is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler currently competing in IGF as . A professional MMA competitor since 1996, he was a longtime veteran of PRIDE and Pancrase and has also competed in other mixed martial arts promotions such as K-1 Hero's, Cage Rage, the SFL, Vale Tudo Japan, UFC, DREAM, and DEEP. He is the former DREAM Openweight Grand Prix Champion (Super Hulk). Often undersized and a huge fan favorite in Japan, Minowa earned his nickname "The Giant Killer" by participating in many openweight contests, often submitting much larger opponents. Also renowned for his durability, he is a veteran of 115 fights, and is known for his trademark red speedo and mullet. Mixed martial arts career Early career Minowa made his professional debut in the Lumax Cup in 1996, but would spend most of his early career in the Pancrase promotion. Minowa had a poor start to his MMA career, going 1–8–1 in his first ten fights, taking on MMA pioneers such as Yuki Kondo and Jason DeLucia, and with the win being in his Pancrase debut. The young Minowa would turn his career around, however, improving to 12–11–6 with a win over Daiju Takase before fighting in his first and only fight in the UFC at UFC 25 in Tokyo, Japan. The bout was against Joe Slick and Minowa won via TKO from a cut that Slick received. Minowa continued to fight in Pancrase as well as another Japanese organization, DEEP, before leaving the Pancraseism team in April 2003. PRIDE Minowa made his PRIDE Fighting Championships debut against future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Around this time, he would briefly join the Brazilian Top Team, becoming its first Japanese member and the only who didn't come from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu background. Minowa was known in PRIDE for his entertaining entrances and sporting of the Japanese flag as a cape as well as his aggressive, high-risk style of fighting which has seen him employ flying dropkicks amongst other pro-wrestling derived maneuvers. It was also during his career with PRIDE that he continued to cement his legacy in taking on fighters that were much bigger than himself, winning most of the resultant freak show fights and earning the nickname "The Giant Killer". He participated in PRIDE's first 185 lb tournament where he won over Phil Baroni, but went on to lose in the second round to