Beginning in 2002 the Shooto

Shooto

Shooto is a mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, as an organization and as a particular fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Practitioners are referred to as shooters,...

 organization decided to have mini tournaments to determine the best of their rookie fighters in each weight class. Many of the champions have gone on to become serious contenders and some even have become world or pacific rim champions. This is the list of every Shooto Rookie Champion.

2002

• 123lb- Yasuhiro Urushitani
  Yasuhiro Urushitani
  is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist. He has only been finished once, and has been consistently ranked as one of top flyweight's in the world by Sherdog's Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings. He is known for his slick counter striking...
  
  
• 132lb- Akira Komatsu
  Akira Komatsu
  Akira Komatsu is a former Japanese football player.-References:*http://www.vissel-kobe.co.jp/youth_team/s_komatsu.html...
  
  
• 143lb- Hideki Kadowaki
  Hideki Kadowaki
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist.-Biography:Hideki Kadowaki comes from Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He started MMA 11 years ago.He started out just goofing around with friends, and then thought it would be fun to do fighting as a job. After deciding to become a professional fighter, he joined...
  
  
• 154lb- Tatsuya Kawajiri
  Tatsuya Kawajiri
  Tatsuya Kawajiri is a Japanese mixed martial artist and a former Shooto welterweight champion, currently competing in Dream's lightweight division...
  
  
• 167lb- Kuniyoshi Hironaka
  Kuniyoshi Hironaka
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division.After Mizuto Hirota vacated the Cage Force Lightweight Championship, Kuniyoshi Hironaka defeated Yoshihiro Koyama at Cage Force 12 to become the new belt holder....
  
  

2003

• 114lb- Takehiro Harusaki
• 123lb- Yasuhiro Akagi
• 132lb- Akitoshi Hokazono
• 143lb- Hiroyuki Takaya
  Hiroyuki Takaya
  |-| Win|align=center| 16–9–1| Kazuyuki Miyata| Decision | Dream: Japan GP Final| |align=center| 3|align=center| 5:00|Tokyo, Japan, Japan| Defended DREAM Featherweight Championship|-| Loss|align=center| 15–9–1| Robbie Peralta| Decision...
  
  
• 154lb- Nobuhiro Obiya
• 167lb- Yoichi Fukumoto
• 183lb- Akihiko Adachi

2004

• 114lb- Atsushi Takeuchi
• 123lb- Shinichi Kojima
  Shinichi Kojima
  Shinichi Kojima is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He has fought for most of his career in the Shooto organization.-Mixed martial arts career:...
  
  
• 132lb- Koetsu Okazaki
• 143lb- Takeshi Inoue
  Takeshi Inoue
  "Lion" Takeshi Inoue is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently fighting as a lightweight in the Shooto organization. In other organizations such as the WEC he would be considered a featherweight as Shooto's 143 lb. weight class is known as lightweight.-Biography:On November 8, 2007, he...
  
  
• 154lb- Yusuke Endo
• 167lb- Yu Shiori

2005

• 183lb- Masashi Yozen
• 167lb- Keita Nakamura
  Keita Nakamura
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He is the winner of the World Victory Road Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament when he defeated Yasubey Enomoto at World Victory Road Presents: Soul of Fight therefore becoming the first Sengoku Welterweight Champion....
  
  
• 154lb- Mizuto Hirota
  Mizuto Hirota
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He is a former lightweight champion in World Victory Road's Sengoku-promotion, the former lightweight champion for Cage Force, and the current DEEP lightweight champion...
  
  
• 143lb- Tenkei Fujimiya
• 132lb- Takeya Mizugaki
  Takeya Mizugaki
  Takeya Mizugaki is a Japanese mixed martial artist who currently competes in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of October 2011, Mizugaki is ranked the #10 bantamweight in the world by Sherdog....
  
  
• 123lb- Yusei Shimokawa
• 114lb- Kenichi Takeda

2006

• 183lb- Mitushiro Takeda
• 167lb- Yuki Konishi
• 154lb- Yoshihiro Koyama
• 143lb- Akiyo Nishiura
  Akiyo Nishiura
  "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist. Nishiura competes for the Dream organization in the featherweight division.-Biography and career:...
  
  
• 132lb- Masakazu Ueda
• 123lb- Ryuichi Miki
• 114lb- Shinya Murofushi
  Shinya Murofushi
  Shinya Murofushi is a professional mixed martial artist from Japan. He competes in the strawweight division.-MMA career:In 2006, Shinya Murofushi became the 2006 Shooto Rookie Champion in the organization's flyweight division. Murofushi was known as the #2 strawweight with his strength on the...
  
  

2007

• 183lb- Hiroki Sato
• 167lb- Akihiro Yamazaki
• 154lb- Hiroshi Shiba
• 143lb- Kazuhiro Ito
• 132lb- Hiromasa Ougikubo
• 123lb- Kenji Hosoya
• 114lb- Hiroyuki Ikeda

2008

• 183lb- Makoto Maeda
• 167lb- Takuya Sato
  Takuya Sato
  ' is a Japanese script writer and director of anime.-Works:*Street Fighter II V Assistant Director*Harimogu Harry Storyboard, Episode Director*NieA 7 Director, Script*Princess Tutu eps. 6,11 Script...
  
  
• 154lb- Ikuo Usuda
• 143lb- Issei Tamura
• 132lb- Kosuke Eda
• 123lb- Fumihiro Kitahara
• 114lb- Mikitoshi Yamagami

2009

• 183lb- Takahiro Suzuki
  Takahiro Suzuki
  is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player. He is currently with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Central League.-External links:...
  
  
• 154lb- Koji Matsumoto
• 143lb- Yusuke Yachi
  Yusuke Yachi
  Yusuke Yachi is a Japanese race walker.He finished seventeenth at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, in his major international debut race.-Achievements:-References:...
  
  
• 132lb- Keita Yoshida
• 123lb- Yosuke Saruta
• 114lb- Hiroyuki Kondo

2010

• 168lb- Yusaku Inoue
• 154lb- Kota Shimoishi
• 143lb- Yuta Sasaki
• 132lb- Kyoji Horiguchi
• 123lb- Kosuke Suzuki
• 114lb- Masayoshi Kato