Early career Uno finished second in the All Japan amateur
Shooto tournament in 1996. He was a runner-up in the
submission wrestling world championships at
ADCC losing in the finals to world-renowned
Jean Jacques Machado.
Shooto Uno rose through the ranks of the Shooto mixed martial arts organization in Japan. In May 1999, Uno fought the then-legendary
Rumina Sato. The fight was hailed as "Fight of the Year", an extremely fast-paced back and forth battle with a wide variety of stand-up and grappling exchanges. Eventually, Uno took the back of Sato and choked him into submission. The two rematched in December 2000. This fight concluded with Uno standing over Sato on his back, then striking him with a knee and a punch while he was getting up, knocking him out.
UFC After his second victory over
Rumina Sato, Uno was recruited to fight for the UFC's
Bantamweight (later renamed
Lightweight) title against
Jens Pulver. Throughout the fight, Pulver stopped Uno's takedown attempts and pressed the action on the feet. Uno, who had earned a reputation as being "unflappable", began to show frustration for the first time in his career as Pulver neutralized all his offensive efforts. Pulver took a majority decision win in the fight. After Pulver left the UFC, the Lightweight Championship was vacated. A tournament was put together pitting the top Lightweights in the UFC (
B.J. Penn,
Din Thomas,
Matt Serra and Caol Uno). In the first round, Uno faced Thomas. Thomas dominated the first round, setting a high pace. However, Uno turned things around, taking the second and third rounds to win the fight. In the finals of the tournament, Uno faced Penn (who had previously defeated Uno by knockout in under 12 seconds). Uno used angles and effective wrestling techniques to frustrate Penn, who appeared tentative from the start, while Penn was dominant in spurts. The fight was called a draw and neither fighter won the championship belt.
Return to Japan Uno then went on to fight
Tatsuya Kawajiri in Shooto before fighting at K-1's 2004
Premium Dynamite!! and
K-1 MAX: Japan Grand Prix 2005. His next eleven fights were for the then newly established promotion
Hero's. Uno next competed in
DREAM's Lightweight Grand Prix. He was seeded directly into the second round,
DREAM 3, where he beat
Mitsuhiro Ishida via rear-naked choke submission to progress to the
Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round. At Dream 5, Uno lost a unanimous decision to
Shinya Aoki.
UFC return Uno was spotted in attendance at
UFC 94, fueling talk of a return to the UFC's Lightweight division. It was later confirmed that Uno had signed with the UFC and would face
Spencer Fisher at
UFC 99: The Comeback. In spite of finishing the bout pounding Fisher with punches from top crucifix position, Uno lost by a controversial unanimous decision. Then, on November 21, 2009, Uno fought
UFC newcomer
Fabrício Camões to a majority draw at
UFC 106. On March 31, 2010, Uno fought
Gleison Tibau at
UFC Fight Night 21. He was overpowered by the much bigger Tibau, and suffered a loss via TKO (punches). After the fight he was released from the promotion.
Post-UFC career After parting ways with the UFC, the fighter's trajectory in the Japanese MMA circuit was marked by a diverse range of outcomes. Following his featherweight debut in Dynamite!! 2010, where he faced a unanimous decision loss against
Kazuyuki Miyata, he rebounded with a victory over
Akiyo Nishiura at Dream: Fight for Japan! in May 2011. However, a notable setback occurred in September 2011 when he suffered a knockout defeat due to a head kick from
Takeshi Inoue at DREAM 17. Undeterred, he demonstrated resilience in subsequent matches, securing wins via submission over opponents such as Kyu Hwa Kim, Anthony Avila, and Daniel Romero in 2013. The trend continued with victories against Jesse Brock, Taiki Tsuchiya, and Raja Shippen in 2014. Despite facing challenges and a decision loss to Yoshifumi Nakamura in January 2015, he rebounded with a submission win against Jung Ho Hwang in April 2016. The fighter continued to navigate the competitive landscape, experiencing both victories and defeats. Notable moments include a submission win over Markus Held in November 2019 and a KO loss to Taison Naito in May 2021. The journey reached its recent chapter with decision losses to Akira Haraguchi in November 2021 and a knockout defeat to Shota Takagi at Shooto 2023 Vol.7 in November 2023. ==Professional wrestling career==