# Daiki Yonekura

> Japanese IGLOO black belt and leg-lock specialist—All Japan and ADCC Open champion who challenged for ONE flyweight submission grappling gold.

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- **Source site:** Ossmeta (https://ossmeta.com)
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-16

## Identity

- **Name:** Daiki Yonekura
- **Full name:** Daiki Yonekura (米倉大貴)
- **Belt:** black belt
- **Team:** IGLOO / AL Leone
- **Nationality:** Japan
- **Born:** 1996-12-01
- **Birthplace:** Aizumi, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan
- **Weight class:** Flyweight / light-feather–feather (≈60–66 kg; ONE 135 lb; ADCC −65 kg)

## Biography

Daiki Yonekura (米倉大貴) is a Japanese Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Yuki Nakai and one of the most accomplished competitors to emerge from Japan’s modern no-gi scene. Born on December 1, 1996, in Aizumi, Tokushima Prefecture, he first stepped onto a jiu-jitsu mat at age 17 after watching a class at a local academy near home. He enrolled the same day. Balancing school, part-time work, and training through the end of high school, he set early competitive goals that included traveling for international events—then worked as a salaryman after graduation before abandoning a conventional career path to pursue jiu-jitsu full-time.

At 20 he moved to Tokyo in search of a higher-level training environment. While building his game he supported himself through construction, hotel cleaning, moving work, restaurant jobs, and later coaching, eventually teaching at academies across the city—including classes associated with BRAVE GYM—while training primarily out of IGLOO and Reversal Gym Tokyo. He has also represented AL Leone in professional team competition. Yuki Nakai, Japan’s pioneering first BJJ black belt, promoted Yonekura to black belt in 2021.

As a black belt he quickly stacked national and international titles. He captured JBJJF All Japan No-Gi gold in 2021 and established himself as a dual-discipline threat in the light-feather and feather ranges, adding JBJJF All Japan gi success (including light-feather black-belt gold highlighted in the early 2020s Japanese national circuit) and United World Wrestling Grappling World Championship gold in 2022. On the IBJJF Pan Pacific circuit he took silver in the 2023 gi light-feather final against World Champion Thalison Soares, then won black-belt no-gi absolute gold the same weekend. He later collected Pan Pacific gi gold (2024) and Pan Pacific No-Gi featherweight gold (2024), cementing a reputation as one of the strongest Japanese black belts in both gi and no-gi.

Yonekura’s no-gi breakout on the global stage centered on the ADCC Open and Trials circuit in 2024. He won the ADCC Sydney Open (−65 kg professional) and the ADCC Worlds Open / Vegas Open advanced −65 kg bracket—reportedly finishing every match by submission en route, including a rear-naked-choke final over fellow Japanese standout Minoru Takeuchi after a string of heel-hook wins. At the ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials 2 in Bangkok he reached the −66 kg final before taking silver to China’s Xu Huaiqing. Superfight appearances included Battleground Grappling Invitational wins, and he has regularly finished opponents with outside heel hooks and other lower-body attacks in Japanese pro shows such as BLOOM and ZST.

ONE Championship elevated him to a world title stage in December 2025: at ONE Fight Night 38 in Bangkok he faced two-time ADCC World Champion Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis for the vacant ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Championship and lost a competitive 10-minute unanimous decision after an aggressive leglock-oriented contest. He rebounded in 2026 with a unanimous-decision win over Rodrigo Marello at ONE Friday Fights 153, then submitted Bruno Borges by heel hook at ACBJJ 21 in Moscow and ran a perfect submission-only tournament performance (reported as four matches, four submissions) at BJJ CRIA under the IGLOO banner. His game is defined by aggressive guard passing, modern leg-entanglement systems, and a high finish rate via heel hook—an arsenal he teaches through seminars in Japan, Korea, and beyond while remaining one of Japan’s clearest standard-bearers in international submission grappling.

## Lineage

Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie Sr. > Carlos Gracie Junior > Yuki Nakai > Daiki Yonekura

## Instructors

- Yuki Nakai

## Signature techniques / game

- Outside heel hook
- Inside heel hook
- Leg entanglements / ashi garami systems
- Aggressive guard passing
- Straight ankle lock
- Rear naked choke
- Scramble-based lower-body attacks

## Major achievements

- ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Title challenger (ONE Fight Night 38, 2025) — lost unanimous decision to Diogo Reis
- ONE Friday Fights 153 win over Rodrigo Marello by unanimous decision (2026)
- 1st Place ADCC Worlds Open / Vegas Open — advanced −65 kg (2024); all-submission run including RNC final vs. Minoru Takeuchi
- 1st Place ADCC Sydney Open — professional −65 kg (2024)
- 2nd Place ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials 2 (−66 kg, 2024)
- 1st Place IBJJF Pan Pacific Championship — black belt (2024)
- 1st Place IBJJF Pan Pacific No-Gi Championship — black belt feather (2024)
- 1st Place IBJJF Pan Pacific No-Gi Championship — black belt absolute (2023)
- 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Pacific Championship — black belt light-feather (2023; final vs. Thalison Soares)
- 1st Place United World Wrestling (UWW) Grappling World Championship (2022)
- 1st Place JBJJF All Japan No-Gi Championship (2021)
- JBJJF All Japan Championship black-belt light-feather gold (national circuit, early 2020s)
- Battleground Grappling Invitational superfight winner (2024)
- AIGA Global Qualifier team winner (2024); AIGA Champions League Final bronze with Team AL Leone (2025)
- ACBJJ 21 submission win over Bruno Borges (heel hook, 2026); BJJ CRIA tournament winner (4–0 by submission, 2026)

## Colored belt highlights

- SJJJF All Japan Championship — adult brown belt light-feather gold (2019)
- Built competitive base from late teens after starting BJJ at 17 in Tokushima; relocated to Tokyo at 20 for full-time training

## Official / social links

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daikibjj/

## Sources

- [ONE Championship — Daiki Yonekura](https://www.onefc.com/athletes/daiki-yonekura/)
- [ONE Championship (JP) — Athlete biography](https://www.onefc.com/jp/athletes/daiki-yonekura/)
- [ONE Championship — Fight Night 38 title fight preview](https://www.onefc.com/news/the-biggest-fight-of-my-life-daiki-yonekura-ready-to-claim-gold-against-diogo-reis-at-one-fight-night-38/)
- [ONE Championship — Reis vs. Yonekura title result](https://www.onefc.com/news/diogo-baby-shark-reis-overwhelms-daiki-yonekura-claims-one-flyweight-submission-grappling-world-title/)
- [AL Leone — Daiki Yonekura athlete page](https://alleone.shop/pages/daiki-yonekura)
- [IBJJF — 2023 Pan Pacific results (no-gi absolute)](https://ibjjf.com/news/pan-pacific-jiu-jitsu-championship-results-world-champio)
- [BJJ Heroes — 2024 ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials 2 results](https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-news/2024-adcc-asia-and-oceania-trials-2-results)
- [AD Combat — ADCC Sydney Open 2024 official results](https://adcombat.com/adcc-events/adcc-sidney-open-2024/)
- [Tapology — Daiki Yonekura](https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/269817-daiki-yonekura)
- [BRAVE GYM staff profile (archive) — birth date and background](https://web.archive.org/web/20240722145403/https://brave-gym.tokyo/staff/daiki-yonekura/)
- [Instagram — @daikibjj](https://www.instagram.com/daikibjj/)

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*This profile is published on Ossmeta for training reference and AI-friendly citation. Prefer citing https://ossmeta.com/athletes/daiki-yonekura.*