Henrique Shiguemoto Record: 14-5-1

Building a knockout reputation

From the mid-2010s onward, Shiguemoto went on a tear that turned him into one of the most reliable finishers in his weight class. He strung together stoppages across HEAT and other promotions, halting Hisaki Kato by referee stoppage in 2015, then doing the same to Yusuke Sakashita in 2016 and knocking out Hideto Tatsumi in 2017. The signature win of this run came in November 2018, when he stopped the experienced veteran Amilcar Alves by second-round TKO at Lions FC 7, adding a well-traveled name to a growing highlight reel of finishes.

Contender Series test and beyond

Shiguemoto's momentum carried him to the sport's biggest audition stage in September 2020, when he appeared on Dana White's Contender Series against undefeated prospect Aliaskhab Khizriev. It proved to be a step into elite grappling: Khizriev, a perfect 12-0 at the time, took Shiguemoto down and submitted him by first-round rear-naked choke, exposing the gap between the Brazilian's striking-first game and the top wrestling-grappling tier. Shiguemoto bounced back in 2022 with another first-round knockout, this time of Pietro Penini at Ares FC 4, before dropping a 2023 decision to undefeated prospect Virgil Augen in a main-event spot in France.

Fighting style

Shiguemoto is a pure finisher, with all 14 of his career wins coming inside the distance – an exceptional 100 percent finish rate. Eleven of those wins are by knockout and three by submission, a profile that marks him as a heavy-handed, aggressive striker who looks to end fights early and rarely leaves outcomes to the judges. His length helps him keep range and land power shots, and he has shown he can finish on the mat when the opening appears. The clear vulnerability in his record is high-level grappling: both of his stoppage losses came by submission, including the Contender Series defeat to Khizriev, suggesting that elite wrestlers who can take him down represent his toughest stylistic matchup.

Career highlights

• Perfect 100 percent finish rate — every one of his 14 victories has come by knockout or submission, a rare statistical marker of a fighter who hunts the finish in every bout.
• TKO of Amilcar Alves at Lions FC 7 — stopped the seasoned veteran in the second round in 2018, the standout name on a long list of knockout wins.
• Dana White's Contender Series appearance — earned a spot on the UFC's premier audition show in 2020, testing himself against an undefeated, top-level prospect on the sport's biggest regional stage.