Back كازوشي ساكورابا Arabic Kazushi Sakuraba Spanish کازوکی ساکورابا FA Kazushi Sakuraba Finnish Kazushi Sakuraba French Kazushi Sakuraba Italian 桜庭和志 Japanese 사쿠라바 가즈시 Korean Kazushi Sakuraba Dutch Kazushi Sakuraba NB
| Kazushi Sakuraba | |
|---|---|
 Sakuraba in 2015 | |
| Born | July 14, 1969[1] Shōwa, Akita, Japan[1] (now Katagami, Akita, Japan) |
| Other names | The Gracie Hunter |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Weight | 75.75 kg (167.0 lb; 11 st 13.0 lb) |
| Division | Welterweight Middleweight Light Heavyweight Openweight |
| Reach | 186.7 cm (74 in) |
| Style | Catch Wrestling Shoot Wrestling |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Team | Takada Dojo Laughter7 |
| Teacher(s) | Nobuhiko Takada Yoji Anjo Billy Robinson |
| Years active | 1996–2011, 2015 (MMA) 1993– present (Wrestling) |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 46 |
| Wins | 26 |
| By knockout | 4 |
| By submission | 19 |
| By decision | 3 |
| Losses | 17 |
| By knockout | 10 |
| By submission | 3 |
| By decision | 4 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 2 |
| Other information | |
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
Last updated on: May 18, 2010 | |
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.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Rizin FF – Rizin Fighting Federation 1". Sherdog. 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
Shooterswas 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.