Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mark Ashford-Smith Kakutogi Road: The Chronological History of MMA |
“He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” - Isaiah 2:4
Swords to plowshares. An infamous saying that originated from the Book of Isaiah to talk about a future where warfare ceases to exist, but in modern nomenclature is oftentimes used to denote a transition from using implements of war, away from their intended purpose, into more pacifistic means. This concept will surely come to be a strange epiphany to anyone fortunate enough to receive its mandate. Imagine training all of your life on how to kill quickly, efficiently, without remorse or pity, but then at a moment's notice having to learn how to reimagine all of your skills into forging ahead within a peaceful lifestyle. There is no way that on 12-5-92 that Yoshiaki Fujiwara could have known that this was, in a sense, to be his story, as he is about to embark on his last foray into a relevant battlefield. If New Japan Pro Wrestling was basic training, the original incarnation of the UWF had to be his seasoning in the ways of being a commissioned officer, and then the 2nd reboot of the UWF was his promotion to that of a General in the pro wrestling wars. By the time that the PWFG rolled around in early 1991, Fujiwara was no longer a young buck with something to prove, but served a role as an elder commander in what would shape to be a war for the imagination of the combat-sport thirsty public in Japan. Along the way, he found two rough diamonds that served to be both a means of great purpose for the older Fujiwara, but sadly, was perhaps his professional undoing. Of course, we are referring to his top students, Masakatsu Funaki, and Minoru Suzuki.
Both Suzuki and Funaki were troubled kids whose upbringings could have led to disaster had it not been for their passion for professional wrestling. Funaki was the son of a movie theater owner, which instilled a great love for martial arts films, especially those starring Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, and Sonny Chiba. Sadly, Funaki’s dad would later abandon his family, leaving him without a father figure. This traumatic experience was the catalyst for Funaki to overachieve in everything that he did. Funaki enrolled as a student at a secondary school division within the National Medical University before deciding to quit in the 9th grade to attempt a career at NJPW. Suzuki, on the other hand, turned his wayward youthful rebellious energies into a far more negative direction, getting involved in gang activity at a young age. He has been quoted as saying, “Every time I got on a commuter train, I could not stand facing the door because there were members of rival gang groups everywhere looking for an opportunity to sucker-mob-lynch me." Suzuki’s life could have easily ended in ruin had it not been for an early admiration for Antonio Inoki and a natural aptitude for wrestling. Suzuki turned to amateur wrestling in school, in part to compensate for his lack of physical stature, but also to emulate the professional wrestlers that he admired.
The converging stories of both Funaki and Suzuki landing within New Japan within three years of each other would have still possibly ended in a whimper had it not been for Fujiwara taking a keen interest in both of them. Fujiwara, more than most, understood the importance of having a mentor since Karl Gotch took him under his wing when he was directionless and became both a teacher and a father figure to him. Both Funaki and Suzuki, albeit for slightly different reasons, were likely doomed from ever getting the kind of main-event push that their talents were worthy of. New Japan debuted Funaki in 1985, where he spent the next few years toiling away in lower-card Junior matches. These bouts were exciting but a career dead-end because Antonio Inoki had chosen to keep the main emphasis of the company on their heavyweights. Suzuki, on the other hand, was someone that had a lot of talent and charisma, but with that also came a bad attitude and a lack of patience for a lot of the politics that comes when one is trying to move up the ranks in the pro wrestling world. Thankfully for both, Fujiwara took a liking to them, and Fujiwara was the only person in Suzuki’s like that he respected enough to allow himself to be mentored by him. It was also a godsend that Fujiwara’s Gotch trained style was a far better fit for what Suzuki and Funaki were aiming for, so when Akira Maeda opened a door for them, by offering to buy out all of their contracts, so he could have them relocate to his relaunching of the UWF in 1988, they all jumped at the chance to do so. This relocation gave a much larger platform for Suzuki and Funaki to be recognized, their fighting skills and athletic prowess being undeniable to all that witnessed them. Still, they were never going to be at the top of the food chain as long as guys like Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada were around, so it wasn’t until the fracturing of the Newborn UWF into three separate promotions that they were given a format that they could headline. By this point, Fujiwara was content to take on a lesser role, only headlining the main events of his promotion sporadically. This caused the focus to be on Funaki, Suzuki, and American Ken “Wayne” Shamrock. Fujiwara was still the boss, but unlike Takada, and to a lesser extent Maeda, he didn’t seem to have an oversized ego that wouldn’t allow him to step away from the spotlight. All of these factors created a perfect storm that would lead to not only the birth of one of the most important MMA promotions in history, but would help facilitate and cultivate the very existence of MMA even being in North America. Shooto had been around several years earlier, but it’s sphere of influence was never going to break out of a small subset of Japanese fans, whereas Pancrase, and especially Ken Shamrock, helped to add the dynamic to the early years of the UFC, and arguably prevented it from being a quick infomercial for the Rorion Gracie’s brand of jiu-jitsu.
ML: Funaki's future in New Japan surely lay in the heavyweight division, but whether or not he would have been a bigger star than some of the other juniors that were promoted in that era such as Hiroshi Hase & Shiro Koshinaka, I'd say yes, or some of the other heavyweights that were coming up around that time such as Masahiro Chono & Kensuke Sasaki, much more debatable, we'll never know. Certainly, by leaving New Japan, he both came into prominence, and became a headliner much sooner than he would have in the much more stacked and established promotion.
MB: By jumping headfirst into Gotch-flavored submission wrestling, and living/training day-to-day as real fighters, men like Suzuki and Funaki were sure to develop the same longing to prove themselves as any other fighter would naturally do. However, professional wrestling was simply too constricting and was never going to provide a true outlet for that longing for personal growth to be satisfied. Still, the reality of making a living, especially a lucrative one, may have been enough to stay the course in the more established waters of predetermined finishes. The final straw that gave Funaki the impetus to follow his passion for true fighting presented itself when towards the end of 1992, the main financial backer for the PWFG (along with several other Japanese wrestling promotions at the time) Megane Super decided that they no longer wanted to be associated with pro wrestling and were pulling their financial support. The PWFG was only a marginally profitable venture, even with the influx of investor capital, so it is no surprise that their future was looking grim. Funaki probably didn’t feel like he had anything to lose when he decided to jump out into the unknown, taking the majority of the PWFG roster with him. In a way, those same swords and the training of how to use them is what forever removed Fujiwara’s relevancy in the sphere of MMA once Pancrase formed. Yes, he remained a respected figure, and Battlarts was birthed out of the ashes of the PWFG, which would go on to have a tangential relationship with MMA in the late 90s, but Fujiwara never again had any major influence on MMA. One could say that he was forced to trade in the weapons of armbars, chokes, and leglocks, for the more agrarian fare of working with luchadors and American pro wrestlers past their prime. No longer a general on the forefront of the shoot revolution, he eventually had to go as low as to co-promote with other wrestling promotions just to stay afloat and got so bad that a mid-90s PWFG event looked more like an amateur-hour variety event than a serious facsimile of martial arts. Gone was the serious soldier of the UWF, a nasty submission machine that would just as likely break your rotator cuff than look at you, and in its place was a comedic jokester, an old man now content to till the peaceful fields of standard professional wrestling. So, let us consider this the last hurrah of the PWFG, a landmark group that had an untold impact on the birth and development of MMA, especially on the American side of the equation. That can never be taken away from them.
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mark Ashford-Smith
Here we get to see the debut of English wrestler Mark Ashford-Smith, who would be better known as Mark Starr for the majority of his career. Smith was a journeyman throughout most of his career, working for several promotions as a solid hand, but never achieved any notable popularity with a broader American wrestling audience. He started wrestling for the Tennessee-based CWA before heading to Florida’s PWF (which is where he likely made connections with the Malenko’s, Bart Vale, and Masami Soronaka), and from there wound up working for the next seven years in Japan. He is coming into this bout having recently left the Japanese FMW promotion, where he captured the AWA’s World Light-Heavyweight Championship. The bout starts, and immediately we can see that Ishikawa is in way over his head. Not only does Smith dwarf his foe, but he enjoyed a significant reach advantage over him as well. Knowing this, Ishikawa tries to blast Smith down with a power-double, but he even looked pathetic doing that when Smith easily stuffed the takedown with a nice sprawl. While a little dry, I was mostly impressed with this, as it was a nice example of a more realistic entry in the shoot-style spectrum. We even got several examples of striking on the ground, as both men utilized this option to try and force either a submission or their opponent to move. Smith, to my surprise, struck me as someone with a lot of potential to be a competent fighter, despite his striking being a bit on the slow side. Had ground-and-pound been an option, he would have easily killed Ishikawa here, so there was little doubt how this would play out if it were a true shoot, but despite its long-running time at 21mins, I thought it was good for what it was. *** ¼
ML: Starr & Chris Kanyon were Men at Work who didn't come from a land down under, but given he had about a 50 pound weight advantage, Ishikawa better run, he better take cover. Or maybe not because this match was more of a low intensity amateur wrestling exhibition where there was simply too much cooperation. The match had it's moments, almost always in standup, where they picked up the pace and at least looked like they were trying to get their strikes in, using some movement and generally being quick, even if they weren't hitting each other very hard. Smith wasn't bad, but he just needed more urgency. Probably if he was more comfortable with the style, they both would have put up more resistance. This was watchable, but certainly no better, which also means very skippable.
Bart Vale vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
One of the cooler revelations of 1992’s PWFG was the sheer potential of Yanagisawa. His sharp kickboxing skills, coupled with very fast takedown abilities, already put him ahead of the curve going into 1993, even if he could never quite reach the top of the Pancrase mountain in later years. Here, his last outing with Fujiwara will be against a man that would have done well in MMA had it existed in the early 1980s, “Mr. America” Bart Vale. Sadly, I must report that Yanagisawa’s final moment in this company was a complete farce of a kickboxing exhibition. This disaster was one of Vale’s more bizarre performances, sometimes kicking Ryushi too hard, which would be followed by several pillow-light strikes that wouldn’t hurt a toddler. Yanagisawa would quickly dance around Vale, but wouldn’t actually commit to properly laying into him, and Vale, while he looked like he could bludgeon Ryushi if he so chose to, moved so slow that it just added to the awful surrealness of it all. This was bad, but at least Yanagisawa would never have to embarrass himself again, as he spent the rest of his career being a very game MMA fighter. Despite the ridiculousness of it all, and Yanagisawa’s awful selling, this was fast-paced, so I suppose it merits **.
ML: This was totally one-sided, which was a shame because Yanagisawa is very capable. Vale was more watchable than usual here, as Yanagisawa is also a kickboxer but wasn't allowed to put any real pressure on Vale, or seemingly actually make contact, so Vale was basically free to do his forms. There were moments when they went pretty hard, as Yanagisawa was willing to just charge in or miss wildly. Vale was actually pretty stiff at times, although he was pretty pillowy at other times. I think this would have been interesting as a shoot because Yanagisawa has enough size to stand up to Vale, and has a lot more speed, obviously, to get in and get out before Vale throws his through slow shots, but with Yanagisawa being so handicapped, it was hard to maintain interest even with close to half the match being edited out.
Kazuo Takahashi vs. Alexsey Medvedev
We got to see Medvedev and his awesome singlet fashion sensibilities last month, albeit in a very digested showing. That footage was too short to get a proper reading, but it seems that Medvedev is a worthy addition to the shoot-realms, and is now tasked with having to go the distance with Kazuo Takahashi. To my shock, this appears to be a shoot, with Takahashi slapping Medvedev with an intensity that cannot be faked. This was far more interesting as a shoot than it would have been as a work, because of the nice contrast between the superior wrestling and size/weight/strength advantages belonging to Medvedev, while the striking/submission experience went to Takahashi. The reality of this was just as back-and-forth as it appeared to be on paper, with Takahashi having to use his knowledge and experience to overcome his opponents’ physical attributes. First blood was drawn when Takahashi was able to secure a nasty guillotine choke on Medvedev, but was too close to the ropes, which allowed for a rope escape. This fight wound up being a 30-min draw, which is a perfectly logical conclusion to a shoot between these two skill sets. Takahashi didn’t have quite the toolbox to vanquish such a strong wrestler that dwarfed him, but Medvedev was too green to put the scrappy Kazuo away. While this may seem archaic to a modern audience, I felt that it was an interesting shoot, considering the context of the time.
ML: Medvedev had a huge wrestling advantage in this shoot, but that alone doesn't end a fight, so even though he dominated, Takahashi was actually the one that came closer to winning. Medvedev had enough striking to open up his takedown, but Takahashi absolutely knew what was coming, and did a good job of not getting pinned to the canvas even if Medvedev was often controlling on the ground. Takahashi making Medvedev work to maintain that control opened up a submissions or two, mainly an ankle lock when Medvedev stuck with a takedown that was stuffed, dumping Takahashi over the top rather than just disengaging and starting over. There was one point where Medvedev probably could have finished when he countered Takahashi's leg trip by coming down on top, but he didn't understand the arm triangle. This was definitely only competitive because Medvedev is green, and doesn't have any finishers, but that made for a fairly interesting matchup. Definitely the best match so far.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Jerry Flynn
I can only hope that Suzuki is in another one of his shooting moods, as Flynn has been treading the path of mediocrity for most of the year. While we won’t be getting two shoots in a row, Suzuki is showing some very impressive footwork here, moving in and out of the pocket with ease. Still, Flynn is a giant of a man, and Suzuki can’t hope to trade strikes with him for long. Suzuki wisely gets a quick takedown-to-mount, but for some inexplicable reason, gives up his mount for some kind of half-baked guard pull. Thankfully, Flynn was too slow to take advantage of this blunder, and it wasn’t long before Suzuki was back in an advantageous position. The good news is that Suzuki kept constant quick pressure on Flynn, which prohibited him from meandering through this match, however, the downside was that there was no way that Flynn could go full-bore with his strikes against Suzuki without decapitating him. Since Flynn had to keep his offense pulled, it took away any competitive tools that he would have had in giving Suzuki a competitive match. Still, this was a great performance from Suzuki, it was just too one-sided to be a strong recommendation. ** ¾
ML: This is one of those matches where playing a work out like a shoot didn't really provide any benefit. Suzuki reasonably wanted nothing to do with striking with the much longer stand-up specialist, so he kept it on the mat. Flynn was defending well though, so Suzuki wasn't really able to get him in too much trouble. Flynn wasn't able to turn defense into offense though, so he really never got going. In the end, most of the match was spent waiting for some offense to happen. It felt like it was neither good nor bad, just dry.
Wayne Shamrock vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Unlike Funaki, Suzuki, Takahashi, Fuke, and Yanagisawa, Ken Shamrock didn’t bail on Fujiwara right away. Perhaps he was torn since it was Fujiwara that gave him a huge opportunity by allowing him to be one of the top stars of this promotion, but whatever the reason, it took Ken a few months before he would decide to fully throw himself into Funaki’s new venture. After this event, Shamrock was in two other PWFG shows, one in Japan on 1-16-93 and the other in the PWFG’s 2nd appearance on American soil, which took place on 2-19-93. Footage for both of these events has been so far impossible to come by, but we at Kakutogi HQ will never give up the search for this footage. Even Bart Vale doesn’t have a copy of them! In a way, this was a fitting end for Fujiwara, before he drifted off into the simple pleasures of agricultural delights, as Shamrock would soon represent the new face of martial arts by being one of the key stars of the UFC, whereas Fujiwara was the bridge to the old world that came before it. What happened between these two wasn’t exactly convincing from an MMA standpoint, but it was a decent bit of shoot-style flavored grappling. The main problem here, and what would have continued to have been a major issue had this outfit stayed intact, was that Fujiwara looks absolutely decrepit standing next to a physical specimen the caliber of Shamrock. This would have been a tough sell for Fujiwara even back in 1984, let alone 8-years later. This isn’t a good matching on paper since Shamrock can’t exactly do much for fear of making Fujiwara look silly, so it was probably as good an outing as we were going to get out of them. It was a lot of trading of submissions, but the pacing was good, and Fujiwara kept his clown antics away for a nice change of pace. Surprisingly, Ken got the win. Perhaps Fujiwara knew that Ken was on the fence about staying, or maybe he felt bad for jobbing him out to Vale earlier in the year. Either way, Fujiwara gave him a big W here. ** ½
ML: This was basically as good of a match as they could have had at this point in time. Fujiwara took the match seriously, and went all out. The match perhaps wasn't really that much different than Suzuki vs. Flynn, but my expectations were lower going in, and because Fujiwara finally did the best he could, it wound up being better. This match also had more going on. It was a much more competitive and back and forth contest, with both threatening each other. They largely kept it to a grappling match because that's the area where Fujiwara can still reasonably hang with, if not theoretically even exceed, Shamrock. The problem for Fujiwara came after Shamrock used a rope escape to break the wakigatame. Shamrock was perhaps a little unsettled from Fujiwara coming close, and decided that it was finally time to assert his advantage in stand up, using kicks to keep Fujiwara away, then tricking him by seeming to finally acquiesce to locking up, only to throw a wild high kick then hurt Fujiwara with a series of clinch knees. Shamrock kept kicking when Fujiwara got up from the clinch knee knockdown, and while Fujiwara nearly got it back to the mat by catching a kick, Shamrock instead finished him with an enzuigiri, which obviously wasn't the most credible finish, but at least was a nice caught him off guard's type of surprise where Fujiwara lost, but it didn't kill him because it seemed a bit unlucky/flukish.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. David Gobejishvili
At the end of T.S. Elliot’s 1925 poem “The Hollow Men,” we are told that the end of the world happens not with a bang, but with a whimper. Such is the state of the end of the PWFG in its original, I.E., true incarnation. Funaki is headlining against the man that almost put an end to Minoru Suzuki last month in a spirited shoot. Gobejishvili probably would have succeeded in his quest to vanquish the much smaller Minoru had he had a greater command of submission arts, and it’s fair to assume that one month is not enough time to acquire that knowledge, at least to the point of having a chance to beat Masakatsu Funaki. The fight starts, and we once again witness the supreme intellect of Funaki’s masterful fight IQ. Funaki is keeping as much distance as possible, swiftly running towards the mammoth wrestler, kicking him, and then fleeing for safety just as quickly. Gobejishvilli is a behemoth of a man, but luckily for Funaki, he has no clue how to throw a kick or block one, for that matter. It was inevitable that Gobejishvilli would take Funaki down, but he couldn’t figure out what to do with him once he got there. This sluggish outing would have been much better as a shoot, but it was a boring work that was hindered by both the inexperience of Gobejishvili as well as Funaki looking like he would rather be home watching an episode of Tekkaman Blade. When it comes to Funaki launching Pancrase, we were all winners because his output in professional wrestling was just too inconsistent. He had all the talent but oftentimes didn’t bother to try and find a way to make his opponent look good, which is the duty of a professional. Now that he will go on to put his formidable skills to the test in legit competition, we are all the better for it. This lackluster main event somehow managed to be the worst fight on the card, which shouldn’t happen when you have a talent like Funaki in the driver’s seat. Funaki gets the win via a particularly nasty toehold. * ½
ML: This was largely the fight I've been wanting to see from Funaki, using his movement, working his kicks. I think it went down about the way it would have it if it were shoot, which is what Funaki tries to do, for better and for worse. It felt like an actual early MMA striker vs. wrestler specialist match. The problem for Gobejishvili is, like most of the early amateur wrestlers, he didn't have much beyond the takedown, and Funaki is an exceptional grappler, actually better than he is as a striker, so he wasn't a lame duck once his back hit the canvas like basically all the early kickboxers until Maurice Smith figured out how to get back to his feet. Funaki was doing big damage with each low kick, buckling Gobejishvili. Gobejishvili could take Funaki down if he got a hold of him, but rather than hope to turn defense into offense on the ground, Funaki was simply not staying on the mat if he had a choice, and we saw this right away with Funaki frustrating Gobejishvili by springing right back up and landing another leg kick. Gobejishvili was momentary hobbled, but his determination didn't waver. This time he hit a single leg and was able to keep Funaki down for a while, until he took advantage of Funaki trying to get back to his feet, hitting a released German suplex, but then not being quick enough to regain ground control. Gobejishvili eventually had to mix it up by trying to establish his own kicks in order to be less predictable with the takedown, but Funaki's game was also evolving, and once Gobejishvili was focused on defending his legs, Funaki brought the kick up for the big high kick knockdown. Gobejishvili was just taking too much damage from the leg kicks, and knew he could only take a few more, so he had to take a chance on the ground because he wasn't going to win this simply by riding Funaki, especially with Funaki having so much success getting back to his feet. Gobejishvili finally gambled on a submission, dropping into an Achilles' tendon hold, but Funaki immediately countered it with an ankle lock for the win. This match was on the short side, which probably wasn't a bad thing, and it was a certainly a back and forth match with good intensity. I'd hesitate to call it good, especially with Gobejishvili having no real offense once the fight hit the canvas, but I thought it overachieved for sure, and was clearly the most interesting bout on the card. I was quite happy with Funaki's performance, and, while obviously very green, Gobejishvili definitely showed potential.
Conclusion: Taken in a vacuum, this show was a little better than last month and is slightly trending in an upwards direction. Mostly, this is due to some new faces arriving that are forcing some different matchups. However, when examined from a distance, it’s clear that if the PWFG was going to continue in the shoot-style battles, it was going to have to reroute in order to remain. The only direction that it could have logically gone in was to become what Pancrase ultimately did, which is (more or less) a full-shoot organization with a pro wrestling aesthetic. I don’t know how feasible that could have been, as it’s hard to say how willing Fujiwara would have been to that kind of change. Not only would he have to convince investors that shooting was viable (which was a very difficult sell before the UFC’s success), but he himself would have to step away from the limelight, as there was no way that Fujiwara could move forward in real shoots. He may have been able to reposition himself as a figurehead or brand ambassador, but that was not a likely option when you’re used to being something of a celebrated and revered figure in the world of kakutogi-sport. Also, Funaki may have not wanted to see his vision executed under Fujiwara’s banner. Perhaps, it was inevitable that he would strike out on his own, for better or for worse. Whatever the reasons behind his decision, it almost didn’t happen. Funaki and Suzuki both had to go deeply into debt to finance Pancrase, and they put themselves into a position where they had to succeed. I honestly think that Funaki had every intention of only putting on true 100% shoots within their specific ruleset, but after seeing how the first Pancrase event ended with less than 13mins of actual fight time, the unpredictability of real fights probably freaked him out. This is probably what led to some decisions on Funaki’s part to allow some of the fights to be padded out, and the occasional early work. Of course, we will get into a lot more detail on all of these things in 6-months when Pancrase officially debuts, but for now, we will bow our heads in memorial for Fujiwara’s slice of combat sports history. May he enjoy his new peaceful journey.
ML: PWFG could surely have had another pretty good year or two simply by finally booking a few Funaki vs. Suzuki matches. They had some promising young natives, so if someone from the Kazuo Takahashi, Yuki Ishikawa, Ryushi Yanagisawa, or Yusuke Fuke (who sadly has been out injured for half a year) could have broken out of the pack by then, that could have provided a series of much needed interesting new matchups. Obviously, they were a bit thin on talent, but they were probably doing a better job of scouring the globe now that they could no longer just rely on the Florida connection, and we've seen some fine highly credentialed wrestlers from the USSR in recent months. Their big problem obviously was they didn't have a Maeda or Takada to sell the show while the other guys continued to develop, but for a promotion featuring an aging New Japan midcarder, two New Japan young boy juniors, and a one tour All Japan rookie who had two fights in UWF, they certainly did a remarkable job making it work, including getting 40,000 into the Tokyo Dome two months earlier. Even though we are lucky that the promotion fractured, as we wound up with Pancrase, we should certainly celebrate the unlikely success story that was the initial run of PWFG.
John Krummel's translation notes
Pre-show interview with Minoru Suzuki: Q: Looking back on this year, how was the year for you? A: Yeah, in the beginning, I was depressed and growing facial hair, but then I began to find my own way and I think I was digesting a lot, especially that was the case at the Tokyo Dome.”
Pre-show interview with Masakatsu Funaki: Q: Looking back on this year, how was the year for you? A: It was a great year with a lot of fruit, I got to fight in big arenas in the Spring and the Fall against big opponents, and I was able to make good results, and I think I was able to learn a lot on the ring. In that sense, I think it was a good year. In any case, if I don’t lose today, I would be without any losses for the year. In that sense, I’ll absolutely not lose.
Ryushi Yanagisawa’s pre-fight interview: Q: How are you feeling for your fight tonight? A: I’m feeling relaxed, but having seen his [Vale’s] previous fight, he does seem pretty strong. When you see his fights against Funaki or Suzuki, he looks like a weak foreigner, but with a younger guy like me, he’s probably of a higher level. So I’ll just try to be aggressive and do my best.
Takahashi’s prefight interview: Q: What are your plans for the fight? A: I wrestled him several times in the Soviet Union in amature wrestling, so I know his strengths and I am a little uncertain whether my tackles/take-downs will work on him. But in return, I have more experience in the professional ring, being relaxed and so on, so I have an advantage there and would like to score a take-down on him.
Suzuki’s prefight interview: Q: Are you thinking of any tactics or strategy for the fight? A: I haven’t thought of any specific strategy per se, but today I want to try out techniques I know but have never used in matches. There are 2 or 3 techniques/moves like that that I want to try and it would be great if one of them leads to a submission.
Funaki’s prefight interview: Q: You will be fighting against an am-wrestling champion, so how do you want to fight him? A: In any case, he is twice as big as me and to that extent he will have a lot strength. Other than that, his standup wrestling is complete and good. I also heard that he’s a young junior champion over there [in his country]. So I’m thinking I’d like to attack him with kicks and then to have that lead to a win.
*In Other News*
It hasn’t been all good news for the United States’ 1992 Olympic ambitions. While the U.S.A. did have the 2nd highest total of medals in Barcelona, their martial artists that competed did poorly, for the most part. This was perhaps most painful in the world of judo, where four-time Olympic team member Mike Swain failed to even reach the medal round. The only highlight was Jason Morris taking a silver medal in judo, having lost only to the fierce competitor that was Japan’s very own, Hidehiko Yoshida. This victory would prove to be bittersweet as Morris lost his father the following day, as he passed away in a Barcelona hotel room. In the women’s judo division, Kate Donahoo of Colorado Springs, Colorado, almost won a bronze medal, losing her match to Cuba’s Driulis Gonzalez by only a point.