Pride has been gone 13 years this year. I can't but think of the regular Japanese fighters that would fill the cards. People like Akira Shoji, Daijiro Matsui and the Diet Butcher himself, Alexander Otsuka. Unlike Sakuraba who had good success in Pride, these guys were put in there with larger, more skilled opponents with the intent of helping pad records.
But every once in a while, they would deny their detractors. The underdogs against all odds would overachieve. This is their story.
Akira Shoji
It's hard not to be a fan of Akira Shoji. The guy was all heart but also had some talent. Shoji had a strong judo background and that was evident in his fights, where time and time again he would hit his picture-perfect ouchi-gari. But Shoji was a small guy fighting in a land of giants. Standing at only 5'7" or 5'8", he fought monsters like Mark Coleman and Semmy Schilt - often giving up huge size and weight differences.
I think out of all the Japanese underdogs - Akira Shoji was probably the most talented. He made his debut in the first Pride event against an undefeated Renzo Gracie. This was less than a year after Renzo had knocked out Oleg Taktarov with an upkick. Renzo had the aura of the invicible Gracie behind him. But Shoji gave as good as he got and fought Renzo to a time-limit draw.
After another draw with fellow alumni Daijiro Matsui, Shoji was put in the ring against Wallid Ismail. Wallid had a lot of hype at the time. He had previously beat both Renzo and Ralph Gracie in BJJ. And 2 months after his fight with Shoji, he would go onto choking out Royce Gracie in his infamous challenge match.
Ismail controlled the early part of the fight. As the fight progressed, Wallid tired and Shoji took advantage - ultimately stopping Wallid with strikes. The man who had beaten two of the best BJJ players in the Gracie family had been finished against all odds.
Shoji would then go onto fight Igor Vovchanchyn. Igor was on a 30 fight win streak and had previously stopped a prime Gary Goodridge with strikes. Igor was a scary proposition for anyone and everyone thought he would make quick work of Shoji. But Shoji showed his toughness. At one point in the fight both fighters were windmilling punches at each other, much to the delight of the crowd. And while Shoji ultimately lost a decision, he won a lot of respect for his resilience against the ever-dangerous Igor.
Shoji would get the biggest win of his career in his next fight against Guy Mezger. Only a few months prior, Mezger had defended his King of Pancrase OW title against Yuki Kondo. A title he won from Funaki. But in between his fight with Kondo and Shoji, he had lost a rematch to Tito Ortiz.
Still, Mezger was the heavy favourite - but nobody told Shoji that. Guy won the first round, but Shoji came out strong in the second - taking Mezger down with his patented ouchi-gari. Shoji would hit the sweep multiple times during the rest of the fight, outworking Mezger and ultimately winning the decision.
Shoji would rack up a handful of wins, including one of Ebenezer Fontas Braga and the "Brazilian Killa" - Alex Stiebling. But the rest of his career, the losses started to accumulate when both his size and skillset were outmatched.
Shoji ended his career with a 14-17 record, but numbers don't record heart and effort. And Shoji's career showed lots of it.
Daijiro Matsui
Daijiro Matsui had moved to professional wrestling, after some experience in judo and amateur wrestling in high-school. Matsui wrestled in shoot-style wrestling matches, where although the outcome was pre-determined - the matches visually reflected MMA fights more than typical pro-wrestling matches. He worked with the likes of Kazushi Sakuraba. Ultimately like Sakuraba, he wanted to test himself in real combat and joined the Pride FC roster.
Matsui's career started off with a lot of adversity. After starting his Pride career with two time-limit draws to Sakira Shoji and future ADCC champion Sinae Kikuta - Matsui would go up against a murderers row in his next few bouts. After a decision loss to Carlos Newton and a DQ win over Bob Schriijber - Matsui would fight Wanderlei Silva, Igor Vovchanchyn and Vitor Belfort in his next 3 fights in Pride. He would however to his credit go the distance with both Vitor and Wanderlei - showing a lot of heart in both fights.
Matsui however holds the honor of being a part of one of the biggest upsets in the history of MMA. Having lost 5 straight fights, and picking up his first win of his career in KOTC (Not including the DQ win) - Matsui's murderer's row of opponents continued when he was matched up against the notorious Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons.
Newer fans to the sport might not know who Pele Landi-Jons is, but Pele was one of the most dangerous fighters in the early years of the sport. The first major star to come out of the Chute-Boxe academy, home to Wanderlei Silva, the Rua brothers and Anderson Silva - Pele paved the way for the rest of his team.
In the months prior to his fight with Matsui, Pele had wins over both Pat Miletich and Matt Hughes - stopping both with strikes. If ever there was an underdog in an MMA fight, it was Daijiro Matsui against Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons.
Pele started off the fight with a jumping knee attempt, and clocked Matsui hard with a second attempt following up with hammer-fists. MAtsui looked all but knocked out and Pele took his back in what looked like could be a quick finish. But Matsui toughed it out and recovered, being outgrappled in the beginning on the ground by Pele.
After a stand-up and another jump knee attempt by Pele, Matsui put the Brazilian on his back with a takedown. Matsui then much to everyone's shock started to put the pressure on Pele and was dominating from the top position, dropping some flurries on Pele.
As the second round opened, with some striking attempts by Pele - Matsui put Pele on his back again and once again controlled Pele on the ground for most of the round. Pele started the third round strong, but later on in the round Matsui won the grappling exchanges and put Pele on his back again doing enough to secure the decision.
Matsui didn't have much success for the rest of his career, although he did pickup 2 wins over UFC vets Curtis Stout and Tom "Kong" Watson in Cage Rage. He ended his career with a 14-31 record. But the numbers like in the case of Akira Shoji will never show the full picture of Matsui's career.
With 15 fights in Pride, Matsui was as much a part of the fabric of the organisation as anyone else. His last fight in the company was at Pride 24 in a decision win over Kazuki Okubo. His career spanned 20 years and retired 2 years ago at the age of 45.
