Tag: Kazushi Sakuraba

Combat Rewind, May 1: An iconic passing of the torch, after 90 minutes of battle

Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Combat rewind – May 1

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.

Quintet Ultra: Team PRIDE looking forward to post-match drinks to ‘bring back PRIDE the right way’

Team captain Kazushi Sakuraba has his sights set on victory, celebration at Quintet Ultra.

LAS VEGAS – PRIDE never die.

Thursday night at Quintet Ultra, five of PRIDE’s most notable veterans will compete against teams representing the UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce.

The openweight elimination challenge takes place at Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas and streams on UFC Fight Pass.

PRIDE’s team is comprised of UFC Hall of Famer and team captain [autotag]Kazushi Sakuraba[/autotag], lightweight champ [autotag]Takanori Gomi[/autotag], esteemed Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt [autotag]Gregor Gracie[/autotag], former Bellator middleweight champ [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag] and lightweight [autotag]Yves Edwards[/autotag].

Wednesday, the five PRIDE alumni reunited for a media scrum with MMA Junkie. Team captain Sakuraba spoke on the growth of Quintet, his competing future, his PRIDE nostalgia and more.

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Roster orders are selected by each team behind closed doors and submitted simultaneously. Not knowing the orders of other quintets, each team will have to stick to its order if members of its team get eliminated.

In addition to the team competition, Quintet Ultra will feature singles matches. Gordon Ryan meets Aleksei Oleinik, while Cynthia Calvillo – who replaces a previously announced Pearl Gonzalez – takes on Danielle Kelly. A prelims single match between Craig Jones and Fredson Paixao also is set.

Check out MMA Junkie’s full pre-match scrum with Team PRIDE in the video above.

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Quintet Ultra lineups set, include Sean O’Malley vs. Takanori Gomi, Chad Mendes vs. ‘JZ’ Cavalcante

The lineups are set for Thursday’s Quintet Ultra team grappling event, and the opening matchups include a few intriguing contests.

The lineups are set for Thursday’s Quintet Ultra team grappling event, and the opening matchups include a few intriguing contests.

Weigh-ins for the event took place Wednesday at Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas, with each five-member team expected to weigh-in under 950 pounds combined. That didn’t prove an issue, with Team WEC registering 947.2 pounds, Team Strikeforce just behind at 946.6 pounds, Team UFC at 942.2 pounds and Team PRIDE the smallest at 936.6 pounds.

Featuring a unique 5-on-5 team grappling concept where the winning grappler of each match stays on the mat, Quintet Ultra takes place Thursday at the same venue and streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

In the opening round of the tournament, Team UFC takes on Team PRIDE, while Team WEC vs. Team Strikeforce.

Team UFC will send out fast-rising bantamweight prospect [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] as their first representative, while Team PRIDE counters with former PRIDE lightweight champ [autotag]Takanori Gomi[/autotag].

On the other side of the bracket, Team WEC is starting with three-time UFC title challenger [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag], while Team Strikeforce opens with two-time K-1 HERO’s middleweight grand prix champion and former Titan FC lightweight champ [autotag]Gesias Cavalcante[/autotag], the man best known as “JZ.”

In each match, the winning grappler stays on to take on the next representative from the opposing team. In case of a draw, both fighters are eliminated.

The two winning teams from the opening round matchups meet in the finals to close out the night.

Full team orders include:

TEAM UFC

1. Sean O’Malley
2. [autotag]Anthony Johnson[/autotag]
3. [autotag]Clay Guida[/autotag]
4. [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] (captain)
5. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag]

vs.

TEAM PRIDE

1. Takanori Gomi
2. [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag]
3. [autotag]Gregor Gracie[/autotag]
4. [autotag]Yves Edwards[/autotag]
5. [autotag]Kazushi Sakuraba[/autotag] (captain)

TEAM WEC

1. Chad Mendes (captain)
2. [autotag]Mark Munoz[/autotag]
3. [autotag]Cub Swanson[/autotag]
4. [autotag]Glover Teixeira[/autotag]
5. [autotag]James Krause[/autotag]

vs.

TEAM STRIKEFORCE

1. Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante
2. [autotag]Jake Shields[/autotag]
3. [autotag]Muhammed Lawal[/autotag]
4. [autotag]Gilbert Melendez[/autotag] (captain)
5. [autotag]Renato Sobral[/autotag]

Quintet Ultra: Full UFC, PRIDE, WEC, Strikeforce rosters revealed ahead of Thursday’s event

UFC vs. PRIDE vs. WEC vs. Strikeforce? The full rosters have been announced for Thursday’s event.

Who would have won a team battle between the UFC, PRIDE, WEC, and Strikeforce? Quintet is hopping in a time machine to take fans back to an era when this question could be answered.

On Thursday, one of the world’s most unique grappling tournaments will return with Quintet Ultra. The openweight elimination challenge takes place at Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas and streams on UFC Fight Pass.

The event will see four teams compromised of five fighters – each team tied to a respective promotion. On Monday, full rosters and first-round team pairings were announced, with Team UFC taking on Team PRIDE and Team WEC vs. Team Strikeforce.

The teams are as follows:

Team UFC

  • [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] (captain): former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, current UFC light heavyweight contender, WSOF veteran
  • [autotag]Anthony Johnson[/autotag]: former UFC light heavyweight title challenger
  • [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]: Dana White’s Contender Series signee, undefeated UFC bantamweight
  • [autotag]Clay Guida[/autotag]: 29-fight UFC veteran, current UFC lightweight
  • [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag]: current UFC lightweight/welterweight, second-degree black belt

Team PRIDE

  • [autotag]Kazushi Sakuraba[/autotag] (captain): UFC Hall of Famer, competed in 27 fights under the PRIDE banner, UFC Japan heavyweight tournament winner
  • [autotag]Takanori Gomi[/autotag]: PRIDE lightweight champion, Pride 2005 lightweight grand prix winner, UFC veteran
  • [autotag]Gregor Gracie[/autotag]: grappling world champion, ONE FC veteran, member of the storied Gracie family
  • [autotag]Hector Lombard[/autotag]: former Bellator middleweight champion, Bellator Season 1 middleweight tournament winner, international judo federation gold medalist
  • [autotag]Yves Edwards[/autotag]: three-time PRIDE competitor, UFC and Strikeforce veteran, current PFL commentator

Team WEC

  • [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag] (captain): two-time UFC featherweight title challenger, most knockouts in UFC featherweight history (tied with Conor McGregor), two-time NCAA Division 1 All American
  • [autotag]Glover Teixeira[/autotag]: former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, current UFC light heavyweight contender, most submission victories in UFC light heavyweight history (tied with Jon Jones)
  • [autotag]Mark Munoz[/autotag]: two-time WEC competitor, 15-time UFC competitor, two-time NCAA division 1 All American
  • [autotag]Cub Swanson[/autotag]: former UFC featherweight title challenger, former WEC title challenger, 11-time UFC/WEC bonus winner
  • [autotag]James Krause[/autotag]: two-time WEC competitor, current UFC welterweight, currently riding a six-fight win streak

Team Strikeforce

  • [autotag]Gilbert Melendez[/autotag]: WEC lightweight champion, Strikeforce lightweight champion, UFC lightweight title challenger
  • [autotag]Jake Shields[/autotag]: Strikeforce middleweight champion, Elite XC welterweight champion, former UFC welterweight title challenger
  • [autotag]Muhammed Lawal[/autotag]: Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, Bellator 2013 “Summer Series” light heavyweight tournament champion, Bellator season 10 light heavyweight tournament finalist
  • [autotag]Gesias Cavalcante[/autotag]: two-time K-1 HERO’s middleweight grand prix champion, former Titan FC lightweight champion
  • [autotag]Renato Sobral[/autotag]: Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, former UFC light heavyweight title challenger

In addition to the team competition, Quintet Ultra will feature singles matches. [autotag]Gordon Ryan[/autotag] meets [autotag]Aleksei Oleinik[/autotag], while Cynthia Calvillo takes on [autotag]Danielle Kelly[/autotag]. A prelims single match between [autotag]Craig Jones[/autotag] and [autotag]Fredson Paixio[/autotag] also is set.

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Video: Kazushi Sakuraba, Takanori Gomi clashed in meeting of MMA legends at Quintet Fight Night 4

Two of the most notable names in Japanese MMA history took to the mats in their home country at Quintet Fight Night 4.

Two of the most notable names in Japanese MMA history took to the mats in their home country.

MMA legend [autotag]Kazushi Sakuraba[/autotag] and former PRIDE lightweight champion [autotag]Takanori Gomi[/autotag] met in a “special iron man match” at Saturday’s Quintet Fight Night 4 in Tokyo, which streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.

The brainchild of Sakuraba, Quintet features a 5-on-5 team grappling format. However, the cards generally feature a few special singles matches, as well. Saturday’s card was no different, though the rules of this particular contest did feature a small but significant tweak: Rather than a submission ended the contest, the goal was to get as many submission as possible during the match.

“During practice, we see how many submissions we can get within a set time,” Sakuraba explained before the match. “I’d like to see that in an official match – a submission battle. Whoever subs the most in the allotted time wins. We’re going try five minutes as a test. I’m getting old, so five minutes is my limit.”

Ever the showman, the 50-year-old Sakuraba was sure to show every bit of his age as the contest wore on, but that didn’t mean the UFC Hall of Famer didn’t still have a few tricks up his sleeve. Check out the action in the video above.

Sakuraba and Gomi will join forces at next month’s Quintet Ultra, where they will compete as part of Team PRIDE at the Dec. 12 event at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas. That card also streams live on UFC Fight Pass.

Meanwhile, Team Carpe Diem proved the winning squad at Quintet Fight Night 4, reigning supreme over Team Sakuraba, Team K-Top BJJ and Team Paraestra.

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Quintet’s Vegas card features Gilbert Melendez, ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Chad Mendes, more

A whole host of familiar faces will take to the mats when Quintet hits Las Vegas on UFC 245 fight week.

The UFC’s final pay-per-view card of 2019 is a suitably festive event, as UFC 245 on Dec. 14 features a stacked card with three title fights.

It will be a big enough week leading up to the show at T-Mobile Arena that other events of note are being planned for fight week in Las Vegas.

One of those is Quintet Ultra, a grappling show which will be held at Red Rock Casino on Dec. 12.

The 5-on-5 team grappling event, founded by UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Kazushi Sakuraba[/autotag], often features big-name mixed martial artists, and this card is no exception.

The company has announced the captains and a member of each of the four teams participating in the card. Team UFC will be lead by [autotag]Anthony Johnson[/autotag] and include [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]. Team PRIDE is anchored by Sakuraba and will include former champion [autotag]Takanori Gomi[/autotag]. Team Strikeforce features a pair of former champions in [autotag]Gilbert Melendez[/autotag] and [autotag]Jake Shields[/autotag]. And captaining Team WEC is [autotag]Chad Mendes[/autotag], and includes [autotag]Glover Teixeira[/autotag].

Additionally, a super fight will be held between Gordon Ryan and one of the UFC’s finest heavyweight grapplers, the master of the Ezekiel choke, [autotag]Aleksei Oleinik[/autotag].

More details on participating grapplers and team rosters will be revealed in the weeks to come. The card will stream live at 10 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass.

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