Hiroshi Nakamura: The Iron Fist of MMA

Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura is a Japanese bantamweight who competed in Shooto, DEEP and Bellator. His record includes a run through Bellator’s 2012 bantamweight tournament and a long career in Japan’s regional MMA scene.

Competing in Japan

Nakamura’s professional record begins in 2005. He competed in Shooto before moving through DEEP and other Japanese events, earning decisions over experienced opponents including Masakazu Imanari and Yoshiro Maeda. Sherdog lists 14 of his 16 wins as decisions, reflecting a career built largely on going the distance with decisions accounting for most of his recorded victories.

Bellator tournament run

At Bellator 64 in April 2012, Nakamura defeated Rodrigo Lima by unanimous decision in a quarterfinal bout of the season-six bantamweight tournament. He advanced to the semifinal at Bellator 70, where Luis Alberto Nogueira stopped him with punches in the third round. The result was a tournament run to the final four, not a tournament victory.

Nakamura later returned to Japan and continued fighting for DEEP. Sherdog lists his final professional bout as a majority-decision win over Tomomi Iwama at DEEP 65 Impact in March 2014. It is more precise to say that this is his last recorded fight than to assert a formal retirement without a reliable announcement.

Nakamura’s career connected Japan’s Shooto and DEEP circuits with Bellator’s international tournament format. Explore our fighter archive and Bellator coverage for more profiles and event history.

Career Milestones

Sherdog’s distribution of Nakamura’s victories is unusually clear: fourteen decisions and two submissions account for all sixteen listed wins, with none recorded by knockout. Decisions therefore represent seven-eighths of his victories. That record fits a fighter who repeatedly completed the scheduled distance. The Bellator tournament brought that approach to an international audience: his decision over Lima advanced him from the quarterfinals, while the following round against Nogueira ended his run. Those two bouts describe a tournament semifinalist rather than a Bellator champion.

Sources

Sherdog: record and fight history; Sherdog: Bellator 64 results.

Article Tags

Hiroshi Nakamura, Mixed Martial Arts, Sports History