Kazunari Murakami

Kazunari Murakami
Born	(1973-11-29) November 29, 1973 Nei District, Toyama, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Division	Heavyweight
Style	Judo, kickboxing
Team	Universal Fighting-Arts Organization (UFO)
Teacher(s)	Yoshinori Nishi
Years active	9 (1995-2003)
Mixed martial arts record
Total	10
Wins	5
By knockout	1
By submission	3
By decision	1
Losses	5
By knockout	4
By submission	1
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Kazunari Murakami (村上 和成, Murakami Kazunari) is a Japanese freelance professional wrestler and a retired mixed martial artist, best known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX and Big Mouth LOUD, of which he was a founding member. He was also part of the first fight in PRIDE history, defeating John Dixson by submission.

Career

A trained judoka and wrestler since high school, Kazunari became a member of the judo team in Takushoku University. He met Wajyutsu Keishukai founder Yoshinori Nishi, who convinced him to join his team, and Murakami started his career in mixed martial arts.

Mixed Martial Arts (1995-2003)

Murakami began his career fighting for the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J '95 on October 13, 1995 where he lost his first fight to Akihiro Gono by knockout. A few months later, on March 30, 1996, Murakami fought at the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J '96. He fared better, defeating Isamu Osugi by submission and avenging his loss to Gono by decision, but lost to Masanori Suda by submission. In late 1996, Murakami then began fighting for Extreme Fighting where he defeated Bart Vale At EF3: Extreme Fighting 3 on October 18, 1996 by TKO. A few months later, at EF4: Extreme Fighting 4 on March 28, 1997, Murakami lost to future UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith by KO.

On October 11, 1997, Murakami made history by joining the newly formed PRIDE Fighting Championships and won in the company's first fight by defeating John Dixson at PRIDE 1. He returned to PRIDE three years later at PRIDE 10 on August 27, 2000, where he lost to Masaaki Satake by TKO. He returned to fighting two years later at UFO: Legend in a losing effort to Wallid Ismail by TKO. He last fight was at Jungle Fight 1 on September 13, 2003, where he defeated Lee Young Gun by verbal submission ending his MMA career at 5-5.

Professional wrestling (1998-present)

Murakami entered professional wrestling in 1998 when he joined Antonio Inoki's Universal Fighting-Arts Organization along fellow judoka Naoya Ogawa. They were sent to New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he gained fame for viciously attacking wrestlers while sporting a white mask, becoming known as "The Terrorist of Heisei". One of his first matches was at Wrestling World 2000 teaming with Ogawa in a losing effort to Shinya Hashimoto and Takashi Iizuka when he submitted to Iizuka.^[2] On April 7, Murakami took on Iizuka in an attempt to avenge his loss but he once again fell to Iizuka by submission.^[2] On May 5 at Wrestling Dontaku 2000, Murakami teamed with Ogawa to challenge Fighting Club G-EGGS's members: Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi for the IWGP Tag Team Championship but lost when Murakami was pinned by Nagata.^[3]

In early 2001, Murakami would also wrestle several times for Pro Wrestling ZERO1. In August 2001, Murakami entered the 2001 G1 Climax. He finished fourth in his block with 5 points scoring victories over Nakanishi and Tadao Yasuda while going to a double countout with eventual winner: Yuji Nagata.^[4]

In the summer of 2002, Murakami joined the Makai Club. On December 10, 2002, Murakami challenged Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Despite making Nagata bleed and trapping him with his own Nagata Lock II. Murakami would still get pinned.^[5]

At Wrestling World 2003 Murakami and Yasuda lost to Michiyoshi Ohara and Shinsuke Nakamura.^[2] In February 2003, Murakami teamed with Yasuda in a #1 Contenders Tournament for the IWGP Tag Titles making it all the finals before losing Mike Barton and Jim Steele.^[6] However an injury to Jim Steele would give the title shot to Murakami and Yasuda who challenged Cho-Ten on February 16 for the Tag Team Titles but lost.^[6] On May 2 at Ultimate Crush, Murakami lost to Enson Inoue. In the fall of 2003, Murakami wrestled three bounty matches emerging victorious in all of them. He defeated Shinya Makabe at Road to Ultimate Crush on September 21 in a 1,000,000 Yen Bounty. Then Katsuyori Shibata at Ultimate Crush II on October 13 in a 2,000,000 Yen Bounty. Then Koji Kanemoto at Yokohama Dead Out on November 3 in a 4,000,000 Bounty Match. In Mid 2004, The Makai Club broke up and Murakami would briefly join Masahiro Chono's new stable: Black New Japan before leaving New Japan in January 2005.

In January 2005, Murakami helped formed the promotion: Big Mouth LOUD which lasted until the summer of 2006. In January 2006, Murakami returned to New Japan for the Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 show where he lost to Yuji Nagata.^[7] In the summer of 2006, Murakami took part in ZERO1's 2006 Fire Festival tournament where he made it to the semi finals losing to Shinjiro Ohtani.^[2] In 2006, Murakami also debuted for Pro Wrestling NOAH where he took part in a tournament for the GHC Tag Team Championship teaming with Ohtani. They would reach the semi-finals before losing to eventual winners: Takeshi Morishima and Muhammad Yone.^[2]

In 2010, Murakami returned to NOAH and on March 26, he teamed with Katsumi Usuda to challenge Takeshi Rikio and Yone for the GHC Tag Team Titles but they came up short.^[1] In early 2010, Murakami joined Kensuke Sasaki's promotion: Kensuke Office, where he currently wrestles as Big Murakami.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Cross armbar
  • Rear naked choke^[1]
  • PK (Soccer kick to a seated or kneeling opponent's chest)^[8] - adopted from Katsuyori Shibata
• Signature moves
  • Ankle lock^[8]
  • Corner slingshot double foot stomp to an opponent's sitting in the corner^[8]
  • Dragon screw
  • Mounted punches^[1]
  • Multiple shoot kicks^[8]
  • Scoop brainbuster^[1]
  • STO^[1]
• Nicknames
  • "The Terrorist of Heisei"^[1]
• Entrance themes
  • "The Moonlight Coming" (BML / Freelance; 2005–present)

Mixed martial arts record

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record
0 wins, 1 loss Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Loss 0-1 Stefan Leko KO (right high kick) Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 000000002003-12-31-0000December 31, 2003 1 1:08 Kobe, Japan Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Kazunari Murakami from Sherdog
  
• Kazunari Murakami at Cagematch