Masato

Masato Kobayashi (魔裟斗, Kobayashi Masato, born March 10, 1979) is a Japanese former welterweight kickboxer. He was the world champion of ISKA at Welterweight under Oriental rules, and he was the winner of K-1 WORLD MAX World tournament in 2003 and 2008. In addition, he was also the runner-up of K-1 World MAX World tournament in 2004 and 2007. Prior to the K-1 Rising event in Madrid in May 2012, it was announced that Masato will be working as an executive producer for K-1.

Early life

Masato Kobayashi (小林 雅人) was born in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture Japan on March 10, 1979. When he was young, he moved to Niiza, Saitama because of his parents' job. He started going to Asagiri Municipal Asagiri 4th Junior High School (ja). After graduating junior high school, he started Saitama Sakae High School (ja), but he dropped out soon after with his friends. He described the reason for dropping out simply as "enthusiasm" when he appeared on popular Japanese television　show "Junk Sports" (ja). After dropping out, he worked many jobs but did not holding a steady position. Although he got a job as an assistant at a Yakitori bar, he quit the job on the first day, saying he was "going to leave for lunch".

In 1994, when he was 15 years old, he joined Yonekura Boxing Gym. After failing his test for a professional boxers' license, he left the gym. When he was 17 years old, he joined Fuji Gym and started learning kickboxing because he thought kickboxing was useful for street fighting. After passing the exam for professional kickboxing, he became a professional kickboxer under All Japan Kickboxing Federation (AJKF). Before his first fight, Shigeo Kato, the owner of Fuji gym, tried to name him "Fuji Sankaizan" (藤 山海山) as a ring name, but it was denied. Thereupon, Kato suggested another ring name Masato (魔裟斗), "the homonym term of Masato (雅人)". He accepted that name but he did not like it because it gave a bad impression as its script was like Japanese motorcycle gangs.

All Japan Kickboxing Federation

Masato made his professional debut on March 23, 1997 against Hutoshi Takehara, winning by KO in the first round. In his second bout, he fought against Takayuki Kohiruimaki on May 30, losing by KO due to knee strikes in the third. Originally, this bout was promoted as an ordinary freshman bout of three rounds, but　was later upgraded to the main final bout due to the cancellation of a previously scheduled main bout.

On March 17, 1999, he fought against Tomoharu Chiba for the vacant national title of AJKF at welterweight when he was 20 years old. He knocked out Chiba at 3R and became the new champion. After this victory, he began receiving offers for international matches. On November 22, he fought against Eval Denton from United States, and won by decision at 5R. When Paul Ingram, the president of WKA, watched this bout, he evaluated Masato highly and considered rating him for world rating, but this was to be Masato's last bout in the AJKF. After this bout, he was rated as #13 at welterweight by World Kickboxing Association (WKA), but he announced that he was going to be independent from AJKF in December. Masato was offered to fight against Mohamed Ouali from Morocco on January 21 by AJKF for the rating of WKA, but he denied this bout because he did not give his consent about the conditions for the bout. He sent his agent to AJKF for negotiation on January 14, but it was broken off. For this reason, this bout was canceled. He handed in a notice of withdrawal to AJKF and Fuji gym on March 14 and returned his title on that same day. According to the announcement from AJKF, the contract between AJKF, Fuji gym, and Masato was until for 2002. For this withdrawal, he lost his training area, so he asked some martial arts gyms to rent some space for training.

Silver Wolf

As Masato left AJKF, he started managing himself with his team "Silver Wolf". On April 16, 2000, Masato went to Thailand, and he fought against Kongnapa Sor.Chalermsak. He knocked out Kongnapa cold with a swift left uppercut. On November 1, he was offered to join K-1 for challenging Morad Sari from France. He knocked out Sari at 2R with a left hook, and he took Sari's world championship of International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) under oriental rules. Takashi Ito, the Japanese veteran kickboxer, decided to be retired when he saw this bout. For this reason, he had a retirement bout (Exhibition) with Masato on March 30, 2001.

On December 5, Masato participated the event of King's Birthday to fight against Suriya Sor. Ploenchit, a highly ranked southpaw, who would later go on to compete in the 2004 Summer Olympics and win a bronze medal in Welterweight boxing, for the vacant world title of International World Muaythai (IWM) at Super welterweight. Masato was unprepared for Suriya's southpaw style and was dominated for the entire 5 rounds. Originally Masato was scheduled to fight Orono Por.Muang U-Bon but due to speculation that Orono had Hepatitis B, Masato's team opted not to fight, only days before the event.

K-1 WORLD MAX 2002

Masato participated the Japanese tournament of K-1 MAX on February 11, 2002. This tournament was televised to all around Japan by the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), and the directors introduced Masato as "the Rebellious Charisma" (反逆のカリスマ) for advertising slogan, and they continued to use it whenever　Masato is on television. Although it got commonly known, Masato hated his new nickname and he said "Stop using it." during the interview because he did not understand what Rebellious is for. He beat Takayuki Kohiruimaki, the only person who had beaten Masato before among Japanese, by unanimous decision at the final of tournament. After the tournament, Kohiruimaki said "I'll fight against him again and kill him without fail" on the ring to the audience).

On May 11, 2002, he participated K-1 World MAX 2002 World Tournament Final. He beat Duane Ludwig by unanimous decision at 3R, but he was knocked down by Albert Kraus at 2R and lost by unanimous decision in the semi-final.

Masato had a returning bout in his own event "Wolf Revolution". He fought against Melvin Murray from Canada, and he knocked out with low kicks in the 2nd round.

K-1 WORLD MAX 2003

On the 5th of July 2003, Masato was invited again to join the K-1 World MAX 2003 World Tournament Final. He defeated Greek kick-boxer Mike Zambidis in the quarter finals by a split decision, after a close fight. He then moved on to the semi finals to fight Thai kick-boxer Sakeddaw Kiatputon in whom he defeated via a Right uppercut KO. Masato then moved on to fight in his first K-1 World MAX final for the title against Albert Kraus whom he had loss to at the K-1 World MAX 2002 World Tournament Final via decision (Kraus went on to win the title) and also again fought Kraus later that year at K-1 World MAX 2002 Champions' Challenge in which resulted in a decision draw. Masato finally managed to defeat Kraus via a left hook knockout in the 2nd round at 2:26 making him the new K-1 World MAX Champion.

On December 15, 2003, Masato fought two more semi-contact exhibition matches for the Wolf Revolution, including a single round of MMA rules against Caol Uno who had fought on UFC before.

K-1 WORLD MAX 2004

After defeating three opponents, including Kraus, Masato lost to Buakaw by decision in the tournament finals.The three round match was a draw and required an extra round to determine a winner. After the match, Masato was sent to the hospital for broken ribs and facial damage.

Marriage

On February 13, he had a press conference to announce his marriage with his wife Shin Yazawa, a Japanese actress. They said they registered their marriage at the public office on February 11, 2007. He disclosed that he is called "Mākun" by his wife as his nickname. His parents and Musashi also call Masato "Mākun".

K-1 WORLD MAX 2007

On October 3, 2007 he participated on his 6th consecutive K-1 World MAX Final held in Tokyo, Japan. In quarter finals he was matched up against reigning champion Buakaw Por. Pramuk. Near the end of the first round, Masato connected with a left uppercut and right cross combo and Buakaw was knocked down. Masato maintained the pace of offense throughout the fight and won the fight by unanimous decision.

In the semis, Masato was paired up against Artur Kyshenko. The first round unfolded with Kyshenko imposing his range and size on Masato, keeping him at bay throwing hard right hands and left hooks. The second round saw Masato pushing the pace with more leg kicks and combinations. At the two-minute mark, Masato threw an overhand right which stunned Kyshenko, and then followed up with a left hook which sent the Ukrainian to the canvas. Kyshenko did not make the count, sending Masato to the finals against Dutch Shoot boxer Andy Souwer.

Masato dominated the first round by throwing body-head combinations and backing Souwer onto the ropes. However, at the end of the round Souwer's methodical leg kicks started to take its toll. In the second the leg kicks were visibly affecting Masato and at the very end, Souwer delivered two knee strikes to the left leg while clinching with Masato which made it obvious that Masato could not walk straight afterwards and he did not answer the bell for the third round, giving Souwer the victory by TKO and making him the 2007 K-1 World MAX champion.

K-1 WORLD MAX 2008

On October 1, 2008, Masato won his second K-1 MAX title, defeating Yoshihiro Sato and Artur Kyshenko.

Retirement

Masato fought his retirement fight against Andy Souwer. Masato won the fight after five rounds where he dropped Souwer with a right hand in the fourth round.

K-1 Global EP

In May 2012, Masato was announced as the executive producer for K-1 Global. A K-1 Global press release on 31 December 2012 announced that Masato resigned from his position as the executive producer.

• 2008 K-1 World MAX Champion
• 2007 K-1 World MAX Runner-up
• 2004 K-1 World MAX Runner-up
• 2003 K-1 World MAX Champion
• 2003 K-1 World MAX Japan Champion
• 2002 K-1 World MAX Japan Champion
• 2000 ISKA Oriental World Welterweight Champion(Defence: 0)
• 1999 AJKF Welterweight Champion(Defence: 0)

Wolf Revolution is an event promoted by Masato himself. It mixes live bands with MMA and kickboxing matches.

Masato has appeared in films such as Izo, Buyuden, Dead or Alive 2: Birds, Shukyoku Ninja and Shamo.