Mitsuya Nagai 長井満也
Nagai in November 2019
Born	(1968-11-10)10 November 1968 (age 57) Sunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Other names	Mitsuyaman Makai #5 Great Tiger
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	108 kg (238 lb; 17.0 st)
Division	Middleweight
Style	Shootboxing,shoot wrestling
Team	RINGS Japan
Teachers	Akira Maeda Satoru Sayama Naoyuki Taira
Years active	1991–2013 (MMA)[1] 1997–1999 (kickboxing) 1999–present (professional wrestling)
Kickboxing record
Total	7
Wins	0
By knockout	0
Losses	6
By knockout	4
No contests	1
Mixed martial arts record
Total	26
Wins	18
By knockout	4
By submission	14
Losses	8
By knockout	3
By submission	3
Unknown	2
Other information
Mixed martial arts record fromSherdog
Last updated on: 8 January 2014

Hirokazu Nagai (長井 弘和,Nagai Hirokazu; born 10 November 1968), better known asMitsuya Nagai (長井満也,Nagai Mitsuya), is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler and formermixed martial artist andkickboxer. A professional MMA competitor from 1991 until 2013, he fought the majority of his career inFighting Network RINGS. Once a student of legendary professional wrestlersSatoru Sayama andAkira Maeda, Nagai holds notable victories over formerKing of Pancrase Super Heavyweight ChampionTsuyoshi Kosaka,Nobuaki Kakuda, four-time worldkickboxing championAndre Mannaart, Russiansambo championMikhail Ilyukhin, RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament runner upValentijn Overeem,ADCC bronze medallist andRINGS Light Heavyweight title contenderChris Haseman, andPancrase veteranTakaku Fuke. He also fought forK-1 in kickboxing.

He later transitioned to traditionalpuroresu and notably wrestled forBattlarts,New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) andAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a former three timeAll Asia Tag Team Champion. He currently performs on a part-time basis and has competed for shoot style and MMA promotionGLEAT andPro Wrestling Noah.

Hirokazu trained inSatoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym during secondary school and tried to joinAll Japan Pro Wrestling immediately afterwards, but its chairmanGiant Baba asked him to finish high school first. While studying, Nagai started competing in amateurshootboxing and amassed a 5–2 record, which made him change his ambition, so after graduating he went to joinUWF Newborn instead of AJPW. He became a trainee underAkira Maeda, training in theshoot wrestling style, but he got injured and UWF closed his doors before he could debut. Nagai eventually followed Maeda to his new promotion,Fighting Network RINGS.

Nagai debuted in RINGS on 1 August 1991, in a match againstHerman Renting. He revealed himself as a promising rookie, showing will and toughness, but aside of a high-profile shoot match againstGerard Gordeau on 7 December, in which he was defeated in 0:34, Nagai was relegated to low profile matches. He qualified for theMega Battle Tournament 1991, but was eliminated on the first round byMasaaki Satake. During his time at RINGS, Nagai competed in shoot style wrestling matches,shoot fights andmixed martial arts fights. He competed in a number of shoot contests during the early years of RINGS where he was defeated byDick Vrij on 16 May 1992, by TKO, and would also lose toWillie Peeters on 16 July 1992, however he got notable KO victories againstKoichiro Kimura andNobuhiro Tsurumaki, and a decision win againstNobuaki Kakuda.

In 1994, Nagai looked to ascend the scale by taking part on theMega Battle Tournament 1994, eliminatingAmeran Bitsadze on the first round, but then losing toChris Dolman in the second. By 1995, RINGS was transitioning into a mixed martial arts promotion, and he faced Dick Vrij in a shoot rematch held in RINGS Holland on 19 February 1995, but he fell knocked by a knee strike while Vrij was illegally holding the ropes in the corner, an action which went unnoticed or the referee, and the decision was not overturned. However, Mitsuya would get booked for a trend of victories back in Japan, beating the likes ofAndrei Kopylov,Yoshihisa Yamamoto andCarl Greco. He finally would get his retribution over Vrij submitting him via heel hook in an MMA fight on 24 August 1996. Nagai then foughtTsuyoshi Kohsaka, overwhelming the judoka with kicks, palm strikes, body punches and knees while Kohsaka fended off the strikes with takedowns and submission attempts. However, when the fight was brought back to standing Nagai beat him with knees, earning a TKO victory and one of the biggest wins of his RINGS career. He then got another MMA victory against Willie Peeters, winning via heel hook, but his momentum got cut short by a submission loss toKiyoshi Tamura at theMega Battle Tournament 1996. In 1997, Nagai competed in several MMA fights, losing his first three, with two of those losses coming via mismatched contests against heavyweight fighterJoop Kasteel. He then got notable wins againstValentijn Overeem,Andre Mannaart andChris Haseman, all by heel hook.

In 1997, Nagai got a license by theAll Japan Kickboxing Federation and competed at the Kick Over IX event as a RINGS representative. It would be his last year in the promotion, as he left RINGS after a match withAkira Maeda in which Maedashot on him after the bell, although it is possible it could have been aworked shoot.

After leaving RINGS Nagai briefly pursued a career inkickboxing, and fought inK-1 between 1997 and 1999. His kickboxing career was unsuccessful, and he retired with a record of 6 losses and 1 draw in August 1999. In March 2013, Nagai returned to MMA after 15 years away from the sport, beatingTakaku Fuke by ankle lock in the first round at a U-SPIRITS event.

Nagai turned his hand to professional wrestling and joinedYuki Ishikawa's shoot style promotionBattlarts. His run was somewhat successful, with Nagai earning victories over established wrestlers likeTakeshi Ono,Yuki Ishikawa andKatsumi Usuda. In the 2000 Young Generation Battle, Nagai went undefeated for the entirety of the tournament, beating Usuda,Mohammed Yone, Mach Junji, Rastaman andMinoru Tanaka to reach the final, where he lost toAlexander Otsuka.^[2] After Battlarts went on hiatus beginning in November 2000, Nagai and the rest of the roster were forced to leave the promotion.^{[citation needed]}

Almost immediately after Battlarts began its hiatus, Nagai was announced for the 2000Real World Tag League inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), the promotion he had originally hoped to join in high school. Nagai was paired up with fellow UWF alumnusMasahito Kakihara, calling themselves "Team Strongs". Despite the name, Team Strongs performed poorly in the tag league, earning just two points with a win overBarry Windham andKendall Windham.^[3] In only his second match, Nagai lost to AJPW's top starToshiaki Kawada, and, even though he lost, he earned Kawada's respect and was selected to be his new tag partner.^[4] As a newcomer, Nagai was required to prove himself before he entered the 2001Champion Carnival, and thus was put into the Champion Carnival Qualifying League. Nagai excelled in the qualification league which granted him entry to the Champion Carnival where he struggled, again earning just one win and two points.^[5] Despite mixed success and his newcomer status, Nagai was pushed as an All Japan loyalist and represented the company in interpromotional matches during AJPW's working relationship withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).^{[citation needed]}

On 6 June 2001, Nagai was involved in an incident during a match against NJPW wrestlerTakashi Iizuka at an NJPW show, where Nagai delivered a kick to Iizuka's face which resulted in Iizuka being severely concussed and needing over a year off to recover.^[6][7] Two days later when the NJPW roster came to the AJPW show inNippon Budokan, Nagai and Kakihara beat NJPW'sYuji Nagata andShinya Makabe to win the vacantAll Asia Tag Team Championship, however, their reign was cut short after Kakihara suffered a knee injury and eventually left All Japan for NJPW after he had recovered, effectively breaking up Team Strongs.^[8] Nevertheless, Nagai's position as a loyalist in thepost-exodus era All Japan continued to rise, and he teamed with Toshiaki Kawada in a loss toTenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan andSatoshi Kojima) on 16 September on an NJPW card.^[9] Nagai teamed up with Kawada again for the 2001 Real World Tag League, seeing much greater success than the previous year, earning 10 points and making it to the final where they lost toKeiji Mutoh andTaiyo Kea.^[10] In early 2002, he entered theGiant Baba Memorial Cup, a tournament focused on young wrestlers where he dominated, earning 24 points and beating Nobutaka Araya in the final to win the tournament.^[11] Not long after winning, he entered the 2002 Champion Carnival and performed respectably, earning 6 points but failing to reach the final. In what would be his final tour with All Japan, Nagai partnered withYoji Anjo for the 2002 Real World Tag League, earning 4 points and failing to reach the final.^[12]

After 2 years with the promotion, Nagai left All Japan in December 2002.

Immediately after leaving AJPW, Nagai was signed byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), whom he had previously worked for during the inter-promotional relationship between both promotions. Due to his background in kickboxing and Rings, Nagai was placed into theMakai Club, a group of wrestlers with legitimate backgrounds in martial arts. Nagai debuted under a mask asMakai #5 atWrestling World 2003, teaming with the returningKatsuyori Shibata, who was now masked and competing as Makai #4. In their debut as a team, the two defeated Nagai's former partnerMasahito Kakihara andTakashi Iizuka.^[13] After defeating Kakihara in singles action atRyogoku Kokugikan in February, Makai #5 voluntarily unmasked himself as Nagai, though he continued to compete as both himself and Makai #5 after this.^[14] In July, Makai #5 and #4, who had dubbed themselvesHalimao'z (破悧魔王'Z,Harimaozu, "Devil Demon King'z"), challenged for theIWGP Tag Team Championship, losing to reigning championsHiroshi Tanahashi andYutaka Yoshie in Osaka.^[15] Nagai competed atWrestling World 2004, teaming withMakai #1,Ryushi Yanagisawa and Ryota Chikuzen to defeat the Crazy Dogs (Enson Inoue,Hiro Saito,Michiyoshi Ohara andTatsutoshi Goto).^[16] Nagai would compete twice at NJPW's King of Sports pay-per-view in March, first teaming with Shibata, #1 and Yanagisawa to defeatBlue Wolf,Shinya Makabe,Toru Yano and Yutaka Yoshie, but later losing toJosh Barnett in a singles match.^[17]

After the Makai Club broke up in the summer of 2004, Nagai began a face turn, returning to AJPW for one night only on 22 July where he lost to his mentorToshiaki Kawada.^[18] It was also during this time that he aligned himself with fellow Rings alumniMasayuki Naruse, with the two unsuccessfully challengingGenichiro Tenryu andMasanobu Fuchi for theAll Asia Tag Team Championship on 26 July.^[19] Around this time, Nagai joinedBlack New Japan while keeping his team with Naruse, which caused friction between them. On 3 November atMasahiro Chono's 20th Anniversary Show, they challenged once again, this time beating Fuchi and Tenryu to win the titles.^[20] He also returned to AJPW in December, teaming with Kawada for the Real World Tag League. They made it to the playoffs, where a loss to aRO&D (Jamal andTaiyo Kea) stopped them from reaching the final.^[21] After dropping the All Asia belts in February, Nagai suffered an injury competing against Naruse in March which would keep him out of action for the rest of 2005.^[22] In January 2006, Nagai was one of a number of New Japan wrestlers who opted not to renew their contracts with the promotion and became a freelancer.

After leaving New Japan, Nagai debuted forDramatic Dream Team (DDT), choosing a lighter schedule in a comedy promotion which would allow his injury to heal at a quicker rate. He aligned himself withPoison Sawada Julie's Serpent Council in late 2006, and also began competing forTatsumi Fujinami'sMuga World Pro Wrestling around this time. It was in MUGA Nagai would find his new home, competing regularly for the next few years while also making occasional appearances in DDT and various shoot style promotions such asBattlarts andDaisuke Ikeda's Fu-Ten. In February 2009, he wrestledCanadian wrestlerTest in what would be Test's last match before he died the following month.^[23]

In September 2010, he beatAlexander Otsuka to winReal Japan Pro Wrestling (RJPW)'s Legend Championship.^[24] He held the title for nearly a year before dropping it toSuper Tiger in July 2011.^[25] Nagai won it back from Tiger in March 2012, and again dropped it to Tiger in December.^[26][27] In January 2014, Nagai's appearances in Dradition became more sporadic, and he instead became a regular inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) once again, forming the Dark Kingdom stable withKenso, which would later addBlack Tiger VII,Black Tiger andTakeshi Minamino to its ranks. As Dark Kingdom, Nagai and Minamino won theAll Asia Tag Team Championship in January 2015.^[28] They dropped the titles toUltimo Dragon andYoshinobu Kanemaru in March.^[29]

Nagai would later debut and makePro Wrestling Noah his home in late 2017, entering the 2017 Global League where a loss toNaomichi Marufuji stopped him from reaching the final.^[30]

As a fighter, Nagai utilized hisshootboxing background and made use of precise kicks, knees and body punches before engaging inclinch fighting. Owing to hisshoot wrestling influence, he showed excellent knowledge ofleglocks and often used single and double-leg takedown attempts to transition into leglock battles, notably winning several fights byheel hook. As he wasn't the strongest fighter in RINGS, he operated an efficient bottom grappling game centered around his flexibility and ability to transition to submission attempts from unlikely positions.

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

• All Asia Tag Team Championship (3 times) - withMasahito Kakihara (1),Masayuki Naruse (1), andTakeshi Minamino (1)
• Giant Baba Memorial Cup (2002)

• Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW
  • FMW World Street Fight 8-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – withBlack Tiger V,Black Tiger VII andTiger Mask III Tigre en Mascarado^[31]
• Muga World Pro Wrestling

• Muga Premium Tournament (2006)

• Real Japan Pro Wrestling

• Legend Championship (2 times)

• Professional MMA record for Mitsuya Nagai fromSherdog
• Mitsuya Nagai's profile atCagematch

• 1968 births
• Living people
• Japanese male mixed martial artists
• Middleweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing shootboxing
• Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling
• Japanese male kickboxers
• Japanese male professional wrestlers
• Masked wrestlers
• All Asia Tag Team Champions
• 20th-century male professional wrestlers
• 20th-century Japanese professional wrestlers
• 21st-century male professional wrestlers
• 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers
• 20th-century Japanese sportsmen

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