Mitsuya Nagai

Hirokazu Nagai (長井 弘和), better known as Mitsuya Nagai (長井満也), is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and former kickboxer.

A professional MMA competitor from 1991 until 2013, he fought the majority of his career in Fighting Network RINGS.

Nagai debuted in RINGS on August 1, 1991, in a match against Herman Renting.

He revealed himself as a promising rookie, showing will and toughness, but aside of a high-profile shoot match against Gerard Gordeau on December 7, in which he was defeated in 0:34, Nagai was relegated to low profile matches.

He qualified for the Mega Battle Tournament 1991, but was eliminated on the first round by Masaaki Satake.

During his time at RINGS, Nagai competed in shoot style wrestling matches, shoot fights and mixed martial arts fights.

He competed in a number of shoot contests during the early years of RINGS where he was defeated by Dick Vrij on May 16, 1992, by TKO, and would also lose to Willie Peeters on July 16, 1992, however he got notable KO victories against Koichiro Kimura and Nobuhiro Tsurumaki, and a decision win against Nobuaki Kakuda.

In 1994, Nagai looked to ascend the scale by taking part on the Mega Battle Tournament 1994, eliminating Ameran Bitsadze on the first round, but then losing to Chris Dolman in the second.

By 1995, RINGS was transitioning into a mixed martial arts promotion, and he faced Dick Vrij in a shoot rematch held in RINGS Holland on February 19, 1995, but he fell knocked by a knee strike while Vrij was illegally holding the ropes in the corner, an action which went unnoticed or the referee, and the decision was not overturned.

However, Mitsuya would get booked for a trend of victories back in Japan, beating the likes of Andrei Kopylov, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and Carl Greco.

He finally would get his retribution over Vrij submitting him via heel hook in an MMA fight on August 24, 1996.

Nagai then fought Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, overwhelming the judoka with kicks, palm strikes, body punches and knees while Kohsaka fended off the strikes with takedowns and submission attempts.

However, when the fight was brought back to standing Nagai beat him with knees, earning a TKO victory and one of the biggest wins of his RINGS career.

He then got another MMA victory against Willie Peeters, winning via heel hook, but his momentum got cut short by a submission loss to Kiyoshi Tamura at the Mega Battle Tournament 1996.

In 1997, Nagai competed in several MMA fights, losing his first three, with two of those losses coming via mismatched contests against heavyweight fighter Joop Kasteel.

He then got notable wins against Valentijn Overeem, Andre Mannaart and Chris Haseman, all by heel hook.

In 1997, Nagai got a license by the All Japan Kickboxing Federation and competed at the Kick Over IX event as a RINGS representative.

It would be his last year in the promotion, as he left RINGS after a match with Akira Maeda in which Maeda shot on him after the bell, although it is possible it could have been a worked shoot.

After leaving RINGS Nagai briefly pursued a career in kickboxing, and fought in K-1 between 1997 and 1999.

His kickboxing career was unsuccessful, and he retired with a record of 6 losses and 1 draw in August 1999.

Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Satoru Sayama and Akira Maeda, Nagai holds notable victories over former King of Pancrase Super Heavyweight Champion Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Nobuaki Kakuda, four-time world kickboxing champion Andre Mannaart, Russian sambo champion Mikhail Ilyukhin, RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament runner up Valentijn Overeem, ADCC bronze medallist and RINGS Light Heavyweight title contender Chris Haseman, and Pancrase veteran Takaku Fuke.

He also fought for K-1 in kickboxing.

He later transitioned to traditional puroresu and notably wrestled for Battlarts, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a former three time All Asia Tag Team Champion.

He currently performs on a part-time basis and has competed for shoot style and MMA promotion GLEAT and Pro Wrestling Noah.

Hirokazu trained in Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym during secondary school and tried to join All Japan Pro Wrestling immediately afterwards, but its chairman Giant Baba asked him to finish high school first.

While studying, Nagai started competing in amateur shootboxing and amassed a 5–2 record, which made him change his ambition, so after graduating he went to join UWF Newborn instead of AJPW.

He became a trainee under Akira Maeda, training in the shoot wrestling style, but he got injured and UWF closed his doors before he could debut.

Nagai eventually followed Maeda to his new promotion, Fighting Network RINGS.

In the 2000 Young Generation Battle, Nagai went undefeated for the entirety of the tournament, beating Usuda, Mohammed Yone, Mach Junji, Rastaman and Minoru Tanaka to reach the final, where he lost to Alexander Otsuka.

After Battlarts went on hiatus beginning in November 2000, Nagai and the rest of the roster were forced to leave the promotion.

Almost immediately after Battlarts began its hiatus, Nagai was announced for the 2000 Real World Tag League in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), the promotion he had originally hoped to join in high school.

Nagai was paired up with fellow UWF alumnus Masahito Kakihara, calling themselves "Team Strongs".

Despite the name, Team Strongs performed poorly in the tag league, earning just two points with a win over Barry Windham and Kendall Windham.

In only his second match, Nagai lost to AJPW's top star Toshiaki Kawada, and, even though he lost, he earned Kawada's respect and was selected to be his new tag partner.

As a newcomer, Nagai was required to prove himself before he entered the 2001 Champion Carnival, and thus was put into the Champion Carnival Qualifying League.

Nagai excelled in the qualification league which granted him entry to the Champion Carnival where he struggled, again earning just one win and two points.

Despite mixed success and his newcomer status, Nagai was pushed as an All Japan loyalist and represented the company in interpromotional matches during AJPW's working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

In March 2013, Nagai returned to MMA after 15 years away from the sport, beating Takaku Fuke by ankle lock in the first round at a U-SPIRITS event.

Nagai turned his hand to professional wrestling and joined Yuki Ishikawa's shoot style promotion Battlarts.

His run was somewhat successful, with Nagai earning victories over established wrestlers like Takeshi Ono, Yuki Ishikawa and Katsumi Usuda.