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#4. Japanese MMA icon and Pancrase co-founder, Masakatsu Funaki
The sport of MMA owes a lot to Japanese pro wrestling legend Masakatsu Funaki and yet, not a lot of people know about him.
Funaki co-founded Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling, a fight organization that predated the existence of both the UFC and PRIDE FC. The two fight leagues owe a lot to what Funaki, together with fellow shoot wrestler Minoru Suzuki, started back in 1993.
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Deriving its name from the Greek combat sport Pankration, Pancrase heavily borrowed from pro/shoot-style wrestling but with no worked finish. Therefore, they were fighting for real. It was one of the first televised iterations of mixed martial arts before the UFC fully established it as a sport.
One of the most successful fighters from the first Pancrase event was Ken Shamrock, who beat Funaki via arm triangle choke. Due to his monumental win, Ken got a call from the UFC months later to fight in their first event. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not only was Funaki an influential promoter of both Japanese MMA and the sport in general, he's also a tremendous fighter. Boasting over 50 pro fights, Funaki has the rare distinction of being the only fighter to hold submission wins over both Ken and Frank Shamrock as well as Bas Rutten.
#3. Japanese wrestling and martial arts legend Antonio Inoki
Funaki inspired a lot of pro-wrestlers like Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuyuki Fujita to jump into mixed martial arts and further establish the sport in Japan. It was, however, Antonio Inoki who gave him the idea in the first place.
Inoki is famous for his 1976 special rules match with boxing's greatest, Muhammad Ali, in Nippon Budokan Arena in front of thousands of people.
Massive intrigue was generated when the greatest boxer in the world, Ali, showed interest in taking on wrestling's best. Though the fight was heavily publicized with over a billion projected viewers, it ended as a bizarre disappointment.
Due to both fight camps not coming to an agreement with the ruleset, Inoki was forced to fight in the weirdest way possible. The catch wrestling icon and former Karate fighter was only allowed to throw kicks if one or both of his knees were on the ground.
The fight was a 15-round dance with Ali running around the ring and Inoki lying on his back kicking the living daylights out of Ali's legs. The fight ended in a draw and Ali was hospitalized due to blood clots in his legs caused by Inoki's kicks.
Watch this well-written analysis of the fight in this YouTube video by The Modern Martial Artist below:
Though it was a disappointment, the fight was the first superfight to resemble an MMA bout, inspiring wrestlers like Funaki to dabble in the concept.
Aside from this fight, Inoki was known to beat fighters from different disciplines, using his catch wrestling and karate backgrounds. During his illustrious career, Inoki promoted MMA alongside pro wrestling in promotions like NJPW, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye and Inoki Genome Federation.
One of the most famous fighters to come out of Inoki's promotional exploits was former UFC champion, Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida.
