Age, Biography and Wiki

Kiyoshi Tamura was born on 17 December, 1969 in Okayama, Okayama, Japan, is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter. Discover Kiyoshi Tamura's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 54 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation N/A
Age 54 years old
Zodiac Sign Sagittarius
Born 17 December 1969
Birthday 17 December
Birthplace Okayama, Okayama, Japan
Nationality Japan

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 17 December. He is a member of famous Wrestler with the age 54 years old group.

Kiyoshi Tamura Height, Weight & Measurements

At 54 years old, Kiyoshi Tamura height is 1.80 m and Weight 88.5 kg.

Physical Status
Height 1.80 m
Weight 88.5 kg
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Kiyoshi Tamura's Wife?

His wife is Yumiko Sakurai (m. 2007)

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Yumiko Sakurai (m. 2007)
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Kiyoshi Tamura Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Kiyoshi Tamura worth at the age of 54 years old? Kiyoshi Tamura’s income source is mostly from being a successful Wrestler. He is from Japan. We have estimated Kiyoshi Tamura's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income Wrestler

Kiyoshi Tamura Social Network

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Wikipedia Kiyoshi Tamura Wikipedia
Imdb

Timeline

Kiyoshi Tamura (田村潔司) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist.

Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz and Akira Maeda, Tamura was known for his skills in catch wrestling and is considered to be one of the greatest shoot wrestlers of all time.

Competing exclusively in shoot style wrestling, Tamura began his career with UWF Newborn and later joined its successor group UWF International before transitioning to mixed martial arts.

1989

A former sumo wrestler for the Okayama University of Science High School, Tamura debuted in 1989 in the UWF Newborn in a losing effort against Minoru Suzuki.

He soon revealed himself as a promising rookie, but he was forced to put his career in a long hiatus after a match with Akira Maeda on October 25, in which Maeda hit him with a full force knee strike and fractured his orbital bone.

Tamura took an entire year to return, and he only had time to work in one event before UWF closed.

After UWF's demise, Tamura followed to its main successor group, UWF International, where he was put under the tutelage of Nobuhiko Takada.

Debuting with a victory against Masahito Kakihara, Tamura was spunky and could even demand respect from older veterans, as demonstrated during a bout against Yoji Anjo where Tamura broke a hold, delivered several kicks to Anjo's head and kicked him out of the ring.

1992

In 1992, after making his shootfighting debut before boxer Matthew Saad Muhammad, submitting him with a rear naked choke, Tamura was sent to United States for a few months to learn catch wrestling under Lou Thesz, who helped refine Tamura's submission skills and ground game.

He returned to Japan with a new, polished grappling style, defeating Kazuo Yamazaki in a match without shin guards on October 23.

1993

Only some months after, on February 14, 1993, Tamura had a high level match with Nobuhiko Takada, after which many pundits (such as Pro Wrestling Illustrated) compared him to Takada himself and considered him as a candidate for the future ace of the company.

By this time, however, Tamura had witnessed the birth of mixed martial arts promotion Pancrase and had become interested by real fighting, like the bout he had fought against Saad.

1994

The next year, Tamura took part in the Best Of The World 1994 Tournament, advancing through the rounds by beating Bad News Allen and Naoki Sano, but being eliminated himself by eventual winner Super Vader at the semi-finals.

He also went to lose the match for the second place to main eventer Gary Albright, and never challenged Vader for the title.

Unsatisfied with the symbolic return of UWF to gimmicky puroresu with the victory of Vader, and further inspired by the recent success of Pancrase, Tamura proposed to take a direction towards realistic wrestling again.

1995

A professional MMA fighter from 1995 until 2008, he competed for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, RINGS, DEEP, DREAM, and fought at K-1's 2007 and 2008 Dynamite!!

events.

He is a two-time RINGS Openweight Champion and holds notable wins over Renzo Gracie, former UFC Welterweight Champion Pat Miletich, former UFC Middleweight Champion Dave Menne, former Pancrase Super Heavyweight Champion Tsuyoshi Kosaka, former Pancrase Openweight Champion Masakatsu Funaki, Olympic judo gold medallist Makoto Takimoto, three-time sambo champion Volk Han, and Kazushi Sakuraba.

Tamura currently serves as an Executive Director for LIDET Entertainment's professional wrestling promotion GLEAT.

He would compete in a notable shoot fight against Masahito Kakihara on February 18, 1995, winning by rear naked choke in 2:06.

Later, he was granted a victorious rematch against Gary Albright, but the match became infamous for Albright's unwillingness to cooperate, which ruined Tamura's win to the point of having him in tears.

The same night, Nobuhiko Takada announced his decision to retire from pro wrestling to pursue a politic career, which was met with harsh words by Tamura.

After a new rematch with Albright on August, Tamura addressed the returning Takada and challenged him to a mixed martial arts fight, to no avail.

The same year, UWF International was forced by financial issues into an interpromotional feud against New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but Tamura refused to participate.

As a consequence, he was subjected to cold treatment backstage and found himself training alone often.

In December 1995, Kiyoshi offered himself instead to represent UWF-i at the event K-1 Hercules, in a mixed martial arts fight against Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Patrick Smith.

It was his first match of any kind in months, and he claimed he would retire if he lost his match to in said event.

However, he won the fight.

Tamura returned to UWF-i to feud with Kazushi Sakuraba, but the rivalry was relegated to mid to undercard.

He concluded in his intention to leave the company, and asked to be released.

He had his final match on May 27, where he defeated Sakuraba and, after the bout, took off his own shin guards and threw them to the audience before leaving the arena.

After negotiations with Pancrase, Tamura jumped to Fighting Network RINGS, founded by old mentor Maeda, citing a better contract.

He was briefly pushed as the top star, being given the first RINGS heavyweight titles.

By 1995, RINGS was making the transition from shoot style wrestling to mixed martial arts and Tamura began competing actively in both.

2001

In 2001, Tamura fought for the final time in RINGS.

2003

In 2003 he opened his own promotion, U-STYLE.

2005

On November 23, 2005 he had his last match for this promotion, defeating Josh Barnett.

2007

He briefly came out of retirement for Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation, the last time being on November 8, 2007, beating Montanha Silva in the latter's IGF debut.

2020

In 2020, Tamura joined LIDET Entertainment's GLEAT promotion as an Executive Director.

Tamura's 32 career wins include victories over mixed martial arts greats such as Jeremy Horn, Renzo Gracie, Ikuhisa Minowa, Nobuhiko Takada, Pat Miletich and held Frank Shamrock to a draw at a time when Shamrock was reigning UFC champion.