Truth 6 6/25/96: Bas Rutten vs. Jason DeLucia 8:48. Although Bas never pulled his punches, this was the most obvious work on this edition of Classics because it was marred by overexaggerated cornball pro wrestling selling at the crucial moments. That being said, it was a good story match where the strategy of DeLucia, utilizing his awkward kung fu style with the right leg forward side stance, gave Bas enough trouble to allow him to more than hold his own in standup against the beast. DeLucia controlled the distance with his right side kick and used the left palm to set up the right middle kick. I expected DeLucia's strategy to focus on the ground game, but while he had a takedown into mount the one time he tried only to have the ref stand them up, DeLucia was content not to pursue the ground any further since he was doing well enough on his feet standing toe to toe and slugging it out. Bas kept getting in carded for closed fist punches to the face, complaining to DeLucia that he should admit they were all legal, but eventually turned the fight with a good punch combo to the body for a knockdown that DeLucia greatly exaggerated. Bas kept punching the liver for three more quick knockdowns to finish the fight. This was mostly enjoyable stuff, but DeLucia's histrionics putting over the finishing sequence really shattered the illusion. Above average match.
Alive 7 6/30/97: Satoshi Hasegawa vs. Alex Andrade 10:00. Quite the mismatch as Andrade had about 35 pounds on Hasegawa, and the size combined with some understanding of spacing and takedown defense allowed him to bully Hasegawa in standup. Hasegawa was all about setting up the takedown, but they fought at such a distance early on it was difficult for him to get on Andrade's legs no matter how many diversionary strikes he put out. Andrade began to time Hasegawa's lunges, dropping him with a short left palm then started to come forward and attack with more palms while Hasegawa was clearing the cobwebs. Andrade progressively closed the distance, starting to punish the body, but as he looked ready to finish, Hasegawa dropped for a takedown and Andrade knocked him silly with an illegal soccer kick for a red card. Hasegawa got enough recovery time to go the distance, but really took an almost unanswered beating in the 2nd half. Average match.
King of Pancrase Tournament 2nd Round 12/16/94: Frank Juarez (Frank Shamrock) vs. Manabu Yamada 8:38. A great display of UWF style mat gambling with both men showing no real interest in securing or defending positions, but rather just diving at any submission possible, risk and odds be damned. The advantage changed so frequently, and through some of the most absurd moves such as a the Ken Shamrock WWE ankle lock finisher by Frank, that any fan of old school shoot wrestling would have to love it. This beautiful, endless Volk Han style submission scramble finally ended in the only way that seemed fitting to those with a pro wrestling mindset, with Yamada winning the battle of dueling leg locks. I understand the logic and of course need for defense in a real fight, but for show, nothing beats the old ground stuff where they kept transitioning to be entertaining rather than locking down a position to be safe. Excellent match.
Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 3 11/8/93: Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Katsuomi Inagaki 22:04. White was basically just a very athletic and light on his feet taekwondo black belt at his point, so Inagaki was taking him down at will. Inagaki kept working Kimura's and arm triangles from the scarf position, but they were always so close to the ropes the ref would stand up, forcing him to start all over. Once Inagaki got a little tired he inexplicably began to engage in a standup fight with White, particularly allowing White way too much distance that even resulted in an impressive hook kick. Inagaki had a few good flurries when he got in on White, but White was too fast, dynamic, and diverse with his striking, and his conditioning edge played a bigger and bigger part as time went on. Though Inagaki was mostly getting battered and bloodied, this was some good, hard nosed toe-to-toe standup action. White put Inagaki down with almost a series of chops, but ultimately it was his body work that was ruling the day, and really taking the gas from an already drained and fading Inagaki. White bent Inagaki in half with a front kick and then followed with a crushing soccer kick while Inagaki was hunched over defenseless. Inagaki somehow got up, but was so beat up and exhausted the ref soon stopped it, giving White the first win of his career. Good match.
Truth 5 5/16/95: Minoru Suzuki vs. Guy Mezger 7:59. Suzuki willingly engaged in a kickboxing match with Mezger, fighting the whole match at distance where he quickly and handily got picked apart. After getting knocked down once with a right/left palm combo and beat up in the corner, Suzuki finally tried to change it up jumping for an armbar, but Guy saw it coming and Suzuki bizarrely wound up knocking himself out hitting the canvas. Though Mezger was making a good name for himself, he had yet to break through the top tier in Pancrase with his losses coming to Funaki, Suzuki, & Bas. Thus, this was a shocking loss for Suzuki at the time even though it was a theme match, but ultimately turned out to be the beginning of the end of his career as a top fighter as he proceeded to lose to Kondo, White, & DeLucia, and never again had a win over a serious contender. Average match.
Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 2 10/14/93: Wayne Shamrock (Ken Shamrock) vs. Yoshiki Takahashi 12:23. Takahashi began to garn his reputation for never giving up with this first of many fights where he's woefully outclassed, but through heart and willpower somehow just keeps coming back for a further beating. I liked the intensity of this match, though more at the outset when Takahashi was fresh. As the match progressed, the predictable outcome became more and more obvious, but Takahashi refused so adamantly to believe it that you at once felt bad for him and were in awe of his sheef masochism. It was actually pretty competitive in standup, but Takahashi would put most of his effort into going against his lesser disadvantage, taking Shamrock down only to be almost immediately reversed and consistently out grappled. I was sure Shamrock had Takahashi when he swept with an arm triangle, but apparently Takahashi got a foot on the ropes (off camera) before his lights went out, and Shamrock wound up with a red card for not breaking quickly enough. Shamrock soon had it again, but this time much closer to the ropes, so Shamrock wound up jacking Takahashi's jaw with a palm strike knockdown on the restart. There were some inspired moments on the mat with Takahashi, in particular, recklessly diving at leg locks only to have Shamrock respond with a much better version, which ultimately damaged Takahashi's knee & ankle because he simply refused to tap. Finally, Shamrock got one of the deepest, most brutally angled heel hooks you'll ever see right in the center & even Takahashi couldn't take any more pain for the sake of it. Good match.
Breakthrough 11 12/18/99: Kiuma Kunioku vs. Lane Andrews 14:44. A far more modern match than anything seen on last week's episode. There was a much higher level of legitimacy (they certainly appeared to be entirely on their own doing a shoot) and the change to gloves allowing for head strikes made it now finally seem like UFC in a wrestling, but freed of the old restrictions and limitations, suddenly the strategy and smarts were greatly increased, and we saw that these guys were, if anything, ahead of their time in terms of the way they looked to answer their opponents techniques. All this, unfortunately, didn't make this an entertaining fight though. Kiuma was content to win through the least possible risk, if not effort, tying Andrews up against the ropes, waiting for the moment to trip him up, and then laying on him in side mount just continuing to hold Andrews close and put his weight on him. Kiuma all of a sudden began striking aggressively to back up an ill advised mount attempt in the ropes that resulted in the ref standing them up. Kiuma just backed Andrews into the ropes again and tripped him up though, and this time mounted before Andrews was so far under the ropes and gambled to get the armbar finish in the last 30 seconds rather than just taking the decision win. Poor match.
Road To The Championship 2 7/6/94: Ken Shamrock vs. Matt Hume 5:50. A really fun work that was mainly an elongated scramble with a few stiff exchanges mixed in. They never stayed in a position for more than a few seconds unless someone was working a submission. Pancrase unfortunately never seemed to get the genius of Hume, a true natural fighter, but you'll notice he's suddenly undefeated once he starts doing shoots in America, including handing Pat Miletich his first loss. Although both were highly impressive, despite all Shamrock's shoot style experience in UWF & PWFG, Hume often actually looked the better of the two, especially in terms of instinctiveness and cleverness as well as skill. An early highlight saw Shamrock fail to respond to a level change, so Hume made a point of getting in on the waistlock and hitting a belly to belly suplex. It was tactics like this that set this apart, as although some or all of it wasn't on the level, Hume imposed the sort of realistic, strategic chain of events you'd never see from guys like Nobuhiko Takada who didn't actually understand MMA. Shamrock tended to get the better of Hume because he was the bigger name, and he probably had 40 pounds on him. Shamrock was the harder hitter in standup, but I liked the spot where Shamrock hit a high kick, so Hume answered with a low kick/high kick combo. The best near finish saw Hume throw Shamrock with the koshi gurma, but Shamrock immediately rolled him and transitioned into an armbar that would have finished had Hume not been so close to the ropes. Refusing to be detered, Shamrock hit an overhead belly to belly and floated over into a Kimura for the win. Very good match.
Truth 2 3/2/96: Bas Rutten vs. Guy Mezger 19:36. Although Mezger is a 6th dan black belt in Karate, he had far vaster knowledge of the ground game than Bas did at this point, and opted to try to take Bas out of his element at every opportunity, which is to say endlessly. Mezger was passing guard at will, though Bas occasionally reguarded, but couldn't do a thing with the position and Bas would just explode to his feet or the ref would give him the Kimbo standup so he could get back to landing a few heavy body shots and set up the wash, rinse, repeat. Mezger had to roll into a kneebar to finally get Bas in trouble, but Bas countered with an ankle lock. They appeared to do the wash, rinse, repeat of this too, but finally changed something up with Bas finishing with a nasty heel hook. The standup was intense with some particularly powerful shots from Rutten, but the majority was on the ground with Mezger just thinking about going for an armbar, but never actually attempting it. For the time period, Mezger had an impressive match and got over in defeat, but it looks really lame now to see a guy get over a dozen mounts and never even threaten. Average match.
Alive 4 4/27/97, King of Pancrase Title Match: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yuki Kondo 15:12. Funaki cemented the shooting stardom of his young protege Kondo, passing the title to him just 14 months into his career so he could at least finally replace Suzuki as the #2 native in the company, if not hopefully soon ascend past Funaki himself. I really liked the movement in this match, both on the feet with all the feints, and on the ground with all the passes and reguards. One of the things that made Funaki so beautiful to watch is he had all the composure and confidence in himself of Takada, but also mixed that with being one of the greatest athletes to ever step into the ring and a teachers mentality that showed not only full belief that he knew his stuff, but also that he was going to lead you through it in the most effortless of manners. Funaki, who has to have 30 pounds on Kondo, is always the one making the fight, pressing forward in standup and taking the top on the ground, but Kondo is always right there with him, drawing him in so he can counter but never giving an inch of intimidation. The fight then, really, is Funaki's action vs. Kondo's reaction, whether Kondo can withstand Funaki's lead or parry it. Kondo came on after 10:00, beginning to attack in standup and work from the top on the ground. Kondo would always essentiall do a double guard pass to end up on the side to fish for the armbar, and finally he locked it, extending Funaki's arm for over 15 seconds in full puroresu tradition before Funaki decided to tap. Good match.
Truth 1 1/28/96, Interim King of Pancrase Title Decision Match: Frank Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki 22:53. Slower paced, more patient long match with a lot of time devoted to setting up the attacks, most of which were ultimately thwarted through a position change. These were very similar in standup, moving and bouncing almost identically. Suzuki tended to dictate, but Shamrock had the most active bottom game in early Pancrase, making his opponent work and think rather than just laying there waiting to be attacked as so many others were doing at this time. There was a nice segment where he bucked Suzuki off of mount, turned to his knees and rolled into a kneebar when Suzuki took his back. Later Frank failed on the kneebar, but the attempt still allowed him to reguard. A bit too much of the forearm to the face sort of tactics for my tastes, but that ultimately set up Frank's kneebar finish after faking the armbar. Above average match.
Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 3 11/8/93: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Andre van den Oetelaar 15:51. A ground fighting theme match where kickboxer Yanagisawa showed less than no interest in engaging in standup with boxer van den Oetelaar, just diving for the single leg right away. The problem was Andre was clearly the better wrestler, even having a better bottom and submission game. Andre had Yanagisawa under pressure some early, but Yanagisawa had superior conditioning, and began to control the grappling game in the 2nd half, eventually winning the battle of footsies with a heel hook. This wasn't a very interesting match as it was mostly patient matwork where they were looking for something, but generally didn't even seem to know what, and just shifted from one appendage to another hoping something would somehow work out. Below average match.
4th Anniversary Show 9/6/97: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Kosei Kubota 10:00 + 3:00. These two were very hungry, and even on the ground were willing to beat each other up with open hands, with Kubota actually even suffering visible damage with a mouse under his eye. Kubota had the better takedown game, but Minowa didn't seem to mind, as he was so comfortable off his back, sporting the best guard we've seen so far in the classics. Minowa was slightly more experienced having debuted in '96, whereas Kubota was in just his 4th fight, but these two were very evenly matched. There's a definite difference in the level of realism in the '97 matches so far in the classics, looking more toward modern MMA where positioning and patience take precedence over offense and taking risks to make something happen, but this would definitely be the pick so far for one that may have been legit if we surmise that Minowa was just going along with the takedowns because he's so comfortable on his back. One judge ruled for Minowa even though he was mostly on the bottom because he did a better job getting submission attempts, but it wound up being a majority draw. Above average match.
Truth 10 12/15/96, King of Pancrase Title Decision Match: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Jason DeLucia 7:49. Both employed the right foot forward stance despite being righties. It was mainly a standup match, and it was pretty even until Funaki actually got a knockdown kicking DeLucia's shin, with DeLucia once again way overdoing the selling again, as well as and the subsequent hobbling. Funaki then went all out attacking the shin, and Funaki would just flop to the canvas with every shot. DeLucia did manage to grab Funaki twice and pull guard, but couldn't finish on the mat, and once they were stood up Funaki finally kicked the knee out to become the 4th King of Pancrase. Average match.
1996 Neo-Blood Tournament 7/22/96: Frank Shamrock vs. Manabu Yamada 12:44. I enjoyed the spectacle of their 12/16/94 match a lot more, but they exchanged that for realism and brutality. This was one of the toughest matches to figure out what was going on, as it started out looking like a more realistic and modern work with more emphasis on positioning and more patience in going for submissions, which were mostly used to transition into the opponent's control. However, Shamrock began getting nasty with the ground and palm, and Yamada wasn't happy he actually got hurt twice, ultimately getting a big shot in on Shamrock in standup. There were definitely aspects of this match, especially some of the striking containing an intent and aggression not seen in any of these other matches, but there also seemed to be a story of Shamrock getting closer and closer with the rear naked choke until he made it good. It's weird that the rear naked choke has played such a small part in these classics matches so far, as it's the highest success rate submission of the current century so you'd think it would have been a staple from the outset, but very few guys were getting the hooks in, much less flattening the opponent out, and Frank was the first to employ the body triangle. They were focusing on this move to set it up as the finish all night, but as Shamrock was also the first to do damage with open hand ground strikes, crushing Yamada's nose with a straight down palm and later getting yellow carded for cutting him in between the eyes with another, they seemed to lose the plot and want to kick each other's asses before finally getting back to it. Good match.
Road To The Championship 3 7/16/94: Ken Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten 16:42. A wrestler vs. striker match that wasn't that entertaining because it was 99% wrestler, but they did tell the logical stories here with Shamrock just grounding Bas after 10 seconds of ferocious standup. Shamrock eventually gave up a dominant position for a leglock only to have Bas just grab the ropes for the standup. Thus, after taking him right back down again, Ken dragged Bas to the center before applying the heel hook, but again Bas made it to the ropes. Bas appeared to tap to a neck crank, but perhaps was just trying to alert the ref that his foot was on the ropes. Shamrock was the dominant wrestler of the era because he had the rare combination of size and movement, but mainly because he understood how to use his weight and leverage to hold positions. Still a neophyte on the mat, Rutten was only able to get to his feet through a rope escape, and then Shamrock would just use his momentum against him, closing the distance when Bas fired away then taking him back down. Shamrock was limiting Bas's breathing all fight, and when Bas finally turned out of mount and tried to stand, Shamrock yanked him back down with a rear naked choke for the immediate tap. Average match.
Breakthrough 11 12/18/99: Nate Marquardt vs. Genki Sudo 13:31. A 20-year-old Marquart made his Japanese debut here at lightweight (this was a lot of testerone ago...) after going 6-0 in Colorado, showing a dominant if only for control top game all fight. Sudo was game, and was going for submissions whenever he could open something up, mostly trying for triangles, while showing an excellent guard that Marquart couldn't pass or really get anything going from. Marquart was well on his way to riding himself to a decision, but tried to finish with a neck crank with 90 seconds left, and Sudo showed why everyone has abandoned the neck crank, quickly countering into an armbar for the surprise comeback win. This wasn't overly entertaining, but the most modern match so far as both men truly understood and displayed a mastery of the effective grappling positioning and defense. Average match.
Alive 3 3/22/97: Kiuma Kunioku vs. Haygar Chin. 7:44. A fun ground match where Kiuma employed a no risk, no reward game, generally being in control because his skill greatly exceeded that of his opponent, but constantly changing positions and attacking submissions even well against the odds of maintaining control. Kunioku began to catch Chin as the fight progressed, but Chin was always too close to the ropes until he finally got the armbar. Chin really brought very little to the table, but Kunioku had him scrambling to defend the whole time, so this was entertaining stuff if you don't mind it being one-sided. Above average match.
Breakthrough 11 12/18/99: Kazuo Takahashi vs. John Cronk 7:59. I was quickly missing the old partially pro wrestling version of Pancrase as Takahashi got Cronk down and spent the entire fight in Cronk's guard, sporadically hitting him. Cronk wasn't moving, wasn't trying anything from the bottom, and wasn't even taking much punishment, but suddenly tapped after a Takahashi headbutt. Poor match.
Advance 1 1/16/98: Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Osami Shibuya 17:31. Shibuya didn't seem to mind if he wound up on his back, so he'd take a chance and Yamamiya would wind up being in control the entire match. Shibuya wasn't getting anything going from his back, and you figured it would be Yamamiya that eventually found an opening, then that it would be a draw, but not that Yamamiya would try for a kneebar but have Shibuya counter with a ankle hold for the win. Average match.
4th Anniversary Show 9/6/97: Yuki Kondo vs. Jason DeLucia 27:22. High level, back and forth contest. DeLucia looked great at the outset, and was trying a lot of at least very modern if not ahead of their time techniques, but Kondo began to outgrapple him. There was a really nice spot where DeLucia nearly got a belly down armbar when Kondo bucked, but Kondo ultimately took took the top. Generally though, it was Kondo who would get the takedown then lose position going for the armbar, while DeLucia would then give it back going for a leg lock or working from the scarf position. They kept attacking, but the worst aspect of this fight was they kept using the same attacks. Ultimately, Kondo was the better wrestler and had the superior cardio. Above average match.
King of Pancrase Tournament 1st Round 12/16/94: Matt Hume vs. Minoru Suzuki 10:00. Hume is by far the guy I'm most impressed with going back and looking at these matches that I didn't realize was a major talent at the time. His fluidity is so far above almost everyone else, and he just seems so much more modern than these other guys, always coming up with things no one else was doing at the time. I loved his side sweep for the forearm choke. What really impressed me about Hume is though he's supposed to be a muay thai guy, he still bases his style on movement, mainly drawn from his karate background. Look how well he moves laterally to set up his kicks, and compare his general striking movement and angling that's karate based years before Lyoto Machida made it famous to that of the much more stationary and predictable Suzuki. Also, Hume's catch wrestling style incorporates his amateur wrestling background far more offensively than the typical wrestler, really using it as a transition to his intended attack, as a means rather than an end. I suppose I should talk about Minoru since he's the one that won the fight on lost points, but Hume really outclassed him from a technical perspective. Good match.
Pancrash! 3 4/21/94: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Takaku Fuke 6:55. Super entertaining bout that was essentially one lengthy, back and forth, perpetual motion, catch wrestling sequence. The few strikes had impact, but essentially it's chaining together a series of pro wrestling grappling counters at a really high level into a larger sequence. I loved that they pretty much took no breaks, and almost felt it was beneath them to hold a position unless it was a locked submission. Funaki put on a super little show here, and I don't remember Fuke looking this good against anyone else. Very good match.
Alive 6 6/18/97: Jason DeLucia vs. Kiuma Kunioku 18:51. DeLucia had the big advantage in standup, doing particularly well when he was coming forward, and quickly swelling Kunioku's right eye shut with his palm strikes. Kunioku was generally the better ground fighter, but neither kept a position for any length of time, and it generally wasn't because they were diving for submissions as usual, though Kunioku was certainly the more daring in that department. The stoppage here was ridiculous. Not that Kunioku's eye wasn't in bad shape, but they made him fight that way for 3/4 of the fight and then stopped it just before the 20:00 time limit expired even though he hadn't taken any new damage. Average match.
Road To The Championship 2 7/6/94: Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Remco Pardoel 14:24. A lengthy squash match. Remco was just too big and strong for Tiger, manhandling him and mauling him. White had the striking skills, but Pardoel was just so much bigger that, at worst, he would walk through a kick or two in order to grab White and get back to bullying him. White did do a better job of staying on the outside momentarily and landing a few shots as the fight progressed, but Remco would quickly cut him off, take him down, and put a submission on. White was only hanging on because Remco took him down against the ropes, therefore White would rope escape once Remco locked a submission. White appeared to break his right hand late in the fight. Finally, Pardoel squashed White with yet another takedown and just had so much weight on him he actually made the forearm choke work. Below average match.
1996 Neo-Blood Tournament Final 7/22/96: Pete Williams vs. Yuki Kondo 20:00. Williams showed a very well rounded skill set for just his third fight. I thought Williams would have the advantage in standup & Kondo would have the advantage on the ground, but it was a very competitive, back and forth match where neither had a decided advantage. Kondo landed some sharp strikes too, a both had several submission attempts. Williams were mainly kneebar attempts, but Kondo wasn't fooled the first time, and then was ready for it. Kondo won the fight, but this was in no way decisive. Above average match.
Eyes of Beast 6 11/4/95: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Frank Shamrock 10:31. Really slick work by two of the greats. These guys were just rolling all over the place diving after submissions. Some of the most effortless work you'll find. Funaki had tapped Frank to a leg lock earlier in the Eyes of Beast series on 3/10/95, so Frank got his revenge here. I was a bit surprised it ended when and how it did, with Funaki suddenly caught and tapping because he didn't want to kick Frank in the face and apparently didn't have any other answers. Good match.
Pancrash! 3 4/21/94: Ken Shamrock vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa 7:30. A squash match where Shamrock was just too powerful for Yanagisawa. He gave a singleminded performance here, hitting the belly to belly suplex into the mount and working for an arm triangle. When Yanagisawa finally rope escaped, Shamrock repeated the sequence. Finally, Yanagisawa just decided to drop to the mat rather than getting tossed, and was able to quickly reverse, but he started playing footsies with Ken, and he was quickly screaming from a nasty heel hook that finished it. Above average match.
1/17/97: Semmy Schilt vs. Guy Mezger
7/23/96 1996 Neo-Blood Tournament Round 2: Yuki Kondo vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya
9/16/98: Evan Tanner vs. Kiuma Kunioku
6/12/95: Takaku Fuke vs. Frank Shamrock
12/16/94 KOP Tournament: Maurice Smith vs. Ken Shamrock
9/1/95 KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Bas Rutten
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Yoshiki Takahashi
Guy Mezger vs. Osami Shibuya
Bas Rutten vs. Frank Shamrock
Minoru Suzuki vs. Semmy Schilt
Evan Tanner vs. Leon Van Dijk
9/21/93: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ken Shamrock
Kosei Kubota vs. Jong Wong Kim
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Omar Bouiche
Alex Cook vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
5/16/96: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Oleg Taktarov
Minoru Suzuki vs. Remco Pardoel
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Semmy Schilt
Chris Lytle vs. Daisuke Watanabe
Frank Shamrock vs. Yuki Kondo
Alive 2 2/22/97: Guy Mezger vs. Yuki Kondo
Evan Tanner vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Maurice Smith vs. Minoru Suzuki
Frank Shamrock vs. Takafumi Ito
Bas Rutten vs. Kiuma Kunioku
Ken Shamrock vs. Yoshiki Takahashi
Alive 2 2/22/97: Paul Lazenby vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Eyes of Beast 5 6/13/95: Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Manabu Yamada 10:26
Pancrash! 3 4/21/94: Matt Hume vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Truth 6 6/25/96: Yuki Kondo vs. Minoru Suzuki 15:00
Breakthrough 4 4/18/99: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ebenezer Fontes Braga 15:00
9/14/98: Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki
Eddy Millis vs. Sanae Kikuta
Evan Tanner vs. Justin McCully
4/26/98: Jason DeLucia vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Yuki Kondo vs. Semmy Schilt
Ken Shamrock vs. Larry Papadopoulos
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Bas Rutten
note: some matches digested
12/16/94 King Of Pancrase Tournament 1st Round
Minoru Suzuki vs. Matt Hume. Good match. Both men were in control some of the time, trying submissions. Hume gave Suzuki a lot more trouble than I expected.
Jason Delucia vs. Thomas Puckett
Christopher Deweaver vs. Manabu Yamada
Bas Rutten vs. Frank Jaurez (Shamrock). Frank was better than I expected. He was often in control. Bas got some nice strikes in, but Frank was able to negate much of his striking ability by taking him down, where Frank was the better of the two.
Wayne Shamrock vs. Alex Cook
Maurice Smith vs. Yusuke Fuke
Vernon White vs. Leon Dijk
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Robert Bjornethun
2nd Round
Jason Delucia vs. Minoru Suzuki
Frank Jaurez vs. Manabu Yamada. Typical Frank match where they are constantly working on the mat. The advantage changed several times.
Maurice Smith vs. Wayne Shamrock
Vernon White vs. Masakatsu Funaki
12/17/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit
Scott Bessac vs. Larry Papadopoulos. This is the only time I've ever seen someone in the guard get a KO from a punch to the stomach. Unreal.
King Of Pancrase Tournament Semifinals
Minoru Suzuki vs. Manabu Yamada. Really good technical match. They were always working.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock. Shamrock was just running through everyone in this tournament.
Tournament Final: (Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Manabu Yamada. Shamrock was always in control. Yamada's defense was good, but he had no chance for offense.
Kiuma Kunioku vs. Kosei Kubota
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Andre van den Oetelaar
Daiju Takase vs. Daisuke Ishii
Kazuo Takashi vs. Jason DeLucia
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Semmy Schilt
Minoru Suzuki vs. Larry Papadopoulos
Maurice Smith vs. Bas Rutten
Advance 1 1/16/98: Jong Wang Kim vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
4/8/95: Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Larry Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos was winning the whole fight, but White "magically" pulled a submission out of his hat in the final 10 seconds.
9/7/96: Manabu Yamada vs. Kiuma Kunioku
3/22/97: Semmy Schilt vs. Kazuo Takahashi
12/18/99: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Chris Lytle
9/14/98: Bas Rutten vs. Kengo Watanabe 2:58. Such a ridiculous mismatch. Rutten was returning from a 10 month absence, but he was "25-4-1" at this point having not lost since 3/10/95 as his KOP title was simply vacated, and the opponent was literally in his first professional fight. As you'd expect, Bas just savaged the poor kid with palm strikes. It turned out to be his last Pancrase fight, as he entered the UFC heavyweight title tournament after this, defeating Kevin Randleman in the final then being forced to retire due to multiple injuries.
11/7/04: Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. Ron Waterman
7/23/00: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Masaya Kojima
3/8/03: Yuki Kondo vs. Sumio Koyano
10/31/01: Kazuo Misaki vs. Takaku Fuke
1/26/03: Yushin Okami vs. Hikaru Sato 2R UD
11/30/02: Minoru Suzuki vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
1/26/03: Akihiro Gono vs. Chael Sonnen
9/29/02: Ron Waterman vs. Kengo Watanabe
3/18/03: Osami Shibuya vs. Evangelista Cyborg
4/12/03: Chris Lytle vs. Koji Oishi 3R SD
7/23/00: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Tony Ross R1 1:32
11/30/03: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Baret Yoshida R1 1:29
9/24/00: Minoru Suzuki vs. Denis Kang R1 3:43
8/31/03 Openweight King of Pancrase: Yuki Kondo vs. Josh Barnett R3 3:26. Kondo is a serious badass for taking crazy fights like this, Barnett should be 3 weight classes above him. Unofrunately, Barnett fought a smart fight, taking Kondo's space away. He controlled R1 in the clinch against the ropes, using his size to bully Kondo & mount him in R2 & 3. Kondo finally momentarily came to life midway through the 2nd after baiting Barnett to go for the armbar gave him the opportunity to get back to his feet, but his hope spot was short lived & again Barnett used the clinch then took him down, working him over from mount again until the round ended. Barnett hoisted his puny opponent for two back to back suplexes in the 3rd, and when he mounted again it felt like it was time to stop the fight. Kondo was eventually forced to give his back, at which point Barnett mercifully choked him out.
9/24/00: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Brian Gassaway
6/26/00: Kiuma Kunioku vs. Matt Lee R1 4:15
7/6/99: Semmy Schilt vs. Osami Shibuya 12:06
6/22/04: Yuki Kondo vs. Shannon Ritch R1 1:01
10/31/00: Murilo Bustamante vs. Sanae Kikuta 15:00 UD
3/31/01: Nate Marquardt vs. Hikaru Sato R1 1:53
11/30/03: Jake Shields vs. Kazuo Misaki 3R Draw
10/8/96: Guy Mezger vs. Kiuma Kunioku
10/31/00: Yoshinori Kawasaki vs. Satoru Kitaoka
6/25/04: Takafumi Ito vs. Heath Sims
11/30/02: Ricardo Almeida vs. Osami Shibuya
12/16/04 KOP Tournament: Maurice Smith vs. Takaku Fuke
11/7/04: Yuki Kondo vs. Evangelista Cyborg
3/25/02: Nate Marquardt vs. Kazou Misaki
11/7/04: Yoon Seob Kwak vs. Hiromitsu Miura
2/16/03: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Shigeyuki Umeki
11/30/03: Ron Waterman vs. Jimmy Ambriz
3/31/00: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Paulo Filho
10/2/05: Carlos Condit vs. Satoru Kitaoka
7/27/07: Jose Aldo vs. Shoji Maruyama
8/23/06: Rob Emerson vs. Kenji Arai
12/4/03: Keith Jardine vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya
7/23/00: Shonie Carter vs. Yoshinori Kawasaki
7/23/00: Chris Lytle vs. Taro Obata
7/25/04: Ed Herman vs. Kazuo Misaki
8/23/06: Nate Diaz vs. Koji Oishi
7/29/06: Riki Fukuda vs. Yuji Sakuragi
7/30/07: Jameel Massouh vs. Daiki Hata
9/29/02: Kiuma Kunioka vs. Hiroki Nagaoka
7/7/96: Evan Tanner vs. Kosei Kubota
9/6/97: Bas Rutten vs. Osami Shibuya
10/29/02: Nate Marquardt vs. Izuru Takeuchi
5/17/03: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Mitsuhisa Sunabe
3/25/06: Hacran Dias vs. Takafumi Ito
5/30/07: Assuerio Silva vs. Tatsuya Mizuno
8/27/06: Paul Daley vs. Satoru Kitaoka
9/6/97: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Guy Mezger
11/30/03, Light Heavyweight King of Pancrase Title Match: Sanae Kikuta vs. Yuki Kondo
10/25/06: Carlos Condit vs. Tatsunori Tanaka
10/31/00: Genki Sudo vs. Craig Oxley. Sudo does a giant swing into an Achilles' tendon hold for the win.
8/31/03: Heath Sims vs. Yuki Sasaki 3R UD. Olympic wrestler Sims was super tough. Sasaki landed a bunch of clean shots to the head, particularly in the 2nd, which is a round I didn't think Sims would survive. Though the ref had to tell Sims which corner to go to, he came out in the 3rd and got a takedown, and controlling most of the round, though Sasaki got a high kick & a big right in late.
10/2/05: Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. Mike Kyle R3 1:17
3/26/08: Marlon Sandro vs. Miki Shida R2 4:19
12/18/99: Minoru Suzuki vs. Sanae Kikuta R1 2:39
5/1/05: Nate Marquardt vs. Izuru Takeuchi R3 2:19
12/20/97: Kosei Kubota vs. Takafumi Ito 7:03
5/1/05: Kenji Arai vs. Katsuya Inoue R2 4:30
12/1/01: Osami Shibuya vs. Yuki Sasaki R3 3:42
9/16/06: Carlos Condit vs. Takuya Wada R3 4:22
11/7/04 Middleweight King of Pancrase Title: Kazuo Misaki vs. Nate Marquardt 3R UD. Misaki tried to use his movement to peck away at Marquardt and wear him out, but he had to fight an almost perfect fight to pull this off against the superior boxer. Marquardt had the big power advantage, and though he took a lot of leg kicks, stayed patient & capitalized on lining Misaki up in front of him for right straight knockdowns in the 2nd & 3rd.
7/31/05: Yuji Sakuragi vs. Aslan Dzeboev R2 1:31
11/20/02: Sanae Kikuta vs. Eduardo Pamplona 3R UD
11/30/03: Akihiro Gono vs. Nilson de Castro 3R UD
7/28/02: Yuki Kondo vs. Yoshinori Momose R2 3:51
12/1/01: Kazuo Misaki vs. Chris Lytle 3R UD
11/30/03: Middleweight King of Pancrase: Nate Marquardt vs. Ricardo Almeida R1 4:53
9/18/99: Kazuo Takahashi vs. Osami Shibuya 6:08
12/21/03: Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Bret Bergmark 3R draw
8/27/05: Daisuke Watanabe vs. Daijiro Matsui 2R
7/31/05: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Colin Mannsur R1 2:43. If MMA was around in the days of the silent movie clowns, their spoof of it might look something like this. The start of the fight was delayed for several minutes while they wiped the excessive grease of Mannsur's face, eventually giving him a yellow card. Mannsur tried to stop Maeda's backdrop with the most blatant rope hold ever, but Maeda just repositioned and slammed him. Mannsur kept trying to defend with the schoolyard headlock, both on the feet and the ground, and when they tried to reset the position after his eye gouge for a 2nd yellow card it took several tries because he kept insisting on putting himself in a worse position that he thought was better & eventually no one remembered what the real position actually was. Maeda finally pounded him out from mount, and after the ref finally stopped it he kept hitting Mannsur because Mannsur was such a cheating scumbag. Once Maeda was off him, Mannsur popped up & tried to get revenge, prompting Robin Black to ask "Is Mannsur going to start fighting properly now?", leading to a big pro wrestling pull apart.
11/30/02: Yushin Okami vs. Sen Nakadai 2R UD
7/28/06: Carlos Condit vs. Koji Oishi R3 1:01
4/30/00: Shonie Carter vs. Kiuma Kunioku 2R draw
2/28/07: Thiago Silva vs. Tatsuya Mizuno R1 4:29
4/27/97: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Paul Varelans 15:00. Brutal fight. Varelans had it all but won with nasty palm strikes from the mount that busted Yanagisawa's nose, but Yanagisawa got the ropes and nearly tore Varelans' tendon. The length plus Varelans hobbling were then in Yanagisawa's favor, but this was no cake walk for either to say the least.
11/28/07: Marlon Sandro vs. DJ Taiki 3R UD
5/18/03 Light Heavyweight King of Pancrase: Sanae Kikuta vs. Yuki Kondo 3R Draw. Kikuta avoided Kondo's standup game at all costs, even if he had to pull guard. His top game was the winning position, but although that was where the majority of the fight took place, Kondo attacked enough from the bottom to keep him from relaxing and wore him down enough to come on in the 3rd. Kondo had two big flurries of ground and pound in the 3rd, which was a really good round, in between getting reversed, finishing strong enough to get the draw.
12/1/01: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Hiroshi Shibata
9/29/02: Alex Steibling vs. Yuki Sasaki 3R UD
11/27/04: Akihiro Gono vs. Tim McKenzie R2 2:53
10/29/02: Chris Lytle vs. Yuji Hoshino R1 2:09
8/27/06: Yuki Kondo vs. Daijiro Matsui 3R UD
6/26/00: Nate Marquardt vs. Daiju Takase R2 1:30
8/27/06: Poai Suganuma vs. Kestutis Arbocius
10/31/00: Johnny Huskey vs. Katsuhisa Fuji
7/27/07: Fabricio Nascimento vs. Katsuya Inoue
12/4/00: Magomed Ismailov vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
2/26/07: Gustavo Picone vs. Satoru Kitaoka
9/14/98: Yuki Kondo vs. Osami Shibuya
9/24/00: Nate Marquardt vs. Kiuma Kunioku
9/29/13: Sirwan Kakai vs. Taichi Nakajima
11/28/07: Masayuki Kono vs. Tatsuya Mizuno
8/27/06: Henry Miller vs. Seiji Ogura
12/4/00: Denis Kang vs. Kei Yamamiya
4/30/00: Minoru Suzuki vs. Sean Daugherty
10/12/04: Yushin Okami vs. Eiji Ishikawa
9/16/06: Masayuki Kono vs. Daniel Lyons
10/5/02: Masayuki Kono vs. Aslan Dzeboev
5/1/06: Jin Chul Oh vs. Ryuta Noji
6/26/00: Omar Bouiche vs. Jason DeLucia
7/25/02: Kenji Arai vs. Satoru Kitaoka
7/27/07: Hikaru Sato vs. Riki Fukuda
12/1/01: Daisuke Watanabe vs. Sanae Kikuta
4/12/03: Ricardo Almeida vs. Yuki Sasaki
MPW 8/18/96: Gran Hamada & Jushin Thunder Liger & Gran Naniwa vs. Dick Togo & TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki
3/17/13: Nobuhiro Yoshitake vs. Shintaro Ishiwatari
Daniel Swain vs. Tomonari Kanomata
Jason Delucia vs. Bob Stines
Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Sumio Kotano
Tatsu Sasaki vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
Yuki Kondo vs. Brian Gassaway
12/4/00: Nate Marquardt vs. Kiuma Kunioku
NJ 12/27/87: Antonio Inoki vs. Vader
11/28/07: Juntaro Ami vs. Akihiro Ono
6/22/04: Masakazu Kuramochi vs. Koji Oishi
10/12/04: Osami Shibuya vs. Seong Hee Kim
117/04: Webster Dauphiney vs. Sanae Kikuta
4/12/03: Takuya Wada vs. Satoru Kitaoka
11/30/02: Masaya Kojima vs. Kazuo Misaki
9/24/00: Chris Lytle vs. Shonie Carter
6/1/08: Junior Santos vs. Izuru Takeuchi
5/19/13: Rin Nakai vs. "Boom Boom" Brenda Gonzales
12/31/13: Takashi Sato vs. Joe Proctor
8/27/06: Yoshiro Maeda vs. DJ Taiki
3/8/03: Kazuo Misaki vs. Yuji Hisamatsu
5/13/01, King of Pancrase Title Match: Nate Marquardt vs. Masaya Kojima
4/30/00: Osami Shibuya vs. Hiroshi Ota
7/27/07: Ki Seok Choi vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
2/3/13: Daniel Swain vs. Tadahiro Harada
9/29/13, Pancrase World Slam Lightweight Tournament: Daniel Swain vs. Hiroki Nagaoka
7/25/04: Kobus Huisaman vs. Ryuta Noji
6/25/00: Ichio Matsubara vs. Sanae Kikuta
6/22/04: Nate Marquardt vs. Eiji Ishikawa
7/25/04: Ryusuke Uemura vs. DJ Taiki
7/31/03: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Miki Shida
7/28/02: Kiuma Kunioku vs. Takafumi Ito
10/2/05: Hikaru Sato vs. Po'ai Suganuma
5/13/01: Denis Kang vs. Osami Shibuya
11/7/04: Nate Marquardt vs. Kazuo Misaki
10/4/03: Takumi Yano vs. Kenji Takeshige
3/17/13: Jorge Patino vs. Isao Kobayashi
7/29/02: Terrance Crampton vs. Kengo Watanabe
7/25/04: Fabio Leopoldo vs. Yuki Sasaki
4/30/00: Semmy Schilt vs. Kazuo Takahashi
2/16/03: Yuki Kondo vs. Gabriel Vella
3/31/01: Tim Lajcik vs. Kengo Watanabe
3/25/02: Koji Oishi vs. Satoru Kitaoka
7/31/05: Takumi Murata vs. Daiki Hata "DJ. taiki"
1/26/03: Hidetada Irie vs. Daisuke Watanabe
12/21/02: Chris Lytle vs. Izuru Takeuchi
12/21/02: Yuki Kondo vs. Tsuyoshi Kurihara
3/15/03: Jason Godsey vs. Jun Ishii
10/30/01: Hikeaki Iwasajo vs. Hikaru Sato
10/2/05: Yuji Sakuraga vs. Hideki Tadao
3/23/97: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Paul Lazenby
5/13/01: Yuki Sasaki vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
7/27/03: Nate Marquardt vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya
10/25/06: Koji Oishi vs. In Seok Kim
7/25/04: Joe D'Arce vs. Hiromitsu Miura
10/4/03: Satoshi Watanabe vs. Yoshiro Maeda
3/11/03: Yuji Hisamatsu vs. Kazuo Misaki
5/14/96: Bas Rutten vs. Frank Shamrock
2/16/03: Kosei Kubota vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa
7/26/94: Matt Hume vs. Manabu Yamada
12/4/00: Yuji Hoshino vs. Shonie Carter
11/30/02: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Yuki Sasaki
12/1/01, King of Pancrase Middleweight Title Match: Nate Marquardt vs. Kiuma Kunioku
9/16/06: Akihiro Ono vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
2/3/13: Sojiro Orui vs. Shingo Suzuki
7/28/02: Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Mitsuyoshi Sato
9/25/02: Kazuo Misaki vs. Kosei Kubota
2/23/97: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Semmy Schilt
10/2/05: Carlos Condit vs. Satoru Kitaoka
8/31/03: Toru Yano vs. Osami Shibuya
6/25/00: Daisuke Ishii vs. Omar Bouiche
5/24/97: Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Jason DeLucia
10/12/04: Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Koji Oishi
7/22/96: Yuki Kondo vs. Semmy Schilt
12/21/02: Nate Marquardt vs. Kiuma Kunioku
7/28/02: Masashi Suzuki vs. Sen Nakadai
10/29/02: Takahiro Sanehara vs. Miki Shida
5/30/07: Fabi Silva vs. Ryo Kawamura
5/18/03: Flavio Luiz Moura vs. Akihiro Gono
10/4/03: Yuji Hisamatsu vs. Nate Marquardt
9/18/99: Kiuma Kunioku vs. Yuki Kondo
9/29/13: Felipe Oliviera vs. Hiroki Aoki
10/29/02: Takehiro Kato vs. Kenji Arai
10/2/05: Kestutis Arbocius vs. Kazuo Takahashi
5/30/07: Koji Oishi vs. Katsuya Inoue
12/20/97: Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Bas Rutten
5/8/03: Nate Marquardt vs. Izuru Takeuchi
9/29/13: Rin Nakai vs. Tara LaRosa
7/27/07: Satoru Takadaya vs. Tadasuke Yoshida
10/4/03: Daisuke Hanazawa vs. Takafumi Ito
9/24/00: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya
12/18/99: Sanae Kikuta vs. Minoru Suzuki
3/18/95: Frank Shamrock vs. Masakatsu Funaki
7/29/04: Ippo Watanuki vs. Yuji Oba
9/16/06: Daniel Acacio vs. Ryo Kawamura
5/1/05: Yuya Shirai vs. Daisuke Watanabe
12/31/13: Daiki Yamaishi vs. Kento Kanbe
12/21/02: Manao Kumagai vs. Kenji Arai
4/18/99: Chris Lytle vs. Osami Shibuya
1/19/94: Minoru Suzuki vs. Ken Shamrock
11/30/02: Kunihiro Watanabe vs. Mitsuhisa Sunabe
10/12/04: Hidetaka Monma vs. Takafumi Ito
3/5/02: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Yoshinori Momose
9/25/13: Marlon Sandro vs. Yojiro Uchimura
4/18/99: Yuki Kondo vs. Semmy Schilt
3/26/08: Hikaru Sato vs. Alavutdin Gadjiev
Tadasuke Yoshida vs. Shinsuke Shoji
Jun Ishii vs. Kengo Watanabe
Andy Main vs. Hiroki Aoki
Pete Williams vs. Osami Shibuya
Semmy Schilt vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
5/1/05: Ippo Watanuki vs. Takumi Yano
Kei Yamamiya vs. Eiji Ishikawa
Takafumi Ito vs. Shinsuke Shoji
12/8/13: Lando Vannata vs. Mitsuyoshi Nakai
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Katsuya Inoue
Minori Suzuki vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
10/26/08: Takayuki Hirayasu vs. Takuya Eizumi
10/25/13: Shinso Anzai vs. Will Noland
11/7/04: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Ryuta Noji
6/11/99: Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Jason DeLucia
7/28/02: Kiuma Kunioku vs. Koji Oishi
4/8/95: Frank Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki
9/29/13: Shungo Oyama vs. Jordan Currie
10/27/08: Toshiro Nishiuchi vs. Kenji Arai
8/27/06 King of Pancrase Welterweight Title Match: Daizo Ishige vs. Katsuya Inoue
9/29/02: Masakazu Imanari vs. Yuji Oba
7/26/98: Masakatsu Funaki vs.
7/30/97: Bas Rutten vs. Takaku Fuke
12/8/93: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Vernon "Tiger" White 8:55
9/1/94: Matt Hume vs. Jason DeLucia 15:00
6/13/95: Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Toon Stelling 17:43
10/8/96: Guy Mezger vs. Kiuma Kunioku 2R SD
12/20/97 King of Pancrase: Yuki Kondo vs. Masakatsu Funaki R1 2:20
3/16/98: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kosei Kubota R1 3:38