Who knows why he's doing this, but he is:
The organization will hold a retirement ceremony at its Jan. 26 Korakuen Hall card for former Shooto world champion Akira Kikuchi.
An All Japan amateur Shooto champion in 2001, Kikuchi quickly emerged as one of the best up-and-coming talents in the pro Shooto ranks. The biggest victory of his pro career came in his rematch with the highly regarded Jake Shields in December 2004. In that bout Kikuchi took a commanding and impressive decision to avenge the first loss of his pro career and to become the seventh world middleweight champion of pro Shooto.
Kikuchi would go on to lose the title to Shinya Aoki and later took a beating from recent UFC welterweight signee Yoshiyuki Yoshida. But Kikuchi is a fantastic talent and his rematch with Shields is a brilliant display of mixed martial arts skill. He will be missed.