Dynamite!! Kawajiri returned to form against former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson, repeatedly taking him down and unleashing ground and pound, winning a clear unanimous decision.A rematch between Kawajiri and Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez took place on April 9, 2011 at Strikeforce 33.[5] Kawajiri lost the fight via TKO in the first round.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsuya_Kawajiri
