Yosuke Saruta

Yosuke Saruta (猿田 洋祐) is a Japanese mixed martial artist who last competed in the strawweight division of ONE Championship.

A professional competitor since 2008, he is the former ONE Strawweight Champion and former Shooto World Flyweight (114lbs) Champion.

Personal life
Saruta was born in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan. Saruta was active in extracurricular activities in his youth, and had a focus on gymnastics. He wanted to become an Olympic athlete for his country. When he was 18, Saruta saw Norifumi Yamamoto on television and decided to begin training in mixed martial arts.

He is married.

Shooto
Saruta made his professional MMA debut on January 26, 2008 at Shooto: Back to Our Roots 7 against Kota Funaki. He would lose the bout by TKO.

On August 9, 2009, Saruta got his first professional victory over Takahiro Kohori at Shooto: Gig Saitama 1 by first-round TKO.

Between August 2011 and April 2013, Saruta had his first-ever winning streak. He won five consecutive bouts in Shooto with two submissions and a knockout during the run. During this run, he won the Shooto Infinity Bantamweight tournament, with a majority decision win over Masumi Tozawa. This would earn him a title shot versus Ryuichi Miki. Their first bout ended in a draw, and their second in a unanimous decision loss for Saruta. After early failed attempts at winning Shooto titles, Saruta moved to Tokyo and changed camps to begin training with Wajutsu Keishukai Hearts.

After an up-and-down stretch that saw Saruta go 3-4-1, the Japanese fighter began another five-match unbeaten streak that would lead to a flyweight title shot against Ryuto Sawada. On October 15, 2017, Saruta defeated Sawada by knockout in the fourth round to capture the Shooto flyweight championship. Following that, he achieved a decision win over Kiyotaka Shimizu and defended his title against Itchaku Murata, winning by way of TKO.

ONE Championship
On December 7, 2018, Saruta made his ONE Championship debut against former strawweight champion, Alex Silva. He won by unanimous decision.

The victory in his ONE Championship debut earned Saruta a title shot against Joshua Pacio. On January 19, 2019, Saruta edged out Pacio by split decision to win the ONE strawweight world championship.

Yosuke Saruta would fight a rematch with Joshua Pacio at ONE: Roots of Honor. Saruta lost the bout, after being knocked out by a knee in the fourth round.

At ONE Century, Saruta bounced back with a KO victory over the Pancrase strawweight champion Daichi Kitakata, stopping his opponent in the first minute of the second round.

Saruta next faced Yoshitaka Naito at Road to One 3: Tokyo Fight Night on September 10, 2020. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Saruta faced Joshua Pacio in a trilogy match for the ONE Strawweight Championship at ONE Championship: Revolution on September 24, 2021. He lost the bout via TKO in the first round.

Saruta was expected to face Gustavo Balart at ONE: Bad Blood on February 11, 2022. Saruta withdrew from the bout, after testing positive for COVID-19 on the day of the event. The fight was rescheduled for ONE 156 on April 22, 2022. Saruta lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Returning off an almost 2 year layoff, Saruta faced Mansur Malachiev on February 17, 2024 at ONE Fight Night 19, losing the fight via unanimous decision.

Saruta is scheduled to face Keito Yamakita on August 3, 2024, at ONE Fight Night 24.

Championships and accomplishments

 * ONE Championship
 * ONE Strawweight Championship (One time; former)
 * Shooto
 * Shooto World Flyweight (114lbs) Championship (One time)
 * One successful title defense
 * 2012 Infinity Bantamweight Tournament
 * 2018 Fighter of the Year
 * eFight.jp
 * Fighter of the Month for January 2019
 * Fighter of the Month for October 2019