If you didn't follow the Japanese mixed martial arts promotion, Shooto in the 1990s, I can't say I blame you. Shooto has become known as 'the home of the draw' due to its many matches that go to the judges with little to separate the combatants. But as a promotion focused on the lighter weight classes, it also served as the breeding ground for much of Japan's finest MMA talent. Takanori Gomi, Shinya Aoki, Hatsu Hioki, Kid Yamamoto, Tatsuya Kawajiri all came up through Shooto.

But before any of them, Shooto had three great favorites. There was of course Rumina Sato, the Moonwolf, who became the first Japanese fighter to submit a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in a fight—he of the legendary flying armbar.

But on an October night in 1996, Caol Uno and Hayato Sakurai both made their professional debuts against each other at the curiously named Shooto: Let's Get Lost. Soon, both would become superstars.

Uno foreshadowed his career ahead, wherein he would be better known for the fights he lost than those he won, by submitting to an armbar. Sakurai, meanwhile, went on a tear that had to be seen to be believed. From 1996 to August 2001, Sakurai did not allow himself to suffer a single defeat. Fighting out of the legendarily tough Gustman Dojo, Sakurai's performances showed him to be a complete fighter even by today's standards.

Incredible hip throws, thunderous low kicks, and brutal ground and pound came to be Sakurai's trademarks. Moreover, he seemed to be a fighter who actively enjoyed trying new things. He would pick up a technique, start working with it, and soon it would be as dangerous as if he'd been training for it his entire career.

When Sakurai met the undefeated American wrestler, Frank Trigg, he seemed to be in deep waters. Trigg was relentless and his constant aggression troubled the Shooto welterweight champion. After Sakurai was reversed on one of his hip throws, he spent the rest of the first round underneath Trigg. In the second round, he went for a variation on sasae-tsurikomi-ashi, blocking Trigg's foot as he yanked him off balance, but again ended up on the bottom.

Tying up one of Trigg's arms from his dangerous butterfly guard, Sakurai scurried into a technical stand up. As he broke from the clinch, Trigg gave chase, and ate a sizzling back-stepping left hook which threw him to the floor. Under a more conventional ruleset, Sakurai would have jumped in and finished Trigg right there, but Shooto uses a boxing style count when a fighter is knocked down from the feet (though if you are hurt with ground and pound, there is no count... it's sort of ridiculous).

The two fighters immediately fell into a clinch, but Sakurai worked his head and forearms in for separation and applied a double collar tie. A knee smashed in and Trigg was on the floor again. He got up gamely, but in came another pair of jumping knees from the clinch and Trigg was done.

The back stepping left hook became something of a Sakurai favorite in years to come, but he progressed in leaps and bounds in ever area of the game. In 1999, Sakurai entered ADCC—the most important no gi grappling competition in the world. In his own weightclass, under 77kg, Sakurai defeated the great Andre Pederneiras (coach of Jose Aldo and Renan Barao) and Fabiano Iha, before losing to Jean Jacques Machado. But Sakurai's real feat was coming second in the absolute weightclass: besting Vinny Magalhaes and Ricco Rodriguez despite a significant size disadvantage. Sakurai also snagged the quickest submission in the entire competition with a wickedly sharp razor armlock.

Sakurai's undefeated streak came to a halt in August of 2001 when he met a young Anderson Silva. Curiously, Sakurai had his success on the feet and lost the bout largely on the ground. Here began Sakurai's slide. After losing his Shooto title to Silva, Sakurai got a shot at Matt Hughes' belt in the UFC. After four rounds, Sakurai succumbed to the welterweight great.

From 2001 to 2004, Sakurai seemed like an old fighter who was winding down. The 18-0-2 record became a 23-6-2 record as Sakurai joined the PRIDE Bushido roster and was matched against Gracies. This normally resulted in an entertaining grappling match, but Sakurai dropped a decision as often as he won one.

In 2005, Sakurai did something interesting, he went to the United States to train with Matt Hume at AMC Pankration. If you follow MMA closely, you will know that Hume, 'The Wizard', is credited as being largely responsible for the success of Demetrious Johnson and Rich Franklin. The result was something of a career rebirth.

After besting Milton Vieira (inventor of the anaconda choke) and returning to Shooto to take a hard fought decision against a young Shinya Aoki, Sakurai threw himself into the first PRIDE lightweight grand prix. Sakurai had competed as a welterweight his entire career, he was cutting to lightweight for the first time and it was one hell of a testing ground for his new physique.

The line up of the grand prix was a murderers' row. Luiz Azeredo, Takanori Gomi, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen, Jens Pulver and Yves Edwards were all present—the winner of this tournament would be considered the best lightweight in the world, no question.

In the first round, Sakurai met Jens Pulver. He ate away at the former UFC champion with low kicks, but was wobbled with that tremendous Pulver left hook at two points during the bout. The longer the fight went, however, the more difficulty Pulver had in taking the kicks. Bruised from knee to ankle, Pulver stumbled when Sakurai's tree trunk legs connected. Finally, Sakurai uncorked one of the most beautiful multi-level combinations I've ever seen in a right straight, left hook to the body, and a jumping knee. Pulver hit the mat, Sakurai followed with ground and pound, and the fight was waved off.

In the semi-final of the grand prix, Sakurai met Joachim Hansen. The Norwegian had bested Yves Edwards in the opening round of the tournament and was riding high on a streak of six wins. The bout between Sakurai and Hansen was spirited, but Sakurai took the decision. All the while showing his love for the finish. When Sakurai dropped Hansen with that terrific left hook and Hansen rushed to the clinch, Sakurai immediately looked for the hip throw and a low percentage armbar which saw him end up underneath Hansen and gave Hansen time to recover.

After beating two top lightweights in the same night, Sakurai was through to the final against Takanori Gomi. Gomi was a dynamo and one of the hardest hitters the lightweight class had ever seen. His modus operandi through the tournament had been to go to the body, hard and often, winding his opponents. Through his biting low kicks and lateral movement, Sakurai avoided the charges of The Fireball Kid, until he fell into a clinch.

Sakurai attempted a hip throw, but the ropes prevented him from completing it, and instead he found himself with Gomi on his back. Before Gomi became one of the better boxers in MMA, he was a pure ground and pounder. Taking the back and raining down blows, Gomi deliberately aimed his strikes behind Sakurai's ears. After over a minute of constant hitting, the two returned to the feet but Sakurai could not get his balance. Gomi lunged in and floored Sakurai, taking the lightweight grand prix title.

There was no shame in losing to Takanori Gomi, especially as the oldest member of the tournament and someone whom many thought was past his best at any rate. Sakurai hung around PRIDE until it was bought out by Zuffa in 2007. In that time he delivered complete pastings of Mac Danzig, Olaf Alfonso, and Luciano Azevedo. The Alfonso knockout consistently ranks as one of the best in MMA history.



Mac Danzig



Olaf Alfonso

Following the disbanding of PRIDE FC, Sakurai continued on the Japanese circuit, and with his head-body-legs kickboxing combinations he remained perhaps the fighter to get Bas Rutten the most animated on commentary. Sakurai suffered a great many losses before deciding to hang up the gloves for good, but perhaps the most interesting was his bout with Nick Diaz. A balding Sakurai lit Diaz up on the feet in the opening moments, before diving for an ill advised takedown and getting armbarred.

Bas Rutten remarked during Sakurai's bout with Hansen that while he was competing in Pancrase, he looked up to Sakurai, declaring that Sakurai was so well rounded even in the 1990s. Sakurai's only title was a Shooto one, and he only competed once in the UFC, but if you are looking for a fighter who excelled in every area and fought bouts his own way—even if his beautiful style hurt him at times—Sakurai is one who should be on your Fight Pass binge list.

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