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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
10-year MMA veteran Kazuo Misaki is on his way to Strikeforce, according to a report from MMAWeekly.com.
The 35-year-old, who has fought all but two of his 37 career fights in his home country of Japan, has signed a multi-fight agreement with Strikeforce, and is on his way to their welterweight division despite spending much of his career as a middleweight.
The 2006 Pride Welterweight Grand Prix winner is 6-3 with one no contest in his last 10 fights dating back to the end of 2007, and he enters Strikeforce on a two fight winning streak. His three losses in that stretch came in fights against Melvin Manhoef and Jorge Santiago. The losses to Santiago were two incredible back and forth fights that saw Misaki nearly win both, only to have victory snatched from him in the fifth round of each fight in Sengoku.
Misaki has fought twice in the U.S., losing to Frank Trigg at Pride 33 in 2007, and defeating Joe Riggs in the pre-Showtime era of Strikeforce in 2009. He will immediately be plugged in near the top of Strikeforce's welterweight division, and could be the signing Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker hinted at as possibly being plugged right into a fight for the vacant Welterweight Title against the winner of this month's Paul Daley vs. Tyron Woodley bout on July 30.
Penick's Analysis: This is a great signing. Misaki's not necessarily an "elite" fighter at this stage of his career, but he's more than capable of being an extremely exciting and beneficial addition to the Strikeforce welterweight division. His fights with Santiago are absolutely fantastic, and with him dropping down from middleweight he absolutely can do damage in Strikeforce. A fight between Misaki and the Daley-Woodley winner would be a fantastic fight for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Title.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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