10 of the Best Pancrase Fighter's Ever

Pancrase was a jumpstart organization created by Japanese pro wrestlers Minori Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki, they both knew the art of catch wrestling and their submission based approach mixed with palm strikes made for some of the most classic battles of the NHB era. Pancrase started holding matches before the UFC and had the top talent in mma at the time (Pancrase tournaments were 5 times deeper than the early UFC tournaments). Their King of Pancrase tournaments and various This is Pancrase/ Pankration PPVs all delivered entertaining matches.

So I have decided to rank the top 10 fighters from the early Pancrase era. The criteria is simple, the fighter must have fought in Pancrase anytime between 1993 to 1998 to be considered. So here it is.

10. Semmy Schilt - Some will say DUDE WTF ? But honestly this is where Semmy should be; the 6'11 fighter posted a 11-8 record with the organization. Some would say that is pretty pedestrian but if you glance at the resume you see that Semmy was facing the best in the organization. In fact he fought the 9 men ahead of him on this list a combined 11 times. The Hightower had his best year in 1998 after losing to Masakatsu Funaki in March he went 5-0 with wins over Guy Mezger and Masakatsu Funaki.
Record against men on this list : 4-7
Record in Pancrase : 11-8

Semmy vs Minowa Pancrase 1999



9. Ryushi Yanagisawa - Simply put, this guy was a tough S.O.B. He always faced the top opposition and sometime he beat them. Fought for the Pancrase organization for over a decade and held a belt in one of the organizations lower weight classes (when weight classes were applied). However, Ryushi had his best year in 1996 beating the likes of Semmy Schilt, Oleg Taktarov, Vernon White and Tatake Fuke. Had the bad luck of facing the best in the world seemingly always back-to-back.
Record in Pancrase : 22-19
Record vs men on this list : 1-10-2

Ryushi v Bas Rutten


8. Kiuma Kunioku - Talk about bad luck, this guy was 5'8 having to fight in the era of no weight class. Simply put he was the little guy fighting the big boys. Hard not to like him, on top of that he was a good fighter. From 1996 to 1997 Kionuera was one of the best in the world. He beat Guy Mezger and Frank Shamrock that year. He also beat Masakatsu Funaki later in his career as well as having a draw with Sean Sherk and losing two fights to Nate Marquardt. No video's on youtube.
Record in Pancrase : 30-18-7
Record vs men on this list : 3-4-2

7. Frank Shamrock - Frank was literally thrown into the world of NHB vs some of the best fighters in the sport. Because of this he lost some early fights. But when he hit his Pancrase Stride (what I like to call it, because he simply was not complete yet) Frank learned how to dominate the Pancrase Organization from 1995 to 1996. After losing a rematch to Bas Rutten Frank went on a 6 fight win streak against the best in the organization. Bas Rutten would stop this run in a King of Pancrase Unification match (Frank was Interim KOP), but Frank was still one of the best that Pancrase fighters that Pancrase fans ever had the privilege of watching. He even went 2-0 vs Minoru Suzuki when Ken went 0-2.
Record in Pancrase : 11-6-1
Record vs men on this list : 5-6

Frank vs Vernon White


6. Yuki Kondo - Basically Yuki was one of the best fighter's around he just doesn't get the same due that some of the other men on this list get. In fact he proved to be a big problem for half of the men on this list. From 1996 to 1997 he had his most impressive run winning fights against Minori Suzuki, Masakatsu Funaki, Frank Shamrock, Pete Williams and Semmy Schilt. Some may remember him for the Tito Ortiz UFC fight, but Yuki should be remembered as one of the best Pancrase fighters ever.
Pancrase Record : 47-12-8
Record vs men on this list : 9-5-3

Yuki KOs Frank


5. Minoru Suzuki - Minori Suzuki doesn't get the respect he deserves from the mma community for 1 reason. He dominated an era that very few people actually saw. From 1993 to 1994 there weren't many that were better than Minoru. I would put my money on Minoru Suzuki over Royce Gracie in 1993; Suzuki proved to be Ken Shamrock's kryptonite going 2-0 against Ken. Other wins over Maurice Smith, Tataka Fuke and Semmy Schilt. One of the best early catch wrestlers in the game but by 1996 he had been figured out.
Pancrase Record : 27-20
Record vs the men on this list : 3-9

Minoru vs Ken Shamrock


4. Guy Mezger - Some may say Im playing favorites, if they do they don't know what their talking about. You know all of those impressive runs I was talking about Yanasagiwa, Suzuki, Schilt, Kondo and Kiunoku having? Guy beat every single one of them during their streaks. He stopped most of them. Guy has wins over 6 of the men on this list, beating 6 of the 7 men that he fought on this list. Honestly 4 may be too low for Guy. He was one of the most well rounded fighters in Pancrase. Aside from the men on this list he defeaeted some of the other top fighters in the organization.
Pancrase Record : 19-7-2
Record vs men on this list: 10-6-1

Guy vs Minoru Suzuki (funny)


3. Masakatsu Funaki - It's only fitting that the brain-child behind the whole organization would also be one of it's most talented fighter's. Funaki was a scrappy fighter and a master catch wrestler who could submit you with a vast amount of toe holds or neck chokes. Also well versed in arm submissions, basically you name it this guy could get it. Became King of Pancrase and dominated until Guy Mezger finally beat him and stopped his run. Honestly, Funaki was probably the most dangerous fighter in Pancrase from 1993 to 1998, all the men on this list but together great runs and great stretches of being top dogs, but Funaki always was a top dog.
Pancrase Record : 37-13-1
Record vs men on this list: 12-8

Masakatsu vs Frank Shamrock 1


2. Bas Rutten - When Bas Rutten put it all together he was simply a scary sight. He was a master kickboxer, could knock you out with an open palm strike, would punish your liver, then if he felt like it he could take you down and submit you. Bas went on a run that may never be matched which is extremely impressive because at one point it looked like he would never be able to get past world class grapplers. Bas wasn't just one of the best in history of Pancrase but one of the best in the mma world.
Pancrase Record: 25-4-1
Record vs men on this list: 9-4

Bas vs Maurice Smith


1. Ken Shamrock - May catch flack for this but if you beat the number 3 and 2 guys on this list numerous times I think it's clear you were number one. Ken was simply the best wrestler in Pancrase at the time mixed with being one of the best submission fighters along with a more than applicable striking meant that not many people were going to beat Ken Shamrock. Beat every man that he faced in the organization with the exception of Minoru Suzuki. Won the first King of Pancrase championship and the fact that he became the UFC champion has only added too the belief that he was one of the best if not the best fighter inthe Pancrase organization.
Pancrase Record: 17-3
Record vs men on this list 5-3

Ken vs Bar 2


Honorable Mention : Jason Delucia, Takaku Fuke, Manabu Yamada

any old Pancrase fans out there?

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

haha you ever watch any old Pancrase?

added some video