is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

and

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, as well as professional wrestling booker,

authority figure Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of Mo ...

and occasional wrestler. He has refereed more than 1,000 contests in major MMA promotions including

Pride Fighting Championships PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

Strikeforce Strike Force may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games *Strike Force (video game), ''Strike Force'' (video game), a 1991 arcade game *''Commandos: Strike Force'', a 2006 video game *''Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce'', a 2009 video game *' ...

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

M-1 Global M-1 Global (Mixfight-1) or MMA-1 (Mixed martial arts-1) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in St. Petersburg, Russia which organizes between 10 and 20 competitions per year. It hosted its first major show (rather than co-promoting with oth ...

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

Deep Deep or The Deep may refer to: Places United States * Deep Creek (Appomattox River tributary), Virginia * Deep Creek (Great Salt Lake), Idaho and Utah * Deep Creek (Mahantango Creek tributary), Pennsylvania * Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary ...

Super Fight League Super Fight League was a mixed martial arts promotion based in India. The organisation was formed in 2012 by actor Sanjay Dutt and British-Indian businessman Raj Kundra, and co-owned by British-Indian businessman Bill Dosanjh and British boxin ...

and

Rizin Fighting Federation Rizin Fighting Federation (stylised in all caps and also known as Rizin FF) is a Japanese mixed martial arts organization created in 2015 by the former Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara. ...

. He was formerly the head referee and head of the rules committee for Icon Sport.

Biography

He started his career in combat sports when he moved to United States to learn

catch wrestling Catch wrestling (also known as catch-as-catch-can) is an English wrestling style where wrestlers aim to win by Pin (sport wrestling), pinning or Submission (combat sports), submitting their opponent using any legal holds or techniques. It emph ...

after graduating from

Toyo University is a private university with the main Hakusan Station (Tokyo), Hakusan campus in Bunkyō, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The university operates multiple satellite campuses in the Kanto region, including. Asaka, Saitama, Asaka, Kawagoe, Saitama, Kawagoe, ...

. Shimada trained under Masami Soranaka,

Karl Gotch Karl Istaz (born Karel Alfons Ceclie Istaz; August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007), best known by the ring name , was a competitor and trainer in Professional wrestling, professional, Amateur wrestling, amateur, and catch wrestling, born in Antwerp, B ...

's student and son-in-law, who also taught him the job of refereeing.Yuji Shimada: The Number 1 Third Man
Asia MMA After returning to Japan, he started his referee career for Soranaka's promotion

Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Group (''Purofesshonaru-resuringu Fujiwara-Gumi'', プロフェッショナルレスリング藤原組) was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan, operating from 1991 to 1996. It was formed b ...

, moving to

Battlarts , more commonly referred to as simply Battlarts (also stylized as BattlARTS) was a professional wrestling promotion founded in 1996 by Yuki Ishikawa following the mass exodus he led from Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) amidst the financial st ...

after its demise. Around this time, he also worked for

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

, Fighting Network Rings and

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

. With the establishing of Pride in 1997, Shimada became its main referee. He became known for his personal style, which included gesticulating and yelling his orders, demanding aggression from the fighters at all times (usually by giving the command "Action!"), and asking insistently "give up?" every time one of them attempted a submission move.PRIDE Before the Fall, part 2: on referees, commentators, and Kevin Randleman
Bloodyelbow.com He was booed in every introduction, although reasons were unclear but likely due to him playing villainous characters in Japanese professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Hustle (2004-2008)

Shimada appeared in professional wrestling promotion Hustle from its starting in 2004. Playing a villainous character, he was introduced as a staff officer and spokesperson for the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

faction Takada Monster Army. He often appeared along with Commander An Jo and Generalissimo Takada, who typically ordered him to make plans against the heroic faction Hustle Army. After many failures, Shimada was demoted to private in February 2005. During this period, in order to save himself from dishonor, he claimed not to be Shimada himself, but a relative of his named Yuzo Shimada. He got to be chosen as Hustle's general manager in September 2008, passing his role as a soldier to Private Shoji, but he left the promotion in storyline due to a loss against

Genichiro Tenryu , better known as is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was h ...

in a special match. Shimada stopped working for Hustle shortly after.

Filmography

References

External links

List of bouts refereed by Yuji Shimada on Tapology
Pride Fighting Championships Living people 1966 births Mixed martial arts referees Professional wrestling referees Sportspeople from Hiroshima Prefecture People from Fukuyama, Hiroshima {{mixedmartialart-bio-stub