Kazushi Sakuraba (Japanese: 桜庭 和志, Sakuraba Kazushi, born July 14, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler, submission wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. He has also competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and shoot-style competition for UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW). He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's, Dream and most recently Rizin Fighting Federation.[2][3][4] He is known as the Gracie Hunter[5][6][7][8] or the Gracie Killer[9][10][11][12] due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family: Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Royce Gracie. Sakuraba is famous for beating 15 champions of different top MMA organizations; opponents who were often many weight-classes above him.
Known for his excellent skills in catch wrestling and unorthodox fighting style, he is considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial art fighters of all time,[13] and also holds notable victories over 7 UFC champions, 3 Pancrase Champions, a DREAM champion, a King of the Cage champion and Battlecade Extreme Fighting champion; former Welterweight Champion Carlos Newton, two former Light heavyweight champions Vitor Belfort and Quinton Jackson, former Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman, 3-time UFC Tournament champion Royce Gracie, former Superfight champion and King of Pancrase Ken Shamrock, former King of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki, DREAM Super Hulk Tournament Champion Ikuhisa Minowa, former King of the Cage Light Heavyweight champion Vernon White, and former Battlecade Extreme Fighting champion Marcus Silveira. He is also the first of only two Japanese champions in UFC history. Sakuraba's Pride fights routinely draw more than 20 million viewers in Japan.[14] Sakuraba is the founder of the submission wrestling promotion Quintet, where he has competed since 2018.
^ ab"桜庭 和志". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-09-29.
^"Fedor, Sakuraba-Aoki Confirmed for 3-Day NYE Event; Fuji TV Discussions Ongoing". Sherdog. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
^"Scheduled Fighters". RIZIN FIGHTING FEDERATION. Archived from the original on 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
^T.P. Grant (13 September 2013). "Gods of War: Kazushi Sakuraba". Bloody Elbow.
^"Kazushi Sakuraba". Tapology.
^"'The Gracie Hunter' Returns: Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie Booked for DREAM.14 – Cagepotato". cagepotato.com. September 2017.
^"Kazushi "The Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba Fight Results, Record, History, Videos, Highlights, Pictures, Bio – ESPN". ESPN.com.
^Jeffrey McKinney. "20 MMA Legends That Will Never Be Replaced". Bleacher Report.
^[1] Archived April 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
^"Sakuraba fan, 'TUF: Brazil' finalist Rony 'Jason' promises Japanese flair at UFC 147 – MMAjunkie". MMAjunkie. Archived from the original on 2013-11-09.
^"Ten tough MMA debuts". ESPN.com. 16 December 2008.
^Cite error: The named reference Shooters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Iole, Kevin (April 13, 2020). "Top 10 biggest draws in MMA: UFC's Conor McGregor owns No. 1 spot". Yahoo Sports. Yahoo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
KazushiSakuraba (Japanese: 桜庭 和志, SakurabaKazushi, born July 14, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler, submission wrestler and former mixed martial...
idol, tarento and actress Kazuki Sakuraba (born 1971), Japanese author of novels and light novels KazushiSakuraba (born 1969), Japanese mixed martial...
he is most remembered for his 90-minute bout against catch wrestler KazushiSakuraba in 2000, and a controversial "judo vs jiu-jitsu" mixed rules match...
weight division (205 lb) of Pride. Silva fought Japanese superstar KazushiSakuraba for the first time at Pride 13 - Collision Course on 25 March 2001...
stand-out Billy Robinson soon thereafter began training MMA veteran KazushiSakuraba. Lou Thesz trained MMA veteran Kiyoshi Tamura. Catch wrestling forms...
Pride management to fight KazushiSakuraba, who had already defeated Royce Gracie as well, but Gracie refused saying that Sakuraba "didn't have the spirit...
Gracie: 'Sakuraba is a hero to me'". Sherdog. Retrieved February 8, 2018. Dave Meltzer (August 30, 2015). "Renzo Gracie reflects on the KazushiSakuraba fight...
martial artist KazushiSakuraba to defeat the team of Shinichi Suzukawa and Atsushi Sawada. On August 12, 2012, Shibata, alongside KazushiSakuraba, returned...
martial artists in the catch wrestling style, including Josh Barnett, KazushiSakuraba, Kiyoshi Tamura, and Shayna Baszler. His favourite saying as a coach...
born 1979), Japanese professional wrestler Kazushi Ono (大野 和士, born 1960), Japanese conductor KazushiSakuraba (桜庭 和志, born 1969), Japanese mixed martial...
Master: Bellator MMA. On October 15, 2017, Shamrock fought Pride veteran KazushiSakuraba in a grappling exhibition match at the 2017 Rizin World Grand Prix...
karateka currently signed with K-1. He made his MMA pro debut against KazushiSakuraba at the Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round. Nakahara...
Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved January 7, 2022. 桜庭和志 / KazushiSakuraba. Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved January 7, 2022. 藤田和之...
medallist Makoto Takimoto, three-time sambo champion Volk Han, and KazushiSakuraba. Tamura currently serves as an executive director for LIDET Entertainment's...
2006 Dynamite, Akiyama fought the legendary KazushiSakuraba in the main event. During the match, Sakuraba called to the referee saying "[Akiyama is] Slippery...
2004, Gracie expressed a strong interest in fighting KazushiSakuraba and Hidehiko Yoshida. Sakuraba, known as the "Gracie Hunter" for his many victories...
kilograms (185 lb) weight class. The evening's Main Event featured KazushiSakuraba of Japan and Brazilian kyokushin karateka Andrews Nakahara. It attracted...
Retrieved 2022-03-11. Meltzer, Dave (2017-06-04). "UFC announces KazushiSakuraba for 2017 Hall of Fame class". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2022-03-11. Hiergesell...
open challenge singles bout. In the seventh bout, Ulka Sasaki and KazushiSakuraba defeated Shuhei Taniguchi and Hikaru Sato in an UWF rules tag team...
I Love About MMA: KazushiSakuraba And Royce Gracie Make History". SB Nation. Retrieved April 4, 2018. Keith Vargo, KazushiSakuraba and the Takada Dojo...
WrestlingData. Retrieved August 31, 2023. "Schilt Wins Again, Akiyama Beats Sakuraba at Dynamite '06". K-1 Grand Prix Website. Archived from the original on...
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