Awesome / Kazushi Sakuraba

• 1997, Japan. A small promotion which is a diminished remnant of a disgraced pro wrestling glory sends two wrestlers to the rising UFC Japan event, hoping that at least one of them will give a good performance and help their popularity. However, the most skilled of the two gets injured in a training before the event, and they desperately replace it with a rookie, a good worker who, while talented, is clearly not ready. During the event, the first wrestler is eliminated with little resistance, but it turns to be a Heroic Sacrifice by getting his opponent eliminated as well due to injury. Everything falls over the rookie's shoulders. He gets paired with the most dangerous opponent, a Brazilian fighter who outweights him and comes from a martial art considered invincible. The pro wrestler does good, but he is suddenly eliminated by a bad refereeing, and the judges decides to rematch them. But this time, it is different. This time, he will not allow things happen like they often do. This time, he will prove that there shall not be another defeat for pro wrestling while he has something to say about. He tries a Kimura, his opponent blocks it and reverses for his own Kimura... and then Kazushi Sakuraba reverses it for a cross armbar, making Silveira tap and winning the tournament.
• Sakuraba's first fight against Royler Gracie, son of a family which curbstomped the martial arts world and contributed to the demise of Kazushi's old wrestling promotion. Royler tries the typical Gracie strategy to draw the fight to the ground, the buttscoot or Inoki-Ali Jotai as it is known in Japan, but the shooter only stands up and kicks the crap out of him. In the rare standing moments, Saku even throws spinning kicks, the first effective ones in MMA. At the end of the match, Royler tries to pull guard again, and this time Saku gives in, only for him to grab an arm and lock the Kimura. Gracie gets his arm twisted to the limit and the referee stops the match to give him and his family the first defeat in Japanese soils in several generations.
• Everything about his fight against Royce Gracie. Everything about how Sakuraba comes before the main Gracie warrior of the time and plays with him. He pulls mask mindgames, winks to the camera while Royce lunges, attempts a kneebar with no fear for the Gracie groundgame, uses his gi against him in embarrassing and creative ways, hits Mongolian chops, and finally destroys his leg to make his corner throw the towel, ending the fight of the century after 90 minutes. Takada and Matsui come to celebrate with Saku, while on the outside, looking from to his fallen son, Hélio Gracie's look is that of a man who has just swallowed a makibishi.
  • Even more awesome, then Saku comes to Hélio and shakes his hand, and engages in a brief verbal discussion with him before concluding in that then, at that night, pro wrestling has won the game.
  • And even more awesome that it, the fact that Saku comes only hours later to fight an opponent possibly much more dangerous than Royce himself, the kickboxer Igor Vovchanchyn, and not only he holds his own, but dominates Igor for a time until the match is called out to not to risk him.