Kazuo Misaki Signs With Strikeforce, Will Compete at Welterweight

[WrestlingSmarks News]

Remember last week when Strikeforce head honcho Scott Coker was talking about a mystery welterweight he was about to sign that could walk right in and get a shot at the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title? We all started firing guesses, but no one came up with what turned out to be the correct answer - former Pride welterweight (183 lb.) grand prix winner Kazuo Misaki (24-11-2). What? MMA Weekly has it:

At one time, Kazuo Misaki was a mainstay in the top ten of the middleweight division during his time with Pride Fighting Championships.

Now the Japanese fighter is making his move to welterweight and has signed an exclusive deal to compete in the welterweight division of Strikeforce.

Sources close to Misaki confirmed the signing to MMAWeekly.com on Thursday.

​

Well, that came out of left field. The former Grabaka Hitman (he left Grabaka gym in late 2009) is best known for the Pride GP win mentioned above, and his two wars with Jorge Santiago over the Sengoku middleweight belt. He holds wins over the likes of Dan Henderson, Phil Baroni, Denis Kang, Siyar Bahadurzada, and Kazuhiro Nakamura. He has competed in Strikeforce once before, defeating Joe Riggs by controversial TKO at their Playboy Mansion show in 2009.

Who he'll face in his Strikeforce debut remains a mystery at this point, but Misaki is definitely a good (if unexpected) addition to the think welterweight ranks in Strikeforce.