Top Japanese Fighters Nobutatsu Suzuki and Yasuhiro Urushitani Reportedly Sign With ONE FC

According to reliable reports, ONE FC has picked up two top Japanese fighters in the shape of Nobutatsu Suzuki and Yasuhiro Urushitani. The former is a 9-1-2 welterweight who has spent most of his career fighting for ZST while the latter is a 19-6-6 UFC veteran who fights at flyweight.

Suzuki made his MMA debut in 2005 and has fought 11 times for ZST, winning nine fights by KO or TKO due to strikes and drawing the other two after being unable to finish a couple of opponents inside the two rounds allocated by the Japanese promotion.

The only man to ever defeat the 35 year old is former Shooto and Sengoku champion Keita Nakamura who submitted him with a rear naked choke at Vale Tudo Japan last December. With such an impressive record and so many stoppage wins to his name Suzuki is likely to be an immediate contender for the ONE FC title in a welterweight division which currently contains Igor Gracie, Gregor Gracie, Jung Hwan Cha, Phil Baroni and Adam Kayoom.

Urushitani will also be looking to work his way into title contention in the flyweight division and, intriguingly, he has fought current title contender Shinichi Kojima twice with both matches ending in a draw after neither man was able to finish the other in a three round fight.

Signed by the UFC for its newly formed flyweight division Urushitani was immediately placed in the semifinals of the 125-pound tournament but saw a five-fight win streak snapped at UFC on FX 2 by Joseph Benavidez who stopped him with strikes in the second round.

His next fight was an entertaining affair as Urushitani went toe-to-toe with John Lineker for three rounds at UFC on Fuel TV 6 in Macau but found himself on the wrong end of a decision loss. Universally ranked as being the number one flyweight in Asia, the 36 year old was an obvious target for ONE FC and according to Samurai Life, matchmaker Matt Hume snapped him up as soon as he became available.

MMA in Asia broke the news about Suzuki signing earlier today and report that the Kyokushin Karate fighter will be making his ONE FC debut later this year in Manila. There is no word on when Urushitani will first feature but the card for ONE FC: 'Kings and Champions' has yet to be released meaning he could be back in action as early as April 5th.

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