Tatsuya Tsubakihara

Tatsuya Tsubakihara (椿原龍矢) is a Japanese kickboxer, currently fighting in the featherweight division of K-1.

He is the former K-1 featherweight champion, having held the title in 2021.

Following his third title defense, Tsubakihara took part in the 2015 K-1 Challenge A-Class tournament, competing in the 60 kg weight class.

He won unanimous decisions against Akito Watanabe in the quarterfinals and Ruka Oonuki in the semifinals, and won the tournament with a majority decision against Tsubasa Okamoto in the finals.

Two months later, Tsubakihara fought in a K-1 Koshien tournament, for the first time in his career.

He won the first three fights of the tournament, most notably beating Taito Gunji by split decision after two additional rounds were fought, before losing a split decision in turn to Haruma Saikyo in the finals.

The two of them fought previously in the finals of the 2015 K-1 Koshien tournament, with Saikyo winning by split decision.

Tsubakihara won the fight by majority decision.

Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight the future Krush Super Bantamweight champion Masashi Kumura at Krush 86.

Tsubakihara lost the fight by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the bout 30-26 for Kumura.

Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Riku Morisaka at KHAOS 5.

He won the fight by unanimous decision, with two of the judges scoring the bout 30-28 for Tsubakihara.

Tsubakihara participated in the 2016 K-1 Koshien tournament.

He fought the second round of the tournament, against Kaito Nagashima, on July 30, 2016, two months after making his professional debut at the age of 17.

He won the first three bouts of the tournament against Nagashima, Souta Saito and Yuta Hayashi, but once again fell short in the finals, losing a unanimous decision to Taito Gunji.

Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his professional debut against Yuki Tanioka at HIGHSPEED EX, on May 22, 2016.

He made his professional debut at 55 kg. The fight ended in a draw.

He notched his first professional victory against Tatsuya Izumi at ALL BOX WORLD 9th, winning the fight by a second-round knockout.

His last fight outside of K-1 was against Jin Mandokoro at Hoost Cup Kings Kyoto 2.

Tsubakihara won the fight by unanimous decision.

Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his K-1 debut at KHAOS 2, against Taito Gunji.

The two of them fought twice as amateurs, trading wins and losses.

Tsubakihara won their first professional meeting by majority decision, with two of the three judges scoring the bout in his favor.

Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Haruma Saikyo at K-1 Survival Wars.

Tsubakihara achieved standout success as an amateur, as he won the 2017 K-1 Koshien Tournament, Japan's most prestigious amateur kickboxing competition, after finishing as the runner-up in the two previous years.

He was named the K-1 Rookie of the Year following early professional success and captured the K-1 Featherweight championship three years later.

He was subsequently ranked as the second-best -58 kg kickboxer in the world, only behind Tenshin Nasukawa, by Combat Press.

As of April 2023, he is ranked as the fifth best super flyweight (-58 kg) by Combat Press and the fifth best bantamweight (-58 kg) by Beyond Kickboxing.

Tsubakihara was eligible to participate in the 2017 K-1 Koshien tournament as well.

He managed to win the tournament in his third attempt, beating Toki Tamaru in the semifinals and Itsuki Kobori in the finals.

His 3–1 record earned Tsubakihara a place in the 2018 Krush Super Bantamweight tournament, being scheduled to fight Yusho Kanemoto in the quarterfinal bout at Krush 93.

The other tournament pairings pitted Taito Gunji against Riku Morisaka, Shota Oiwa against Masashi Kumura and Shoya Masumoto against Victor Saravia.

Tsubakihara won the fight by a second round technical knockdown, managing to knock Kanemoto down three times.

He's been ranked in the Combat Press divisional rankings since October 2020 and the Beyond Kickboxing divisional rankings since their inauguration.

Tsubakihara was inspired to pursue martial arts at the age of five, after seeing an episode of the Fist of the North Star anime, which motivated him to begin training Shōrin-ryū karate at the Gesshinkai Team Samurai.

Tsubakihara practiced karate until late middle school, when he began to transition to kickboxing, before fully transitioning after graduating from high school.

At the age of 13, Tsubakihara participated in the Kyoken Junior Kickboxing tournament.

He would win the Kyoken Middleweight title with decision victories over Taiga Imanaga and Taiki Kiyama in the semifinals and finals respectively.

He would go on to defend his title three times, all three times against Taiga Imanaga.

The first two title defenses ended in split decisions, after an extra round was fought, while Tsubakihara managed to defeat Imanaga by unanimous decision in his third title defense.