Weight Class: Strawweight
Record: 7-1-1
Age: 24
Height: 5’3”
Born In: Japan
Training Out Of: TRIBE TOKYO MMA
Combined Opponent Records (at the time they fought): 58-46-4
Key Wins: N/A
Riding the momentum of five-straight wins, Kazusa Kurobe challenges Koyuru Tanoue for the Shooto strawweight belt this weekend in the headlining bout for Shooto 2026 Vol.4.
After fighting to a draw with Hiroto Nei in his professional debut in 2023, Kurobe submitted back-to-back opponents in the first round the following year. Mikihito Yamagami halted that run with a first-round submission of his own in what stands as Kurobe’s lone loss, but he returned to the win column by securing a rear naked choke against Masashi Oshiro to close out 2024.
Last year opened with Kurobe’s first wins via KO/TKO and decision before he ended the year with another submission. In his most recent outing in January, the 24-year-old took a unanimous decision over longtime Shooto veteran Ken Asahina.
Primarily a grappler, Kurobe moves around a lot when standing with opponents and will mix in frequent head feints while pumping out his lead hand. While he doesn’t appear to have a ton of confidence in his hands yet, he does make good use of hard low kicks and also likes to throw out kicks to the head and body using his lead leg.
Kurobe ideally wants to force an opponent towards the fence with his striking to open up opportunities for his takedowns. He doesn’t always disguise his double leg attempts as much as I’d like, but he does a good job of finishing those takedowns alone the cage and will also utilize trips when he clinches up or grabs a rear body lock.
Comfortable with settling right into half guard, the 24-year-old maintains good top pressure in order to keep his opposition from finding any space to get up. While he’s always looking for the chance to move into mount, he’s also willing to posture up and land heavy hammerfists and elbows from half guard or will distract an opponent with short head and body punches to open up opportunities for an arm triangle choke.
Kurobe will jump on the back quickly if an opponent gets to their knees and immediately try to lock up a body triangle. He follows a similar formula from that position as when he’s on top, as he focuses on landing punches to soften his opponent up before trying to finish things with a rear naked choke.
The last fight with Asahina really allowed Kurobe to show off his scrambling ability against another strong grappler, and even though he did end up on the bottom at several points he was constantly hunting for submissions. His grappling skills make him an interesting prospect even if I’d still like to see some more significant developments in his striking, and it would be a huge step for him if he’s able to take the Shooto belt from Tanoue this weekend.
