"The Gracie Hunter", Kazushi Sakuraba is one of the living legends of MMA. A man who only began his career as a small pro-wrestler, and went on to not only defeat some of the greatest fighters on the planet, he completely and utterly dominated an entire family of MMA, the greatest dynasty of MMA in the Gracies.
However, over the years, Sakuraba's legacy has somewhat been lost to history. With the closing of PRIDE, DREAM, his small UFC run, and the anticlimatic end to his career, there are many things that MMA fans need to know about the Gracie Hunter that have been forgotten over time.
10 Didn't Have Much MMA Training When He Started
Sakuraba was not an MMA fighter by trade. While he did train some shoot-style catch wrestling within the Takada Dojo and had college wrestling experience, he was a pro-wrestler first. Sakuraba began wrestling in 1993 and quickly earned a fanbase in the UWF-I and Kingdom Pro Wrestling.
However soon after signing with Kingdom Pro Wrestling in 1997, Sakuraba saw the early success of the UFC and martial arts and began thinking about making a move. In the end, his own promoter helped bridge the gap and move Sakuraba to MMA.
9 UFC Signing Was A Publicity Move
Whenever Sakuraba was thinking about making the switch to MMA, his promoter at Kingdom Pro Wrestling actually encouraged it. Along with two other wrestlers, Sakuraba was sent to fight in the UFC Japan heavyweight tournament mainly to get eyes on Kingdom, not because they had any chance of winning.
Sakuraba didn't weigh enough to get into the heavyweight tournament, however, Sakuraba lied about his weight saying he was 203 pounds and the UFC let him in. Sakuraba went on to win the whole thing, defeating Marcus Silveira in the finals to become UFC heavyweight tournament champion.
8 Refused To Fight In His Own Weight Class.
As mentioned previously, Sakuraba had to lie in order to fight in the UFC heavyweight tournament. However, taking on bigger opponents was something that Sakuraba made a career out of. For reference, Sakuraba typically fought between 165-195 pounds.
Despite this, Sakuraba regularly fought heavyweights and seemingly refused to fight men his size. Sakuraba fought the likes of Quentin Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Kevin Randleman, Antonio Nogueira, and so on.
7 Legendary First Fight With Royce Gracie.
The PRIDE 2000 open weight Grand Prix was the stage, Royce Gracie was the opponent. The undefeated Brazilian was considered one of the greatest fighters on the planet, and one of the favorites to win the tournament following his win over Nobuhiko Takada.
In the end, because it was a fight with alternate rules for no judging, there had to be a decisive winner. After six 15 minute rounds, Sakuraba won the bout after Gracie couldn't get off the stool for another round. Incredibly, Sakuraba went on to fight another 15 minutes against Igor Vovchanchyn later that night, where he too had to quit on the stool from exhaustion.
6 He Turned Down Fedor
Sakuraba was known for never turning down a fight. As previously mentioned he fought many of the monsters that were in PRIDE at the time, some of which were the greatest fighters on the planet and were substantially bigger than him.
However in 2014 during an interview with UFC President Dana White, Sakuraba revealed that he only said no to one fighter. That man was the former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko.
5 Continued Dominance Over The Gracies
Sakuraba was not named "The Gracie Hunter" for just beating Royce Gracie. Across his career, he put a beating on the whole family, with Sakuraba versus the entire Gracie clan becoming one of the greatest rivalries of the early 2000s.
In the end, Sakuraba went 4-2 in fights against Gracies. However, that stat is a bit misleading, as in his prime he defeated Royler, Royce, Renzo, and Ryan. He did lose a rematch to Royce in 2007, but Gracie tested positive for steroids, and years after his prime he did lose to a young Ralek Gracie in 2010.
4 Part Of The Most Lopsided Trilogy Ever
Unfortunately for Sakuraba, while he was a part of one of the greatest rivalries ever, he was also on the receiving end of one of the worst rivalries ever. Wanderlei Silva from 2001 to 2004 was arguably the best fighter on the planet, despite being much heavier than Sakuraba, they threw the pair together three times.
Across their three fights from 2001 to 2003, not a single moment was close. Sakuraba was finished in all three times, with the worst beating coming in the third as he was faceplanted in the trilogy fight, having been knocked out cold.
3 Wasn't A Very Strict Trainer
The main allure of Sakuraba was obviously his ability to fight and compete with fighters significantly bigger than him, as well as his dominance over the Gracie clan. However one of the key things that make Sakuraba's performances even more impressive is his, relaxed training schedule to put it lightly.
Sakuraba during his career was said to never really diet, or attempt to keep himself in shape. While his opponent was training and doing whatever was necessary to gain an advantage in the ring, Sakuraba was typically drinking or smoking rather than training.
2 Retirement Fight Was Against Shinya Aoki
After losing four straight fights, Sakuraba decided it was time to retire. With the announcement of his former boss in Nobuyuki Sakakibara's new promotion in RIZIN, it made sense for Sakuraba to call it quits there. Sakuraba was matched up with fellow Japan legend and submission ace in Shinya Aoki.
As the main event of the first-ever RIZIN card, Sakuraba was defeated via first-round TKO by Aoki, in a passing of the torch moment. The bout was the 46th and last of the historic Hall of Fame career for Kazushi Sakuraba.
1 Founded Quintet With Josh Barnett
Post-retirement, Sakuraba needed something to do. While in Las Vegas in 2017 to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Sakuraba met with the team at UFC Fight Pass to pitch a grappling that he had developed with former UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett.
That show would later be dubbed "Quintet", a team-based grappling promotion that has held many tournaments and has been running since 2018. Sakuraba remains a key figure in the promotion and has even had a couple of grappling matches himself.