Japan's Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii has quit judo to enter mixed martial arts. His ultimate goal is to fight the likes of Mirko Cro Cop and Hong Man Choi, also known as the "Techno Goliath."

[The article mistakenly nicknames Mirko Filipovic "Terminator"; the Croatian fighter has not fought under that name but is widely known among fans as "Cro Cop."]

"This is a new chapter in my life and I'll have to now start from scratch again, or with a white belt," said the 21-year-old Ishii. "Mixed martial arts has the world's best fighters, and I wanted to face many of them even before I won my judo gold medal. I want to get myself in good shape and want to face the best as soon as possible. There's no need to hide. That is my goal."

He is the third Japanese Olympic judo champion to have switched to mixed marital arts, also known as Ultimate Fighting, which combines various disciplines including karate, judo, boxing and wrestling. Before Ishii, Hidehiko Yoshida, a gold medalist from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and 2000 Sydney champion Makoto Takimoto also made the switch from judo to MMA, which extremely popular in Japan.

He signed a $5 million plus perks contract with K-1 and is going to debut for K-1 on the NYE show. Don't like his prospects though as an MMA fighter since he's a bit undersized (5'11") at his weight (240lbs).