Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and the TK Guard

Kosaka is a name most are familiar with, mainly because he is the 1 L on Fedor's record. But he ahs done much more for the sport of MMA than just that

He patented and made the "TK Guard" a popular open guard, and for years it was one of the best open guards in the game. He would dig his heels into the back of your knees from open guard, he would also go for what we know now as body locks or anacanda locks while in half guard, locking up the 1 leg, not the body.

In 1995 Won the Lomax Cup, which was a early MMA tournament beating Egan Inoue, Susumu Yamasaki, and Hiroyuki Yoshioka

He formed the Alliance with Frank Shamrock and Maurice Smith and taught both of them the famed T-Guard

Kohsaka's career inculdes wins over Fedor, Maurice Smith, Kimo, Pete Williams, Gilbert Yvel,Mario Sperry, Volk Han, Travis Fulton, and Ron Waterman, he also had a draw with Antonio Noguiera, as well as losses to Fedor in the rematch, Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture, Ricco Rodriguez, Pedro Rizzo, Mark Hunt, and Noguiera in a rematch.

THe Bas Rutten fight was and is a controversial one, Kohsaka took Rutten down at will and was very active in the guard, only to be stood up to check cuts by Big John, and 1 flat out just bad stand up, after the stand up Rutten got a come from behind stoppage with 3 minutes left in the fight.

Barely even gets mentioned and todays common fans have no fucking clue who he is but he was very influential fighter.

Kohsaka vs Couture



Kohsaka vs Nog



vs Egan Inoue in 1995



retired in 2006, but if you have ever grappled, you have heard of or know of the T Guard

why important???

pretty much the first guy to use the Butterfly on televised MMA effectively as a guard

Wasn't he using the "TK" guard when Ricco pounded his face in?


Like most of my early knowledge of MMA I learned of TK though UFC Throwdown, such an underrated classic videogame. When I bought it the only fighters I knew of were Tito, Frank, Ken and Jeremy Horn.

yep he was in the TK guard when Ricco beat him

it was funny they showed all 3 of his UFC losses yesterday haha

A new age was dawning and the need for legitimacy brought Tsuyoshi Kohsaka ("TK") into a more prominent role. Kohsaka had been an opening act for RINGS in the early 1990's before making a name for himself with the UFC as a fighter to be taken very, very seriously. Together with Frank Shamrock and Maurice Smith, TK formed "The Alliance" a training partnership that was one of the earliest attempts at serious cross training.

When Kohsaka was starting out in RINGS he was never a featured player. That all changed-in 1999, the promotion simply needed his legitimacy, needed him to help bridge the gap between the old era and the new. Splitting time between the UFC and RINGS, Kohsaka helped create a new star in Gilbert Yvel, took Rodrigo Nogueira to a draw, and soundly beat Randy Couture conqueror Iliokhine. The win left Kohsaka face to face with Iliokhine's Russian Top Team teammate, the then unknown Fedor Emelianenko.

It sounds ridiculous today, but in 2000, Kohsaka was considered a heavy favorite over the young Russian. TK had the UFC pedigree after all and had beaten Pete Williams and taken Bas Rutten to the limit in a bout to name a top contender for the UFC heavyweight championship. At the time, the strange stoppage was not at all earth shattering. Fans in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, an 8000 seat arena known mostly for its yearly sumo matches, had no idea they had witnessed history.

Seconds into the fight Kohsaka swung and missed with a right hand. As his hand sped by, his elbow clipped Emelianenko on his right eye. Just moments later, the fight is stopped. A gaping hole appears, as if from nowhere, on Fedor's stoic face. Traditionally, a fight stopped early because of an inadvertent foul would be called a no-contest. There was no winner or loser in this bout-it was simply an unfortunate incident that stopped the fight early. But this was Japan, not Nevada, and the fight was part of a multi-show tournament to crown the RINGS King of Kings Champion. The show had to go on, as did Kohsaka, who lost to Couture in the tournament's quarterfinals two months later in Tokyo.

After their aborted battle of wills, Kohsaka and Fedor saw their careers head in remarkably different directions. Fedor, of course, never lost again. For TK, the trajectory was straight down. He lost five of his next nine, falling short against meaningful competition while feasting on lesser lights. A man who once competed for the UFC title suddenly seemed like the sport had passed him by. Undersized for a heavyweight, Kohsaka never seemed to find his place in the modern era of MMA. In 2005, Fedor finally got a shot at redemption. TK was brutalized in a fight that eventually had to be stopped by the ringside doctors. Emelianenko may have avenged his only loss, but when history is written in the years to come, Kohsaka will have the last laugh. No



good bloody elbow article on TK vs Fedor

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/6/21/1528182/the-emperor-had-no-clothes-fedor