Hikaru Sato

Hiroaki Sato (佐藤 弘明) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, better known by the ring name Hikaru Sato (佐藤 光留).

Sato, with a high school background in amateur wrestling, started training mixed martial arts with Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling in June 1999.

Sato started his MMA career in February 2000, fighting for Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling.

During the next eight years, Sato fought, on average, five times a year, compiling a record of 18 wins, 19 losses and four draws, which included fights against the likes of Keiichiro Yamamiya, Nathan Marquardt, Ryo Chonan and Yushin Okami.

He made his fighting debut as a middleweight on February 27, 2000, losing to Daisuke Watanabe with a unanimous decision.

He picked up his first win in his second fight on April 30, 2000, by defeating American Michael Sa Jin Kwok with an armbar in the first round.

Early on, Sato became known for his eccentric personality, which included him wearing cat ears and dressing up as a maid while walking to the ring for his fights.

In 2001, Sato fought three high-profile fights, losing to American King of Pancrase Middleweight Champion Nathan Marquardt via submission on March 31, defeating Ryo Chonan via unanimous decision in Chonan's professional debut on May 5 and losing to King of Pancrase Light Heavyweight Champion Keiichiro Yamamiya via unanimous decision on August 30.

On January 18, 2004, Sato defeated Daisuke Nakamura to win Greatest Common Multiple's (GMC) 2004 Demolition Middleweight 4Men Tournament.

After his win, Sato proceeded to challenge King of Pancrase Openweight Champion Josh Barnett to a match.

During his early years in Pancrase, Sato lost more fights than he won.

On February 28, 2007, Sato defeated Rikuhei Fujii and, as a result, for the first time in his career, Sato's number of wins exceeded his number of losses, with a record of 17 wins, 16 losses and 3 draws.

On December 22, 2007, Sato finally got into a ring with Josh Barnett, however, the match was contested under catch wrestling rules.

Barnett won the match, submitting Sato at the end of the first round.

The following year, Sato transitioned into the world of professional wrestling, which led to a drop in his number of fights per year.

In May 2008, Sato transitioned into the world of professional wrestling, when he was signed by the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion.

He has since had ten MMA fights.

In March 2008, Sato began training for a career in professional wrestling under Pancrase founder Minoru Suzuki.

He made his debut for the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion on May 24, 2008, defeating Shuji Ishikawa in the main event of a "Hard Hit" event, DDT's project, which combines elements of mixed martial arts and professional wrestling to create a more realistic looking, but still worked, style of professional wrestling.

As a professional wrestler, Sato continued wearing his maid dresses and occasionally even wrestled in them.

During the next months, Sato made appearances for Osaka Pro Wrestling and Minoru Suzuki-promoted independent events, before he began working regularly for DDT the following August, defeating Michael Nakazawa in his return match, contested under "Hard Hit" rules.

Afterwards, Sato and Nakazawa formed a regular partnership with each other.

On February 22, 2009, Sato defeated Tanomusaku Toba and Yasu Urano in a three-way match to earn his first shot at DDT's top title, the KO-D Openweight Championship.

Sato received his title opportunity on March 15, but was unable to dethrone the defending champion, Sanshiro Takagi.

After also failing to capture the DDT Extreme Division Championship on September 27, Sato formed the Belt Hunter×Hunter stable with Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii, Masa Takanashi and Tigers Mask, which led to him winning his first professional wrestling title, when he, Dino and Takanashi defeated the Italian Four Horsemen (Antonio Honda, Francesco Togo and Piza Michinoku) for the UWA World Trios Championship on November 29.

At the following event on December 6, Sato and Takanashi unsuccessfully challenged Kudo and Yasu Urano for the KO-D Tag Team Championship.

In November 2010, Sato first became a triple crown trios champion with Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga and then also won DDT's top singles title, the KO-D Openweight Championship.

On January 24, 2010, Sato, Dino and Takanashi lost the UWA World Trios Championship to Tokyo Gurentai (Fujita, Mazada and Nosawa Rongai).

Sato would regain the title from Tokyo Gurentai on June 13, this time teaming with Keisuke Ishii and Yoshihiko, a blow up doll.

However, his second reign with the title ended just a month later, when the team was defeated by The Great Kojika, Mr. #6 and Riho in a three-way match, which also included the team of Antonio Honda, Kudo and Yasu Urano and was also contested for the DDT Jiyūgaoka Six-Person Tag Team and DDT Nihonkai Six-Man Tag Team Championships.

During the late summer of 2010, Sato took part in All Japan Pro Wrestling's (AJPW) Junior League and Pro Wrestling Zero1's Tenka-Ichi Junior Tournament, failing to reach the finals in both of them.

On November 3, 2010, Sato reunited with Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga as the Shit Heart♥Foundation to defeat The Great Kojika, Mr. #6 and Riho for the DDT Jiyūgaoka Six-Person Tag Team, DDT Nihonkai Six-Man Tag Team and UWA World Trios Championships.

Just nine days later, Sato defeated Harashima to also win the KO-D Openweight Championship.

However, Sato's reign at the top of DDT lasted only fourteen days, before he was defeated by Dick Togo.

Before the end of the year, on December 26, Sato, Nakazawa and Matsunaga lost the UWA World Trios Championship to Disaster-Box (Harashima, Toru Owashi and Yukihiro Abe).

Following the loss, Soma Takao took over the leadership of Shit Heart♥Foundation, kicking Sato out of the group in the process.

This built to a Hair vs. Hair match on February 27, 2011, where Takao defeated Sato, who was, as a result, shaved bald.

Sato remained affiliated with DDT until January 2014.

He is currently working for the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, where he is a former two-time World Junior Heavyweight Champion and four-time All Asia Tag Team Champion, while also being a five-time winner of the Jr. Tag Battle of Glory tournament.

His most recent fight took place on February 5, 2017, when he defeated Johnathan Ivey via technical knockout, giving him a record of 24 wins, 23 losses and 4 draws.