He started judo at the age of 10, and participated in the Inter-High School Championships and the National Sports Festival. After graduating from university, he joined the Judo Team of the Japan Self-Defense Forces Physical Education School and achieved a personal best of 8 in the All Japan Corporate Judo Championships.

In 2001, he began his career in mixed martial arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Toshiyuki Sato (known as Wado, one of the few Japanese jiu-jitsu practitioners to have received a black belt directly from Leonardo Vieira, the world champion in jiu-jitsu and ADCC).

After coming second in the middleweight division of the East Japan Amateur Shooto Championship and the All Japan Amateur Shooto Championship, he went professional in the same year and made his professional mixed martial arts debut as a professional Shooto fighter.

After that, he won the Shooto Middleweight Rookie of the Year title, and in December 2002, he faced Nick Diaz at the Shooto Tokyo Bay NK Hall tournament and won by decision.

In 2004, due to an injury that prevented him from competing in MMA matches for a long period of time, he went to Sao Paulo, Brazil to train in Jiu-Jitsu.
He studied under Fernando Terere, who was the world champion of jiu-jitsu at the time, and trained with top jiu-jitsu practitioners such as Andre Gavão, who was still a brown belt at the time, at the TT Dojo.

During his stay, he participated in the Jiu-jitsu World Championships held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and made it to the top 8 in the open weight class.
After returning from Brazil, he gradually expanded his field of activity beyond Japan to the world.
In April 2006, he faced Renato Verissimo at "Rumble on the Rock" in Hawaii, and won by TKO with punches.
In May 2006, he faced legendary ADCC world champion Jean-Jacques Machado at the pro grappling tournament "LA SUB X" held in LA.

He controlled the match from start to finish, taking Machado down twice and completely taking the back grab, and won by points decision. He is the only Japanese to have won against Jean-Jacques Machado. He signed with UFC in 2006 and made his first appearance at UFC 64.

In April 2007, he fought Forrest Petz at UFC Fight Night, winning his first UFC match by a 3-0 decision, and by April 2008, he had fought a total of four UFC matches.

He then moved his main fighting ground back to Japan, competing in DREAM, CAGE FORCE, and ZST, and had a successful career.
In September 2009, he opened his own gym, Master Japan Tokyo, in Suidobashi, the mecca of martial arts.
In the same month, he fought in the CAGE FORCE lightweight championship match against Koyama Yoshihiro, winning by KO with a left hook and successfully taking the title.
In addition to mixed martial arts, jiu-jitsu, and grappling, he has also competed in shootboxing (SB) since February 2010, and has won by KO against Bowi Soudomson, a former champion at the Rajadamnern Stadium, the hall of fame for Muay Thai.

In July 2011, he faced Park Kwang-tetsu in the Shooto World Welterweight Championship match, winning by 3-0 decision and finally succeeding in winning his long-awaited Shooto World Championship.

After that, he successfully defended the title in two world matches, and in November 2015, he relinquished the belt to hand it over to the next generation of fighters.

In May 2016, he established "Master Japan Fukuoka" in Hakata as the representative of Master Japan.

Professional MMA: 33 fights, 24 wins, 9 losses
2001: All Japan Amateur Shooto Championship, middleweight, runner-up
2002: Professional Shooto middleweight rookie of the year
2009: 3rd CAGE FORCE lightweight champion
2011: 11th Shooto World Welterweight champion