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.
