Ryo Chonan (長南亮, Chōnan Ryō^?, born October 8, 1976 in Tsuruoka, Yamagata) is a Japanese mixed martial artist, currently fighting in DEEP where he was the 3rd DEEP middleweight champion. He has previously competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is noted for being one of two fighters to finish Anderson Silva in an MMA fight at PRIDE Shockwave 2005. He has also defeated the likes of Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Newton, and Joey Villasenor.

Chonan began his professional mixed martial arts career in 2001, losing his first fight in Pancrase – Neo Blood Tournament. He then went on to fight in DEEP, going 6-2 in the organization including a TKO win against former longtime Shooto middleweight champion Hayato Sakurai.

Then he fought in Pride Bushido 3 as team Japan fighter losing a decision against Ricardo Almeida. Then at Pride Bushido 5 he went on to defeat Carlos Newton via unanimous decision.

Chonan's next win was against future UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva at PRIDE: Shockwave 2004, where he executed a spectacular flying scissor-lock takedown, followed quickly by a heel-hook submission.

Anderson da Silva (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɐ̃deʁsõ ˈsiwvɐ]; born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He is the current UFC Middleweight Champion and the promotion's longest reigning champion. With 14 consecutive wins and 9 title defenses, Silva holds the longest winning streak and title defense streak in UFC history.

Silva is ranked as the number one Middleweight in the world by multiple publications, and is the consensus No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world according to ESPN, Sherdog, Yahoo! Sports, MMAFighting.com and other publications. UFC president Dana White has proclaimed Silva as "the greatest mixed martial artist ever."^{[undue weight? – discuss]} Silva is also the last Cage Rage Middleweight Champion and a former Shooto Middleweight Champion. Besides the UFC and Cage Rage, Silva has fought for a number of other MMA promotions including the Pride Fighting Championships, Shooto and Rumble on the Rock.

Although known primarily for his mastery of Muay Thai striking, Silva is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt, a rank he earned in 2006 from Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira who follows Gracie Lineage through Carlson Gracie, like Murilo Bustamante and the Brazilian Top Team. He began martial arts training at the age of 14, training Tae kwon do and earning a black belt by the age of 18. He is also a black belt in Judo and a yellow rope in Capoeira.

Ricardo Almeida (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁiˈkaʁdu awˈmejdɐ]; born November 29, 1976) is a retired Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and currently a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler residing in Bordentown, New Jersey.

Almeida is a third degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie, and part of the Gracie Barra Combat Team and also part of The Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu competition team. Almeida is a veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Grapplers Quest and a former Middleweight King of Pancrase. In Pancrase he had notable wins over Nate Marquardt and Kazuo Misaki. Almeida trains with and teaches former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at his longtime Gracie system gym in Hamilton, NJ.

On November 30, 2003, Almeida was involved in an altercation with middleweight opponent Nate Marquardt in a Pancrase title fight. Marquardt was put into a guillotine choke in which the referee believed he tapped out. The referee was unable to immediately separate the fighters and the choke remained applied around Marquardt's neck after Marquardt's apparent submission. After the choke was let go, Marquardt threw a strike at Almeida's face, prompting both corners to storm into the ring – including Renzo Gracie, who was cornering Almeida and kicked Marquardt in the face. The confrontation came to an end and Marquardt approached Almeida after the bout to congratulate him. Almeida then vacated his title in July 2004.

Hayato Sakurai (桜井 速人, Sakurai Hayato^?, マッハ Mahha, born August 24, 1975) is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. He has a professional MMA record of 35-11-2 as of April 5, 2009. Sakurai has been fighting in mixed martial arts since October 1996 and was at one time considered pound for pound one of the greatest fighters. Sakurai finished 2nd (Silver) in the Absolute Class (no weight limit) Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission wrestling annual competition in 1999 at just under 77 kg.

His nickname, "Mach", pronounced ma-ha in Japanese, was taken as a tribute to his childhood pro wrestling hero, Higo Shigehisashi better known as Mach Hayato, the first Japanese professional wrestler to completely embrace the Mexican style of Lucha Libre and was also among the group of professional wrestlers who made the transition to shoot wrestling as part of the original UWF movement.

Sakurai made his professional debut in the Shooto organization on October 4, 1996 by submitting Caol Uno. Over the next five years he would go undefeated in twenty bouts and would win that organization's middleweight (167 lbs.) title. Sakurai was finally defeated in August 2001 by Brazilian ace and future UFC middleweight (185 lbs.) champion Anderson Silva. After the loss, and subsequent to a severe car accident, Sakurai traveled to the United States to fight the UFC's welterweight champion Matt Hughes, losing by TKO in the fourth round.

Taisuke Okuno (born March 1, 1977) is a Japanese professional mixed martial artist. has foughts at events of Shooto, Deep, Sengoku. He is currently signed with Sengoku in the Welterweight division.

At MMA debut in "Shooto - Shooter's Summer" Shooto event win Tsuneyoshi Kashimura.

Loss to Shigetoshi Iwase by unanimous decision at Deep - 42 Impact, won Hidehiko Hasegawa by TKO at Deep - 46 Impact.

Okuno fought Yuya Shirai for the Deep Welterweight Championship, he lost the fight via unanimous decision being controlled on the ground.

Took part on Sengoku Welterweight Grand Prix. Defeated Nick Thompson in quarter final of grand prix, at Sengoku Raiden Championships 14. Loss to Yasubey Enomoto at semi-final of grand prix at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku Raiden Championships 15.

Professional MMA record for Taisuke Okuno from Sherdog