Masakatsu Funaki

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Masakatsu Funaki
Statistics
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	195 lb (87 kg)
Born	July 14, 1968
Town of birth	Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Fighting style	Catch wrestling
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	38
By knockout	4
By submission	33
Losses	11
Draws	1
No contests	1

Masakatsu Funaki is a well-known Japanese professional wrestler who performed in New Japan Pro Wrestling, PWFG, as well as the UWF. However, he is most famous as the co-founder of Pancrase along with Minoru Suzuki, one of the first modern-day non-rehearsed shoot wrestling promotions (following five years after the inception of Shooto but predating America's Ultimate Fighting Championship). Not only the organization's co-founder, Funaki was also one of Pancrase's most successful fighter to date, scoring submission victories over the likes of Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Yuki Kondo and Bas Rutten through the course of his 50-fight career. He is the only fighter in mixed martial arts to hold wins over both of the Shamrock brothers and was the first man to win the King of Pancrase title twice.

Many mixed martial arts pundits point to his second meeting with Bas Rutten as one of the most significant bouts in the sports' modern epoch, its excitement helping the sport reach the mainstream appeal it currently enjoys in Japan.

Funaki retired from competition after a win over Tony Petarra in September of 1999 due to accumulated injuries and, according to fellow Pancrase fighter and friend Bas Rutten, being burnt out from the hectic Pancrase schedule. However, in 2000, he returned for a fight against Rickson Gracie. Though Funaki scored the first takedown of the bout and subsequently broke Rickson's orbital bone, his previously injured knees failed him following a well-aimed kick from Gracie. Understandably hampered by this, he was ultimately defeated by a rear-naked choke. Funaki refused to submit to the hold, passing out before the referee intervened.

In 2006, Masakatsu Funaki was elected to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. According to Sherdog.com's ratings, he was one of the top four mixed martial artists in the world from 1993 to 1998 (being the top-rated mixed martial artist in 1996) and is currently rated as the second most successful Japanese fighter of all-time behind Kazushi Sakuraba.