Classic Pancrase bouts

[Technosphile]

sideburnedhamster was asking about Pancrase. Here are my picks for must-see fights; everyone feel free to hop in.

Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ken Shamrock, 9/21/93
*Bas Rutten's debut fight was at this show.

Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Matt Hume, 4/21/94

Funaki vs. Rutten, 1/19/94

Ken Shamrock vs. Hume, 7/6/94

Rutten vs. Minoru Suzuki, 7/6/94

Suzuki vs. Funaki, 10/15/94

Suzuki vs. Hume, 12/16/94
*The 12/16-17/94 King of Pancrase tournament is a must-own tape.

Manabu Yamada vs. Rutten, 1/26/95

Ken Shamrock vs. Leon Dijk, 1/26/95
*Horrific moment as Shamrock breaks Dijk's ankle with the achilles hold.

Frank Shamrock vs. Allen Goes, 5/13/95

Funaki vs. Frank Shamrock, 11/4/95

Maurice Smith vs. Rutten, 11/4/95

Rutten vs. Frank Shamrock, 5/16/96
*US PPV was broadcast 6/14/96, might want to look under that date. Great show.

Yuki Kondo vs. Frank Shamrock, 9/7/96

Rutten vs. Funaki, 9/7/96
*Arguably the best Pancrase fight of all time. PPV was broadcast 11/3/96...

Plenty more where that came from, but I'm bored. The early Pancrase stuff is generally all good.

-Tech

[sideburnedhamster]

oddly enough, i have seen most of those. ive probably seen them all in fact which is a little dissapointing to me. i have a best of ken shamnrock NHB tape and it has those fights. i have the event with frank shamrock and yuki kondo and another tape with rutten and funaki. you didnt list tamura and suzuki's classic 30 min. fight, as well as frank shamrock's battle with tamura. you didn't like those or are the other ones better?

[Technosphile]

Well considering that Tamura/Frank occured in RINGS and Tamura/Suzuki was likely in the 2nd UWF, I didn't list them.



-Tech

[sideburnedhamster]

it wasnt until after i posted that that i discovered it was rings. it was on a best of NHB shootifghting tape. i couldnt remember where it was from until i checked. how is RINGS? is that like pancrase or is it fixed like UWF? also, since you seem to be the most knowledgable on pancrase, what do you know about pancrase returning to the olympics in 2004? is it true? i checked the olympic site and they had no info at all, appearing never even to have heard of pancrase, no archives, nothing. i am eager to join the 2008 or 2012 team (since they might be in my hometown) if pancrase has indeed returned at last.

[Technosphile]

There are two eras of RINGS:

1991 to early-1999: RINGS is primarily a Shoot-Style organization. Akira Maeda tinkers with legit MMA matches here and there, but not until he sees the shoot potential of Kiyoshi Tamura does the focus of the company shift. Tamura and Frank Shamrock engage in an epic battle on April 23rd, 1999. RINGS soon goes full-shoot.

1999-2002: RINGS showcases fighters previously unseen on an international level. Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira fights almost exclusively for RINGS for two years. Dan Henderson, Gilbert Yvel, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Renzo Gracie, Randy Couture, and many more all fight at various RINGS events. The RINGS World Mega Battle King of Kings Tournament 1999 is among the greatest series in competitive martial arts history.

Those shoot years of RINGS were amazing. I really can't reccomend the '99 KOK tournament enough.

As for Pankration becoming an Olympic sport, I think it will happen in due time, but I'm not very "up" on info about it.

-Tech

[sideburnedhamster]

i did some research on pancrase in the olympics in case you are interested. it is back as an exhibition sport, they held one event at sydney in 2000 in fact. but it is not for any metals yet. sad, to take an original olympic sport out and replace it with ballroom dancing and golf.