Of all the MMA fighters who have competed well past their prime, there have been few tales more woeful than that of Kazushi Sakuraba. One of the true legends of the sport, Sakuraba first started competing professionally back in 1996, compiling nearly 50 matches against a who’s who of the sport in the time since. And not a one of his fights — not his 26 wins, nor his 17 losses, two draws, and one No Contest — came easily.
There are few fighters, nay, human beings on this Earth who can claim to have absorbed as much punishment as Kazushi Sakuraba has, and as is so often the case, the years are clearly starting to wear on “The Gracie Hunter” to increasingly distressing results.
This morning, Sakuraba emerged from a four year absence (and a four fight losing streak) to take on Shinya Aoki in the main event of Rizin FF SARABA, night one. The results were at best what you’d expect from a 46 year-old man, and at worst a snuff film that will make every “PRIDE Neva Die!!” fan cry into their lunch.
Video after the jump.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no no. That was just…
I’m not gonna…
Just give me a second…
Oh f*ck it…
Wha…why did that referee hate Sakuraba so much, you guys? Why did he let a legend just get pummeled into the canvas for so long without stepping in? And more importantly, WHY WAS THIS FIGHT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN?!! DOES NOBUYUKI SAKAKIBARA HAVE NO HEART?!!!
You can check out a full video of Sakuraba vs. Aoki here, but why do that to yourself? (Seriously, even Aoki is crying by the end of that damn thing.) Full results for Rizin FF night one are below. I hate everything. Goodnight.
Main Event
-Shinya Aoki def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO in the first round
Heavyweight Grand Prix:
-Vadim Nemkov def. Goran Reljic via TKO in the first round
-Jiri Prochazka def. Satoshi Ishii via KO (punch and grounded knee) in the first round
-Teodoras Aukstuolis def. Bruno Cappelozza via KO in the first round
-Muhammed Lawal def. Brett McDermott via KO in the first round
-Valentin Moldovsky def. Yuta Uchida via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:20 of the first round – (tourney reserve bout)
Featured fights:
-Hiroyuki Takaya def. Dalki Hata via unanimous decision
-Hideo Tokoro def. Kizaemon Saiga via submission (armbar) in the first round
-Anatoly Tokov def. A.J. Matthews via KO in the first round
-Felipe Efrain def. Yuki Motoya via KO in the first round (Deemed no contest due to Efrain missing weight)
-Kirill Sidelnikov def. Carlos Toyota via TKO in the first round
-Tsuyoshi Kohsaka def. James Thompson via TKO in of the second round
-K-1 rules bout: Hiroya Kawabe def. Akiyo Nishiura via KO in the third round
-Mixed rules bout: Hinata Watanabe def. Kazuyuki Miyata via TKO (knockdowns) in the first round
The post Kazushi Sakuraba Was Damn Near Beaten to Death at Rizin FF This Morning [VIDEO] appeared first on Cagepotato.