One of many best Japanese fighters to ever compete in blended martial arts, Kazushi Sakuraba will see his son Taisei Sakuraba enter the ring for the primary time on Dec. 31, when he makes his MMA debut towards 41-fight veteran Yusuke Yachi in a light-weight bout at RIZIN DECADE in Saitama, Japan.
Excited to characterize the Sakuraba clan for the primary time within the sport after competing a few occasions in grappling matches, “Saku Jr.” appears again at Kazushi’s best moments to choose a walkout, not an precise bout, as his favourite second of Sakuraba’s MMA profession.
“My favourite second is when my father walked out as Mario,” Sakuraba stated with a smile throughout an interview with MMA Preventing. “I don’t keep in mind the struggle itself, however I do not forget that walkout.”
“Saku Jr.” was days away from turning 5 years previous when his father walked to the PRIDE ring dressed as Tremendous Mario. “The Gracie Hunter,” who had misplaced for the third time to Wanderlei Silva months earlier than, scored a third-round armbar victory over Kevin Randleman that night time in 2003.
Sakuraba made fame within the sport by beating 4 members of the Gracie household contained in the PRIDE ring, being without end often known as “The Gracie Hunter,” and his son stated he can be open to dealing with a Gracie sooner or later. Kron Gracie, the preferred consultant of the household right this moment, is the son of Rickson Gracie. Kron went 3-0 in RIZIN earlier than becoming a member of the UFC in 2019, the place he’s misplaced three of 4.
“If there’s a requirement and if there are individuals who need to see this struggle, I’m down,” Taisei Sakuraba stated of dealing with Kron Gracie.
Taisei’s father is a veteran of 45 MMA bouts however hasn’t competed since 2015 when a loss to Shinya Aoki left the 55-year-old on a five-fight shedding skid. “Saku Jr.”, 26, joked that “my father is invincible, so he’s saying that he’s by no means going to retire,” so that they could possibly be a part of the identical card someday, possibly on a tag-team sort of match.
“I’m not so certain about how the RIZIN system goes to work,” Sakuraba stated, “however Quintet is a grappling promotion, and that’s a crew versus crew sort idea. It’s solely grappling, however I believe underneath Quintet, there’s a excessive chance of that taking place. That may be fascinating. However for me, I wanna journey overseas. So I hope, every time this occurs, I hope it occurs exterior of Japan.”
