The Olympic silver medalist Hiroshi Izumi has finally signed a contract to fight for Japanese promotion World Victory Road- Sengoku. The 27-year old won a Silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, losing to Georgia’s Zurab Zviadauri in the final stage. In 2005, he took home a Gold medal at the World Judo Championship Games, acquired a Gold medal at the 2008 Asian Championships and has been successful in other popular Judo tournaments around the world.
Izumi was rumored to start a mixed martial arts career back in 2008 at some of the Sengoku fight cards, but that was never established. We were informed by World Victory Road officials that Izumi has finally inked a deal and is expected to participate in late 2009 as a middleweight.