Hayato Sakurai

Who is Hayato Sakurai?

Hayato Sakurai is a Japanese mixed martial artist. Sakurai has been fighting in mixed martial arts since October 1996 and was at one time considered pound for pound one of the greatest fighters. Sakurai finished 2nd in the Absolute Class Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission wrestling annual competition in 1999 at just under 77 kg. During the height of his career in 2000 and 2001 he was considered to be one of the top pound for pound fighters in MMA. He is the former Shooto Middleweight Champion.

His nickname, "Mach", pronounced ma-ha in Japanese was taken as a tribute to his childhood professional wrestling hero, Higo Shigehisashi better known as Mach Hayato, the first Japanese professional wrestler to completely embrace the Mexican style of Lucha Libre and was also among the group of professional wrestlers who made the transition to shoot wrestling as part of the original UWF movement.