Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Flyweights

10. Yasuhiro Urushitani

I'll be completely honest here. I had never even heard of Urushitani before I saw other contributors put him on their lists, and now that I've looked over his record and seen a few of his fights, I'm confused about his inclusion. He was a very good fighter of course, as any flyweight who attains success is, possessing excellent striking for his time, especially his kicks, and solid grappling, including strong takedown defense and ability to get back up. Yet I don't believe he was especially impressive, even back then, and was never close to the best. From 2004 to 2012, he had his best run, going 11-1-4, but his competition was little to write home about. It was decent, but nothing more. He beat John Dodson by decision—but it was Dodson's second professional fight. He dropped a decision to Yuki Shojo before winning a rematch. Urushitani finally made his way to the UFC in 2012, where he was demolished by Joseph Benavidez and then lost a one-sided decision against John Lineker. To be fair though, he was 35 and 36 for those fights respectively, well past a flyweight's prime. And to be fair, my own pick for 10th was Askar Askarov, who doesn't exactly scream “greatness” at present either.

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