is a Japanese retired kickboxer, mixed martial artist, known for his career in K-1. Biography Yuichiro Nagashima was born in 1984 in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyogo. He started learning Judo when he was an elementary school. He continued training Judo until the graduation of Middle School. During his High School life, he practiced Karate, but he attended training only once or twice a week. He first intended to become a Professional Wrestler, but was deemed too short, so he decided to be a fighter instead. Mixed martial arts Nagashima joined the team of Nippon Kempo and started training seriously when he was matriculated in University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences. In addition, Nagashima started participating professional mixed martial arts bouts. He also started cosplaying anime characters during his entrance to the ring. Kickboxing In 2007, Nagashima shifted his focus to kickboxing and has gone on to become known as the "Otaku Kickboxer" due to his love of anime and cosplay entrances before bouts. He won ten consecutive victories to start his career, fighting for Deep, Mars and New Japan Kickboxing Federation. On November 9, 2008, he defeated Teruaki Furukawa for the vacant NJKF Super welterweight title; this marked the first time a kickboxer from a non-NJKF affiliated gym had won an NJKF title. On January 25, 2009, he was chosen and awarded 2008 Outstanding Performance Award by NJKF, and also given 3 more awards certified combat sports medias. K-1 After winning the title, Nagashima was offered by K-1. He participated K-1 World MAX 2009 Japan Tournament on February 23, 2009, and he knocked out Hayato at 2R at the quarterfinal, but he was beaten by Yuya Yamamoto and lost by TKO because of being cut at the semifinal. After the Japanese tournament, Nagashima was offered to fight against Albert Kraus from Netherlands on April 21. They engaged in a heated war of words before the bout where Kraus said "he seems to be a gay". The fight ended in Nagashima losing by knockout in round one. On October 26, Nagashima was offered to fight against Xu Yan from China. Although he trained at Masato's gym, he was knocked out at round one. In December, he was awarded the 2009 Walkout of the Year by Inside MMA of HDNet. On March 27, 2010, Nagashima participated to K-1 World Max 2010 Japan tournament. He won the tournament with 3 consecutive knock