Trivia / Masakatsu Funaki

• God Never Said That: A popular rumor says that leglocks were forbidden during the fight between Funaki and Rickson Gracie in 2000. Though it is well recognized that the fight had special rules in the typical Gracie fashion, actually none of the known sources in English mentions leglocks or footlocks as part of the banned moves. The matter still fishy nowadays, however, as the fact that a leglock master like Funaki didn't attempt a single leglock in the entire bout makes many people scratch their heads.
• Promoted Fanboy: Was a fan of Satoru Sayama, and wrestled along him in a match in Real Japan Pro Wrestling, which he described as a dream come true.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Funaki and Minoru Suzuki were challenged by Akira Maeda to face him in a super match in RINGS in January 1994, but they refused and counter-offered that they were willing to compete in RINGS against other opponents if its board of directors fired Maeda. Naturally, negotiations fell short after this.
  • Around the same time, Funaki was invited by UWF-i to compete in their world tournament in February 1994, to no avail.
  • Funaki was offered a spot in Ultimate Fighting Championship after UFC 3, but he declined, claiming to be against the rule allowing for closed-fisted punches to the face.
  • Before he left New Japan, he was apparently offered the Jushin Liger gimmick.
  • After leaving PWFG, Funaki was scouted by K-1 executive Kazuyoshi Ishii to compete in their '93 GP tournament but declined as he was starting up Pancrase.
• Wrongfully Attributed: Despite what many MMA fans believe, Funaki's fighting style was not catch wrestling, but shoot wrestling, which is a mix of catch, judo and sambo, among other arts. Even his crazy flying leglocks were actually from Sambo, (courtesy of Victor Koga, who trained Sayama and helped him to introduce them in shoot-style).