Ryota Matsune (born 17 March 1982) is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist. He competed professionally from 2000 to 2015 and held the Shooto Featherweight (132.3 lbs) title from August 2003 to February 2006. During his title reign, he was recognized as the best bantamweight in the world, while Fight Matrix ranks him as one of the ten best bantamweights of all time. Mixed martial arts career Debut and the Imaizumi loss Ryota Matsune began his mixed martial arts career in 2000, when he entered the 7th All Japan Tournament, organized by Shooto. He won all four fights of the featherweight tournament. He achieved decision wins over Yasushi Ando, Naoki Tanimoto, Shinobu Kato, as well as a heel hook win over Tomoji Umezawa. He made his professional debut with the organization a month later, when he faced the Shooto journeyman Katsuhisa Akasaki. The bout was scheduled for two five minute rounds. In the first round Matsune secured a takedown, from which he transitioned to back mount. Akasaki escaped at the very end of the round, with 20 seconds left. In the second round Matsune once again secured a takedown at the beginning of the round, and spent the rest of it in Akasaki's guard. The judges awarded both rounds to Ryota. In his next fight he faced the debuting Nobuyuki Kato. Matsune looked to limit striking exchanges and take Kato down aiming to control him on the ground. Matsune won a unanimous decision. During Shooto: To The Top 3 Matsune faced another debuting fighter, Tomoharu Umezawa. During the first round of the bout Umezawa pushed Matsune into the corner of the ring and looked to land short strikes from inside the clinch, as well as landing knees to Matsune's abdomen. Despite Matsune complaining of low blows, the referee didn't stop the action or warn Umezawa. In the second round, Umezawa once again pressured Matsune into the corner, but Ryota rolled for a leg entanglement, and submitted Umezawa by way of a toe hold. Fighting a debuting fighter for the third time in a row, Matsune was scheduled to fight Hiroyasu Kodera. His winning streak extended to four with a unanimous decision victory. Following this, Ryota was scheduled to fight Kentaro Imaizumi, fighting in the main event for the first time in his career. Matsune was unable to maintain any sustained offense and lost a unanimous decision. Pre-title fight winning streak