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Kozo Urita

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Kozo Urita
Born (1974-10-30) October 30, 1974 (age 49)
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Other namesTiger Shark
Blue Shark
NationalityJapanese
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb; 13.4 st)
DivisionLight heavyweight
Middleweight
StyleBoxing
TeamSeikendo[1]
Urita Dojo
Teacher(s)Satoru Sayama
Hidetada Irie
Years active2003–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total34
Wins14
By knockout6
By submission4
By decision4
Losses17
By knockout6
By submission3
By decision8
Draws2
No contests1
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Kozo Urita (瓜田 幸造, Urita Kōzō, born October 30, 1974) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He was associated with Real Japan Pro Wrestling's Seikendo team.[1]

Urita wrestled more famously under the name of Tiger Shark, and worked in promotions like Battlarts, Dradition Pro Wrestling, Tenryu Project and Riki Choshu's Legend The Pro Wrestling. Currently, he wrestles in Kazuki Okubo's Ganko Pro Wrestling and other independent promotions as Blue Shark.

Career

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Early career

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After several years training judo, Urita joined mixed martial arts organization Kingdom Ehrgeiz, where he was put under Hidetada Irie. Later, he moved to Satoru Sayama's Seikendo promotion, and in 2003 he had his MMA debut, submitting David Davitashvili. Thanks to a work agreement between Seikendo and Pancrase, Urita went to compete in the latter, fighting Keiichiro Yamamiya and Izuru Takeuchi to decision and knocking out Riki Fukuda. He also competed in a seikendo-rules MMA tournament in Sayama's Real Japan Pro Wrestling, winning the contest after three matches.

Real Japan Pro Wrestling (2005–2013)

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In 2005, Urita started doing professional wrestling for Real Japan Pro Wrestling. He received the gimmick of Tiger Shark, a masked character with heel mannerisms conceived as Super Tiger II's dark counterpart, in a similar way to the historical Black Tiger and Tiger Mask.[2] Tiger Shark wrestled under a blue mask with a shark design, contrasting with Super Tiger's silver and purple Tiger Mask attire, and had his first match teaming up with Masao Orihara against him and Hi69. Tiger Shark and Super Tiger wrestled each other in tag team matches during the next events, with Urita often teaming up with Orihara. However, he ended settling down in a tag team with Black Shadow, a similar character played by Makoto "Max" Miyazawa. They feuded with a coalition composed by Gran Hamada, Sammy Lee, Jr. and Kendo Nagasaki, as well as All Japan Pro Wrestling's Minoru.

In 2010, Shark broke his alliance with Masao Orihara, wrestling in a match in which Urita was defeated. After seldom apparitions in RJPW, Tiger Shark teamed again with Black Shadow to win the vacant RJPW Tag Team Championship, defeating Yujiro Yamamoto and Yuki Ishikawa. However, they had no defenses of the title, and they spent the next years feuding with Orihara. He also had a high-level match against New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Tiger Mask IV, being beaten. In September 2013, Tiger Shark had his last apparition in RJPW, teaming up with Tatsumi Fujinami to get a win over Super Tiger II and Riki Choshu.

Battlarts (2009–2011)

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Tiger Shark started wrestling for shoot-style promotion Battlarts in 2009 as a RJPW representative. He participated in the B1 Climax 2009 Block A, facing star Yuki Ishikawa and Yuta Yoshikawa in losing efforts, though getting victories over Keita Yano and Ryuji Walter. As a result, he did not qualify. He continued appearing in Battlarts, teaming up with his long time rival Super Tiger II in a special tag team to feud with Ishikawa, as well as Bison Tagai. In 2010, the team broke up and Shark went free, staying with the promotion until its demise in 2011.

Tenryu Project and Legend The Pro Wrestling (2010–2013)

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Always working as a RJPW representative, Tiger Shark had his debut in Tenryu Project with his biggest career win, beating Dragon Gate top player Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Championship. He retained it successfully against Hiroki, Dokuroman and Hikaru Sato, until he dropped it to Hiroki in a rematch. Around that time, Tiger moved to Riki Choshu's Legend The Pro Wrestling, where he teamed with a variety of Tiger-related characters, among them Super Tiger II, Original Tiger Mask and Black Tiger V. He also wrestled alongside Yoshiaki Fujiwara. In 2013, Tiger Shark and his allies entered in a feud with Atsushi Onita and his entourage, as part of the enmity between Onita and Original Tiger Mask from RJPW. Shark faced personally Onita's henchman Ichiro Yaguchi, with Urita coming victorious in a single match, his last apparition in the promotion.

Championships and accomplishments

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Mixed martial arts record

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Professional record breakdown
29 matches 14 wins 12 losses
By knockout 6 1
By submission 4 3
By decision 4 8
Draws 2
No contests 1
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Win 14-12-2 (1) Gennadiy Kovalev KO (punch) FEFoMP: International Modern Pankration Championship April 29, 2012 1 3:35 Vladivostok, Russia
Win 13-12-2 (1) Gadji Zaipulaev Decision (unanimous) FEFoMP: Impact League 4 October 16, 2010 3 5:00 Khabarovsk, Russia
Win 12-12-2 (1) Barry Guerin TKO (doctor stoppage) Square Jungle: Advent of Mr. MMA September 13, 2009 1 0:49 Tokyo, Japan
Win 11-12-2 (1) Sharihyar Abbasov TKO (doctor stoppage) GCM: Cage Force 11 June 27, 2009 2 1:11 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 10-12-2 (1) Jerry Nelson Decision (majority) TF: Tenkaichi Fight 37 May 17, 2009 3 5:00 Chatan, Okinawa, Japan
Loss 10-11-2 (1) Ryuta Sakurai Submission (armbar) Deep: 37 Impact August 17, 2008 1 3:22 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 10-10-2 (1) Vladimir Yushko Decision (unanimous) FEFoMP: World Pankration Championship 2008 May 24, 2008 2 5:00 Khabarovsk, Russia
Win 10-9-2 (1) Hoon Kim TKO (punches) MARS 11: 2nd Anniversary February 11, 2008 2 1:41 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 9-9-2 (1) Yuya Shirai Submission (armbar) Deep: 31 Impact August 5, 2007 1 2:42 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 9-8-2 (1) Ichiro Kanai TKO (punches) Pancrase: Rising 5 May 30, 2007 1 3:50 Tokyo, Japan
N/C 9-7-2 (1) Hoon Kim No contest (accidental low blow) MARS 7: Tornado Returns April 15, 2007 1 0:00 Tokyo, Japan
Win 9-7-2 Alavutdin Gadjiev Decision (unanimous) FEFoMP: Asian Pankration Championship 2006 December 6, 2006 2 5:00 Khabarovsk, Russia
Win 9-6-2 Rikuhei Fujii Decision (unanimous) Pancrase: Blow 9 October 25, 2006 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 8-6-2 Marcelo Brito Submission (rear naked choke) MARS 4: New Deal August 27, 2006 1 4:44 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 8-5-2 Hidemi Mihara Decision (unanimous) MARS: MARS Attack 1 July 21, 2006 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan
Win 8-4-2 Ken Ogawa TKO (corner stoppage) MARS: MARS Attack 1 July 21, 2006 1 1:43 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 7-4-2 Arman Gambaryan Decision (unanimous) FEFoMP: World Pankration Championship 2006 May 20, 2006 3 2:00 Khabarovsk, Russia
Draw 7-3-2 Yuichi Nakanishi Draw Pancrase: Blow 3 April 9, 2006 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan
Win 7-3-1 Riki Fukuda KO (punch) Pancrase: Blow 1 January 27, 2006 1 0:40 Tokyo, Japan
Win 6-3-1 Yuta Nakamura Decision (unanimous) RJPW: Legend Championship December 16, 2005 3 5:00 Tokyo, Japan
Win 5-3-1 Toshihiro Hosoe Submission (armbar) RJPW: Legend Championship December 16, 2005 1 3:30 Tokyo, Japan
Win 4-3-1 Motohiro Tachihara Submission (armbar) RJPW: Legend Championship December 16, 2005 1 3:36 Tokyo, Japan
Loss 3-3-1 Izuru Takeuchi Decision (unanimous) Pancrase: Spiral 9 November 4, 2005 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan
Win 3-2-1 Moriyuki Yamada Submission (guillotine choke) Pancrase: 2005 Neo-Blood Tournament Finals August 27, 2005 2 3:37 Tokyo, Japan
Draw 2-2-1 Yuta Nakamura Draw RJPW: Roman Martial Arts 2005 July 18, 2005 2 5:00 Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Loss 2-2 Valery Pliev Decision (unanimous) FEFoMP: Mayor Cup 2005 April 30, 2005 3 5:00 Khabarovsk, Russia
Win 2-1 Jin O Kim Decision (unanimous) Gladiator FC: Day 1 June 26, 2004 3 5:00 Seoul, South Korea
Loss 1-1 Keiichiro Yamamiya Decision (unanimous) Pancrase: Brave 5 May 28, 2004 2 5:00 Tokyo, Japan
Win 1-0 David Davitashvili Submission (guillotine choke) Seikendo: Dream Challenge May 31, 2003 2 3:18 Tokyo, Japan

References

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  1. ^ a b "Kozo Urita profile". Sherdog. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  2. ^ "Profile at Puroresu Central". Puroresu Central. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
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