Today on Fighter Retrospectives I'm taking a look at one of the more pro-wrestley guys, Ikuhisa "the Punk" Minowa, more commonly known as MINOWAMAN. He's also currently active, so this is more of a Fighter Appreciation than a Retrospective, so leave appropriate vitriol in the comments for such an egregious goof up.
Who is this man, and what does he do?
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| A typical Wednesday for MINOWAMAN |
Ikuhisa Minowa is a grapple-man made out of a mullet, a red speedo, dropkicks, and pure amazing (Yes, part of his training includes racing airplanes). He's most well known for challenging guys with at least fifty pounds on him, but far inferior skills. This is because Japanese MMA is both ridiculous and great, and cares not for fighter safety or fair fights.
Minowa got his start in 1996 and went 1-8-1 in his first ten fights, most of them taking place in Pancrase (Apparently I can only do a Retrospective if a Fighter competed amongst other Hybrid Wrestlers). Undaunted, Minowa continued fighting, and slowly started to even out his record, finally getting to .500 in 1999 with a 10-10-5 mark. He reached a true winning percentage in 2000, getting to 12-11-6, and he currently stands at 55-34-8, with over a quarter of his fights contested as Openweight bouts (Japanese MMA, you are truly, truly outrageous).
Minowa is impressive in the ways he wins, too, with 39 of his 55 wins coming by way of submission (71%), with 12 different types of submissions used to finish fights. He's mostly a leg specialist, with 18 wins coming below the waist (46% of all his submissions). He does have two wins by scarf hold armlock, which is about as many as the rest of the MMA world combined.
He Ever Win a Title?
Has he ever! MINOWAMAN only won the most glorious and prestigious tournament in the history of combat sports, the DREAM Openweight tournament, also known as SUPER HULK! It was a grueling contest, pitting three non-heavyweight mixed martial artists (plus Jose Canseco, because Japan) against four super heavyweight fighters.
Minowa's first match was against the enormous Bob Sapp (This was before Sapp decided to just collect a paycheck, and probably have at least a quarter of a fuck left to give). Minowa easily dispatched "The Beast" with a leglock in round one.
Next, came the even more gigantic Hong Man Choi, the only super heavyweight to win his opening round fight (Because it was against Jose Canseco. Again, JAPAN).
Minowa won again with another leglock, but it took him until round two to dispatch the biggest man in the tournament.
The tournament finals pitted Minowa against "The African Assasin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Sokoudjou had won both of his fights with impressive ground and pound stoppages, and though he was bigger than MINOWAMAN (The smallest competitor in the tournament), he appeared to have some amount of fighting skill. It was to be an epic showdown.
In a hilarious turn of events, MINOWAMAN knocked out Sokoudjou.
With the win, MINOWAMAN now laid claim to the greatest prize in the history of combat sports, the SUPER HLUK title!
The prestige is overwhelming.
MINOWAMAN and the SUPER HLUK title's creator.
Anything else?
He does pro wrestling, sometimes just as MINOWAMAN, but apparently he's also Tiger Mask V. Allow MINOWAMAN into your heart, for all he wants is to make it brighter.
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