Kazushi Sakuraba : Legend of the Hunter

Kazushi Sakuraba is one of the most well known mixed martial artist and catch wrestlers in the world. He is mainly known because of his ownage of the Gracie's but this man has done much more. In fact, you could argue a Gracie isnt his most impressive victory. Kazushi was a popular wrestler in Japan before going into MMAi.

He debuted in 1996 versus Kimo Leopoldo. Keep in mind guys, this is the Kimo that is coming off his defeat to Ken Shamrock. The fight goes 4:20 exactly and ends with Kimo submitting Kazushi in a arm triangle choke, just like he submitted Tank Abbott.

Kazushi doesnt fight for a whole year and in December 1997 he makes his UFC debut at UFC 15.5. He fights Marcus Silvera to a No Contest due to a premature stoppage, in a weird circumstance (basicall Big John made perhaps his biggest blunder and stopped the fight when Sakuraba was fine). Silvera moved on in the tournament. Tra Telligman, the substitute, was ready to fight but the UFC decided to have Sakuraba and Sivera rematch for the UFC Japan Title. Kazushi came up big, just past the 3 minute mark Kazushi showed the first fight was a fluke and armbarred Sivera. This is Kazushi's first win in MMA his record is 1-1 1 NC and has won a UFC Tournament.

March of 1998 see's Kazushi debut in Pride 2 versus none other than Vernon White, a extremely underrated Lions Den member, who is much better than his 26-33-2 record. It is a great bout and goes past 20 minutes. In the middle of the 3rd round Kazushi pulls off a great armbar and gets his first big win over a big time MMA fighter. He is know 2-1 1NC. This is the start of an amazing run for Sakuraba.

Pride 3 shows Kazushi against another top MMA fighter, the great submissionist Carlos Newton. In a great, and I mean great, grappling fight Sakuraba and Newton roll around attempting sumbission after submission. Not much striking. It is widely believed the both agreed not to strike, however Sakuraba did eventually throw some punches. In the 2nd round Kazushi spins around and gets Newton's knee. Its official the Vernon White fight wasnt a fluke, this guy can flat out grapple. Watch this fight if you haven't seen it and are a fan of grappling, Kazushi was know 3-1 1 NC

Pride 4 saw Sakuraba face another very good fighter in Allan Goes, not going to pretend I know much about this fight cause I dont really remember it, all I remember is it was the first draw of Sakuraba's career. Still nothing wrong with a draw to Goes. Sakuraba is 4-1-1 1 NC.

Pride 5 arrives and so does Kazushi Sakuraba vs another top opponent. This time it is Vitor Belfort. Ya thats right, this bad ass went from Vernon to Newton, to Goes to Belfort. SHIT. Whats even more impressive; vs the great striker Belfort, Sakuraba is the clear victor (in my mind atleast) and wins a decision over the Phenom.Spends good amount of the fight holding Belforts feet as usual. He is know 5-1-1 1 NC.

At Pride 6 Kazushi subs Ebeneezo Braga and then toys wtih former Lions Den training partner Anthony Macias. Keeping him on his back with his feet in Sakuraba's hands most of the fight. Anthony was a tough mo-fo but Sakuraba pretty much toys with him at Pride 7. These wins leave Sakuraba at 7-1-1 1 NC.

At Pride 8 MMA history is changed forever (kind of). Kazushi Sakuraba is facing undefeated Royler Gracie. Sakuraba dominates, kicking Royler's legs constantly, dragging him around the ring, and finally nailing his favorite submission. The chimura, it was very deep but Royler Gracie went out like a Gracie. Royler's arm was cranked enough to make the referee stop the fight. It had happened, it could happen, a Gracie had been beaten (even though Royce had been subbed by Walid Ismael in a grappling tournament) for what is claimed the first time in the MMA world. The legend of Kazushi Sakuraba officially starts. Sakuraba is 8-1-1 1 NC

Next up for Kazushi is Pride Grand Prix vs Guy Mezger. I dont really want to talk about this one so I will be kind and just break down the fight. Kazushi for the first time is stuffed time after time going for takedowns, mounts very little offense and is tagged by Mezger numerously. Somehow its a draw, Ken Shamrock tells Guy to leave the ring (his contract stipulated no OT under any circumstances) and Kazushi wins by TKO.

We all know why this happened. Kazushi is 9-1-1 1NC and set to face Royce Gracie in the next round. This fight was huge and its hard to believe the tournament wasn't somewhat fixed to make sure this fight didnt happen.

Gracie had demanded if he and Kazushi face that it be under 15 minute rounds until one is done. The fight ends up going 1 hour and 45 minutes, pretty entertaining for that time limit. Royce comes close to getting Kazushi in an early submission and Kazushi goes for his signature standing chimura. Eventually Kazushi seizes total control, breaks Royce's leg with kicks and forces the towel to be thrown in.I really think Royce did himself in by asking for the crazy rules, he had a better shot at winning a decision. The Greatest Gracie of all is defeated and Sakuraba is 10-1-1 1NC. This win sent shockwaves through the MMA world when it happened.

Keep in mind Kazushi is still in a tournament and faces Igor Vovchanyen in the next round.He drew Guy Mezger, beat Royce Gracie and know he faces Igor in the tournament. Wow. He comes out obviously exhausted and makes it out of the first round in an entertaining bout. However at the end of the 15 minute round Kazushi is forced to retire and loses the bout. He is 11-2-1 1NC.

Kazushi has beaten 2 Gracies (Royce and Royler), Cazrlos Newton, Vernon White, and Guy Mezger (roll my eyes). That alone is the stuff of greats, he isnt even close to being done and IMO takes on the best Gracie there ever was in Renzo Gracie at Pride 10. Renzo offered nothin. In the 2nd round the ref stops the bout when Sakuraba slaps one of the sickest Kimura's that you will ever see on Renzo. Kazushi is 12-2-1 1NC and 3-0 vs Gracies.

At Pride 11 Kazushi submits Shanon Ritch in 1 minute and is set to face Ryan Gracie at Pride 12. In a 1 round 10 minute fight Kazushi clearly controls the bout and is awarded his 4th victory over a Gracie. His record is 14-2-1 1NC.

2001, Pride 13 brings the worst case scenario for Kazushi, Wanderlei Silva, someone who was all wrong stylistically for Kazushi. The fight isnt close and Kazushi is knocked out in under 2 minutes. Wanderlei was simply someone that Kazushi could not stand with.

At Pride 15 Kazushi is faced off against Rampage Jackson in his first Pride fight. It was a classic, we witness Rampage slamming his way out of armbars and try to literally throw Kazushi out of the ring. 5 minutes in Kazushi finally gets the arm and it is over. Kazushi is 15-3-1 1NC. And this guy named Rampage is introduced to us (Rampage also claims he was encouraged to lose the fight).

Pride 17 see's a Kazushi vs Wanderlei rematch. This time Kazushi does better and lasts longer but after the first round was over the doctor stopped the fight due to cuts on Sakuraba's face. He is know 15-4-1 and is 1-2 in his last 3 fights (vs Wanderlei and Rampage).

Pride Shockwave see's Kazushi Sakuraba facing Mirko Cro Cop, talk about fighting the best there is, he fought Wandy, Rampage, Wandy and then Cro Cop. WOW. It doesnt matter that he lost to Crop Cop in this fight, the fact that he was in the ring with him after the fights he just had says everything you need to know. Kazushi is know 15-5-1 1NC.

Kazushi beat Gilles Arsene by armbar and then lost to Antonio Schembri. It is clear Kazushi peaked in 2000 IMO. He is know 16-6-1 1NC. I dont get this, Kazushi is coming off a loss and gets matched against Wanderlei again. This is during the time when Pride was throwing every Japanese fighter they could find at Wanderlei. Different fight same outcome. Kazushi is knocked out in 5 minutes. Kazushi is 16-7-1 1 NC

Then at Pride Final Conflict Kazushi was facing Kevin Randleman. In a great fight that went to the final round Kazushi got what else? An armbar on Kevin and the end is near. Kazushi gets his first win in his last 3 fightsand is kno 17-7-1. Next Kazushi is matched against Antonio Nogueira, JESUS talk about a tough schedule. In 15 minutes it is clear Kazushi is not winning and Nogueira gets the decision he deserves. Kazushi is 17-8-1 1NC.

Kazushi then revenges his loss to Antonio Schembri by decision and KO's Dong Sik Koon in 30 seconds. Setting up a bout against Ricardo Arona. This bout ends in a stoppage .............for Arona. he is know 18-9-1 1NC

It is 2005, Pride Fully Loaded and Ken Shamrock is facing Sakuraba, I watched this live and it was hard to do. It is obvious how far gone Ken is when KAZUSHI KNOCKS HIM OUT, ya it was controversial but Ken got hit went to a knee and turned away, could it have gone longer? Ya. Was it going to end good for Ken? NO. Kazushi gets his 20th victory vs the Worlds Most Dangerous Man.

Kazushi then submits Minowa and Smirnova's in K-1. Fights to a No Contest with Akiyama, submits Yuri Kisulov and is set up for a rematch with Royce Gracie. Kazushi's record is 21-9-1 2 NC's.

In the rematch of 2007 Royce won a unanimous decision in a lack luster fight and then shocks the MMA world by failing a steroid test. The outcome has not been reversed and remains a loss for Sakuraba for some reason? 21-10-1 2 NC's

Kazushi then won 3 fights straight vs Shibata, Funaki and Nakahara, all by submission, all impressive. He is 24-10-1 2 NC's and this is the last 3 fight win streak of Kazushi's career. Kazushi is knocked out by Melvin Manhoef and losses a decision to Tamura. In 2009 Kazushi had wins over Rubin Williams and Zelg Galesic. His record stands at 26-12-1 2NC's.

He faced some of the greatest fighters to ever compete in the mixed martial arts world and for this he deserves enormous credit. Anyone that faces Vernon White, Carlos Newton, Mezger, 4 Gracies, Wandy, Rampage, Cro Cop, Arona, Funaki, Goes, Belfort, etc., etc. deserves praise.

One of the best submission fighters ever. And fun to watch. Doesnt get the respect he deserves IMO, and I dont know why he went K-1 over UFC when the buy out happened, but who cares it did not hurt his legacy 1 bit.

oh his 26 victories 19 were by submission

That was awesome. You made most of what I knew about him so much better. You should do one of these each week. As Eddie Murphy once said..."Tha boy got talent!"

ahahahahha well thank you beast, I will try to keep them coming

and it wasnt Eddie Murphy, it was Samuel L Jackson hahahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNlcHB1sCtg if this is what your referring to

and starting at Pride 2 Sakuarba went on a fucking nutty terror of opponents and just kept going, was NUTS

also I have heard some say, and wouldnt completely disagree that the first Wandy fight is the cross roads point in Sakurabas career

before Wandy 1 fight he is 14-2-1

he goes 12-8 1NC after that

still great, and ahrd to argue wtih taking on Wandy, Rampage, Wandy, Cro Cop, thats like Prides murderers Row right there (not counting Fedor)

Birdofthad wrote:

ahahahahha well thank you beast, I will try to keep them coming

and it wasnt Eddie Murphy, it was Samuel L Jackson hahahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNlcHB1sCtg if this is what your referring to

Yup ur right. sam said it , but Eddie said it too. Not looking for a link you will have to trust me on that one.

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

ahahahahha well thank you beast, I will try to keep them coming

and it wasnt Eddie Murphy, it was Samuel L Jackson hahahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNlcHB1sCtg if this is what your referring to

Yup ur right. sam said it , but Eddie said it too. Not looking for a link you will have to trust me on that one.

dont worry I believe ya

Eddie really was a funny mother fucker Delirious and Raw are classics

Wow I don't know what to say. Fantastic job man! Wiki should delete what they have and copy and paste what you wrote. Great post man! +1

ohiovol62 wrote:

Wow I don't know what to say. Fantastic job man! Wiki should delete what they have and copy and paste what you wrote. Great post man! +1

Thanks Ohio really glad you enjoyed it, will try to keep em coming

Thad you and Ninja could do that and have a real way to get to know a fighter and become a fan theirs. Fightwiki gives info, but that hypes a person up to watch a guy. Fans need something like that. I have always liked Saku and this thread def made him my favorite Japanese fighters of all time. I want to say I saw that fight with some of my Pride homer buddies years back? Either way it was an awesome fight to watch tonight. That video was pimp Ninja and the way you put all that together Thad was baddass! I see that becoming a part of this site and that would be awesome, but a lot of hard work too. It would be cool to click on a fighter and have a thread like this one dedicated to them.

thanks glad you appreciated the time it took,

a couple days ago I was googling Guy Mezger and I saw The Greatnsess of Guy Mezger thread I wrote I was pretty happy hahaha

Ya I mainly just do these threads on Lions Den fighters I knew but LA requested a Sakuraba thread

Vernon White is up next

Birdofthad wrote:

thanks glad you appreciated the time it took,

a couple days ago I was googling Guy Mezger and I saw The Greatnsess of Guy Mezger thread I wrote I was pretty happy hahaha

Ya I mainly just do these threads on Lions Den fighters I knew but LA requested a Sakuraba thread

Vernon White is up next

Yeah I know you do work on that stuff. Kudos! It would be awesome to have those. I knew you were all about the lions den cause I saw a few threads dedicated and they were awesome too. I gave you like five votes but I think only 1 counts from each thread. I gave you four votes on this thread and Ninja one and I don't think your cred or whatever rose at all. Guess I need to vote for you on another thread cause it didn't say I couldn't vote anymore. I still haven't figured that out yet.

well thanks, I dont really know how the whole cred thing works either I just give em out like hot cakes some times, but ya Lions Den fighters were my favorites, not many left know, kind of sad.

Birdofthad wrote:

well thanks, I dont really know how the whole cred thing works either I just give em out like hot cakes some times, but ya Lions Den fighters were my favorites, not many left know, kind of sad.

Yeah but the Den was the OG of all bad ass MMA camps for real. More will come once Scamcock stops thinking about fighting, and starts thinking about coaching young guys. He has alot of knowledge to spread to guys getting into the biz. Wish he would realize that.

Birdofthad wrote:

well thanks, I dont really know how the whole cred thing works either I just give em out like hot cakes some times, but ya Lions Den fighters were my favorites, not many left know, kind of sad.

Yup I voted for you and it let me vote for about 5-6 times at least and you didn't get a vote.?? not sure what is up with that. The man trying to hold you down bro. lol

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

well thanks, I dont really know how the whole cred thing works either I just give em out like hot cakes some times, but ya Lions Den fighters were my favorites, not many left know, kind of sad.

Yeah but the Den was the OG of all bad ass MMA camps for real. More will come once Scamcock stops thinking about fighting, and starts thinking about coaching young guys. He has alot of knowledge to spread to guys getting into the biz. Wish he would realize that.

it really was

Excellent work Bird, exactly what I was looking for when I suggested it, thanks bro.

A legend deserved his props

no problem LA, glad you liked it actually gave me a chance to remind myself how great he was

Bird, I've come back to this thread like 9 times to read it again! It has staying power. lol

How about some props to the person who suggested it?

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

How about some props to the person who suggested it?

my bad

Nah bro, I was just playin, I wanted to see one with Sakuraba, but didn't have the time to do the work, and knew Bird would do a good job. Thought he deserved some props on here.

+1 for bring a Sakuraba fan