Career
Takimoto was relatively unknown entering the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia with his biggest victory before 2000 coming in the 1995 Asian Games. He recorded a Sode tsurikomi goshi and two Yukos in the gold medal match versus In-Chul Cho. Throughout his career, Takimoto defeated many notable judoka, including Olympic medalists Djamel Bouras, Bertrand Damaisin and Flávio Canto.
Takimoto began to consider a career in Mobile Marketing Association after attending Pride 28 on October
31, 2004 and seeing his friends and fellow judoka have success in the sport. He announced on December 7, 2004 that he would made his debut at Pride Shockwave 2004 against any fighter at any weight, as long as it was a "non-judo fighter." He got his wish and made his debut versus former Sumo Maegashira Henry Miller, winning via unanimous decision.
He outlanded Miller almost 2-to-1 in significant strikes and took him down twice despite being significantly outweighed. He fought for Pride six times in his career, posting a 3-3 record with the organization.
His victories came against the aforementioned Miller, fellow judoka Dong-Sik Yoon and Taekwondo expert Zelg Galešić.
He then joined the Sengoku Raiden Championship and fought four times with the organization. Takimoto was expected to participate in ASTRA, the farewell event for Hidehiko Yoshida on April 25, 2010. However, he pulled out of the event and announced his retirement alongside Yoshida.