History Wrestling / KazushiSakuraba

** Kazushi's long time Lancer Daijiro Matsui has a similar profile. Very much like Saku, Matsui was known for his heart and creativity, as well as will to fight whoever Pride put in front of him.

'''Kazushi Sakuraba''' (b. 1968) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts fighter, best known for his role in the existence of PRIDE Fighting Championships. He originally started as a pro wrestler in [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation Union of Wrestling Forces International]], learning the style of shoot wrestling under the tutelage of legends Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and Billy Robinson. Kazushi showed brilliancy and ascended swiflty in the roster, but UWF International closed before he could achieve a bigger status. He joined Kingdom, a promotion founded from UWF remnants, but he found a new field in the blooming MMA world: where his mentor Takada had failed, falling at the hands of Brazilian jiu-jitsu chieftain Rickson Gracie, Kazushi thrived, gaining popularity after winning the UFC Japan tournament against a BJJ black belt despite being, like Takada, just a pro wrestler. He then moved to PRIDE and showed his skills submitting several BJJ fighters, eventually making the impossible at the time and defeating a member of the Gracie family, Royler. Sakuraba went to beat Rickson's brother Royce in a fight which made history and turned him into a legend, getting nicknamed "Gracie Hunter", and later added Renzo and Ryan to his record. Hailed as a national hero by Japanese press, Sakuraba became PRIDE's native ace, fighting superior opponents throughout a grueling five years career and getting known by his unorthodox, pro wrestling-influenced style. Aside from his BJJ hunts, Kazushi also held victories against three of his own's style best wrestler, Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki, Wrestling/KenShamrock and Ikuhisa Minowa. Passed his prime, he later moved to HERO'S and DREAM promotions, but his many injuries told the world that his era had passed. Currently, Sakuraba is unofficially retired from MMA and working pro wrestling for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling.

* UnknownRival: He challenged Rickson Gracie several times to no effect. Eventually Saku got tired and moved on his career.

* {{Badass}}: One of the biggest in the entire Japanese martial history. Let's not forget that he was just a pro 'rassler with an amateur background, not a full-fledged fighter like his opponents; that he competed against much heavier opponents for most of his career, as well as much more experimented ones, and some of them when he was very passed his prime; and that he still came out victorious against an impressive number of them, and gave usually good performances whenever he lost. Few competitors in his circumstances have accomplished so much through such a tough career, and judging how has the MMA landscape changed over the years, it's improbable that someone will do it again.

* PassingTheTorch: Ended his career in PRIDE without a candidate to hold his torch, but Olympic judoka Hidehiko Yoshida was chosen by the management to become the next native star. Yoshihiro Akiyama was considered a Saku sucessor as well, but his greasing-caused fall from grace after his fight with Kazushi took away this aspiration.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: A strong performer, for his own admission.

* UnderdogsNeverLose: Saku was just a barely mid-card wrestler from Kingdom Pro Wrestling when he was obligued to replace an injuried Hiromitsu Kanehara in a UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship tournament, to which KPW had sent a team in order boost their reputation. Not only did he did better than everybody would have expected of any of his teammates, he won the entire tournament.

* IKnowKarate: Has a background in amateur wrestling, which he complemented with the strikes and submissions of shoot-style wrestling. He also trained some Brazilian-style muay thai at the Chute Boxe, and received a honorific Brazilian jiu-jitsu belt from them.

* ChallengeSeeker: According to interviews with him, Saku was perfectly okay with always facing bigger guys. As he put, the more dangerous they were, the more eager he was.

* TheAce: One of the best Japanese fighters in history, period. At the UFC era, a pro wrestler submitting a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter was like a boy killing a soldier with a willow stick, and Sakuraba did it not once, but many times, and against the very popularizers of the art. Look no further than him taking down [[BadassFamily the Gracie family]] on multiple occasions. No Gracie had ever lost a professional fight since the Kimura ages, and the initial thought among them was that PRIDE had screwed Royler, but this sentiment vanished after the other three Gracie brothers fell to Sakuraba.

* AlmightyJanitor: Was notoriously low in the scale of UWF International, but he proved to be the best fighter coming from its Snakepit.

* TheApprentice: To Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada, although he also trained catch wrestling with the legendary Billy Robinson and muay thai with Bovy Chowaikung. Later in his career, he also learned the basics of Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Cristiano Marcello in Chute Boxe and Sergio Penha in the Takada Dojo, but he never got ranked in the art. (Actually Saku was presented with a honorific BJJ black belt, which he humorously would confess in an interview that he never learned quite how to tie).

* {{Badass}}: One of the biggest in the entire Japanese martial history. At the UFC era, a pro wrestler submitting a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter was like a boy killing a soldier with a willow stick, and Sakuraba did it not once, but many times, and against the very popularizers of the art.
** BadassTeacher: In Takada Dojo.

** He also was considered an expy to Ad Santel, the famous catch wrestler who terrorized the Kodokan judo school in the 20s. Amusingly enough, this time was inverted in terms of fighting styles, as the Japanese side led by Saku was the one featuring catch wrestling while their foreign opponents were using precisely an ancient variation of judo.

* {{Fundoshi}}: According to the Chute Boxe members, Saku caused many an awkward look when he took a swim in the gym pool wearing a traditional Japanese thong.

** Saku wore a Kendo Kashin mask during his entrance for the match with Ryan Gracie, as Kashin (under his real life persona) had been rather brutally defeated by Ryan before the ordeal, and he wanted to avenge him, which he accomplished. Not that Kashin did not avenge himself at the end as well, however.

** Also, during his fight with Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki, Saku refrained himself from using ground and pound on his shoot-style colleague.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Sakuraba's trademark Mongolian chop backfired rather spectacularly during his fight against Nino Schembri, who headbutted him (an illegal move which was not seen by the referee) and knocked him out with soccer kicks after countering the move.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: Back when Kazushi was an apprentice, his master Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada travelled to the Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club to retrain before his rematch with Rickson Gracie, as he had contacts with his owner Marco Ruas (also a notoriusly enemy to Rickson), and Sakuraba accompanied him to carry his bags. Eventually, after Takada was schooled by resident grapplers, Sakuraba came forward and tapped out everybody.
* InstantExpert: During his first day as an amateur wrestler, he curbstomped future bronze medalist Tokuya Ota. RealityEnsues happened, however, as Ota defeated him in all of the three times they faced each other later.

* LameComeback: Parodied, almost to ChewbaccaDefense level, in an interview, in which the host asked Saku his thoughts about Rickson Gracie's harsh criticism of him, calling him unskilled and just lucky on the ring. Kazushi's answer was theorizing that Rickson was losing hair due to stress.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: His interviews before his desired match against Tamura were uncharacteristicaly somber and bitter, stating that he didn't like Tamura and even that he wanted to fight gloveless and knock him out in the style of his friend Wanderlei.
* PassingTheTorch: Ended his career in PRIDE without a candidate to hold his torch, but Olympic judoka Hidehiko Yoshida was chosen by the management to become the next native star. Also Yoshihiro Akiyama was considered a Saku sucessor, but his greasing-caused fall from grace after his fight with Kazushi took away this aspiration.
* PowerCopying: His victory over Conan Silveira was a mirror move - Saku tried a Kimura and Conan reversed into a cross armbar attempt, and later, when Silveira tried his own Kimura, Saku reversed him into the cross armbar and made him tap.

'''Kazushi Sakuraba''' (b. 1968) is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts fighter, best known for his role in the existence of PRIDE Fighting Championships. He originally started as a pro wrestler in [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation Union of Wrestling Forces International]], learning the style of shoot wrestling under the tutelage of legends Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada and Billy Robinson. Kazushi showed brilliancy and ascended swiflty in the roster, but UWF International closed before he could achieve a bigger status. He joined Kingdom, a promotion founded from UWF remnants, but he found a new field in the blooming MMA world: where his mentor Takada had failed, falling at the hands of Brazilian jiu-jitsu chieftain Rickson Gracie, Kazushi thrived, gaining popularity after winning the UFC Japan tournament against a BJJ black belt despite being, like Takada, just a pro wrestler. He then moved to PRIDE and showed his skills submitting several BJJ fighters, eventually making the impossible at the time and defeating a member of the Gracie family, Royler. Sakuraba went to beat Rickson's brother Royce in a fight which made history and turned him into a legend, getting nicknamed "Gracie Hunter", and later added Renzo and Ryan to his record. Hailed as a national hero by Japanese press, Sakuraba became PRIDE's native ace, fighting superior opponents throughout a grueling five years career and getting known by his unorthodox, pro wrestling-influenced style. Aside from his BJJ hunts, Kazushi also held victories against three of his own's style best wrestler, Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki, Wrestling/KenShamrock and Ikuhisa Minowa. Passed his prime, he later moved to HERO'S and DREAM promotions, but his many injuries told the world that his era had passed. Currently, Sakuraba is unoficially retired from MMA and working pro wrestling for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Countering Marcus Silveira's Kimura lock attempt into a cross armbar for the win. Or perhaps more establishing, catching Royler Gracie in a Kimura lock and breaking his arm.

* TheApprentice: To Nobuhiko Takada, although he also trained catch wrestling with the legendary Billy Robinson and muay thay with Bovy Chowaikung. Later in his career, he also learned the basics of Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Cristiano Marcello in Chute Boxe and Sergio Penha in the Takada Dojo, but he never got ranked in the art. (Actually Saku was presented with a honorific BJJ black belt, which he humorously would confess in an interview that he never learned quite how to tie).

* EarlyBirdCameo: Not him, but his personal fighting style. Saku tried a giant swing in his last match against Kiyoshi Tamura, years before he made himself famous for goofing around with his opponents.

** Also, during his fight with Masakatsu Funaki, Saku refrained himself from using ground and pound on his shoot-style colleague.

* HyperCompetentSidekick: Back when Kazushi was an apprentice, his master Nobuhiko Takada travelled to the Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club to retrain before his rematch with Rickson Gracie, as he had contacts with his owner Marco Ruas (also a notoriusly enemy to Rickson), and Sakuraba accompanied him to carry his bags. Eventually, after Takada was schooled by resident grapplers, Sakuraba came forward and tapped out everybody.

* SchoolIsForLosers: He was such a pro wrestling fan as a child that he intended to leave the school to enrole in the puroresu world a la Masakatsu Funaki, but his parents convinced him otherwise. Ironically, to his parents's horror, he ended quitting university instead (though at the last year).

* TheAce: One of the best Japanese fighters in history, period. At the UFC era, a pro wrestler submitting a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter was like a boy killing a soldier with a willow stick, and Sakuraba did it not once, but many times, and against the very popularizers of the art. Look no further than him taking down the Gracie family on multiple occasion. No Gracie had ever lost a professional fight since the Kimura ages, and the initial thought among them was that PRIDE had screwed Royler, but this sentiment vanished after the other three Gracie brothers fell to Sakuraba.

* TheAce: One of the best Japanese fighters, period. No Gracie had ever lost a professional fight since the Kimura ages, and the initial thought among them was that PRIDE had screwed Royler, but this sentiment vanished after other three Gracie brothers fell to Sakuraba.

* GradualGrinder: As it was common to most of the shoot wrestlers, Saku's striking was based around grinding leg kicks and punches to wear down his rivals. He eventually improved it and got knockout power.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: He is known as a firm antithesis to this trope, always friendly and humorous, but he enforced the trope to build tension before his fight with Royce. As he put:
-->"The Gracies really are fools. Fools, idiots, retards, jackasses, buffoons... No matter how many words I line up, I can't express my feelings for them. [[BadassBoast I'll take you on, with your own rules]]."

* GenreSavvy: Kazushi knew that the best way to defeat BJJ grapplers was to keep them away from the ground in order to strike them, and his fight against Royce was won mainly through it. Given that Saku was a shroud grappler as well, he didn't need this strategy very often.

* {{Homage}}: His teammate Kazuhiro Hamanaka wore a mask modelled after Kazushi's face when he came to fight Nino Schembri, in order to symbolically avenge him for the famous upset. He won the match, which he attributed to Saku's spirit being on him.

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: He decided to attack Ryan Gracie's injured arm at as little as possible at PRIDE 12.

* ThreeAmigos: Saku's cornermen were always Nobuhiko Takada and Daijiro Matsui, who trained with him and used to back each other.

** Due to the "K-1 vs PRIDE" special arc, PRIDE offered a rule of no strikes on the ground for the matches between mixed martial artists and K-1 representatives, but Saku turned it down his bout against Mirko Cro Cop, not wanting to fight with any rules to his favor like the Gracies did (however, to show how SeriousBusiness it was, even Minotauro Nogueira accepted the rules that night when he had to fight Wrestling/BobSapp). He lost by an upkick TKO, which means that accepting it would have prevented him from losing.

* {{Homage}}: His teammate Kazuhiro Nakamura wore a mask modelled after Kazushi's face when he came to fight Nino Schembri, in order to symbolically avenge him for the famous upset. He won the match, which he attributed to Saku's spirit being on him.

** Due to the "K-1 vs PRIDE" special arc, PRIDE offered a rule of no strikes on the ground for the matches between mixed martial artists and K-1 representatives, but Saku turned it down his bout against Mirko Cro Cop, not wanting to fight with any rules to his favor like the Gracies did (however, to show how SeriousBusiness it was, even Minotauro Nogueira accepted the rules that night when he had to fight Wrestling/BobSapp). Ironically, he lost by an upkick TKO, which means that accepting it would have prevented him from losing.

!!! "Gracie Hunting Tropes":

* YouCantFightFate: A funny example happened during the fight between Saku and Carlos Newton. Before the event, Newton had been sparring with Bas Rutten, whose grappling style was similar to Kazushi's due to his time in the similarly catch-based Pancrase, and Rutten coached Newton to look after kneebars after tapping him out with one. Carlos went to the ring reassured, and after minutes of grappling, Sakuraba submitted him with a kneebar of all things.

* HonorBeforeReason: Due to the "K-1 vs PRIDE" special arc, PRIDE offered a rule of no strikes on the ground for the matches between mixed martial artists and K-1 representatives, but Saku turned it down his bout against Mirko Cro Cop, not wanting to fight with any rules to his favor like the Gracies did (however, to show how SeriousBusiness it was, even Minotauro Nogueira accepted the rules that night when he had to fight Wrestling/BobSapp). Ironically, he lost by an upkick TKO, which means that accepting it would have prevented him from losing.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Sakuraba's trademark Mongolian chop backfired rather spectacularly during his fight against Nino Schembri, who headbutted him (an illegal move which was not seen by the referee) and knocked him out with soccer kicks after countering the move.

--->--'''Kazushi Sakuraba''', after winning the UFC Japan tournament

* CoolVsAwesome: The reason behind his fight against Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki. The two (along with Kiyoshi Tamura) were considered the best shoot-style wrestlers, and Funaki had challenged him on the basis that their styles would make for an entertaining contest.

* EarAche: Got an ear ''torn off'' against Marius Zaromskis.

* {{Fundoshi}}: According to the Chute Boxe members, Saku caused many an awkward look when he took a swim in a gym pool wearing a Japanese thong.

* HonorBeforeReason: PRIDE offered him a rule of no strikes on the ground for his match against Mirko Cro Cop, but Saku turned it down, not wanting to fight with any rules to his favor like the Gracies did. Ironically, he lost by an upkick TKO, which means that accepting it would have prevented him from losing.

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: He decided to attack Ryan Gracie's injured arm at as little as possible at ''Pride 12''.
* OddFriendship: Saku is close friends with baseball pitcher Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi.

* DentedIron: Has got more injuries throughout his career than most of Japanese fighters, but even now, he does not have the retirement in his skyline.

* EarAche: Got an ear torn off against Marius Zaromskis.

* TheApprentice: To Nobuhiko Takada, although he also trained with catch wrestling legend Billy Robinson and muay thay master Bovy Chowaikung. Later in his career, he also learned the basics of Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Sergio Penha in the Takada Dojo, but he never got ranked in the art. (Actually Saku was presented with a BJJ black belt after training in the Chute Boxe, but he humorously would confess in an interview that he did not know how to tie it).

* CanonDiscontinuity: Though some sites (among them the prestigious Sherdog) cite the bout between Sakuraba and Kimo Leopolodo as Saku's first MMA fight, he has denied it, with no comment about the match's legitimacy. Another example is his 1996 fight against Rene Rooze, which technically is Saku's first shoot fight, but it is not counted as a MMA fight due to its special rules.

* RedBaron: "Gracie Hunter", "IQ Wrestler", "Saku", "Nihon no Kyuuseigun" ("The [[OneManArmy Savior Army]] of Japan") and "Ikeru Densetsu" ("The Living Legend").