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25 Years Ago, Minoru Suzuki Founded And Fought In Pancrase

25 Years Ago, Minoru Suzuki Founded and Fought In Pancrase
Photo Credit: AXS TV

25 years ago, one of the first mixed martial arts events took place. That would be Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1, the inaugural event for the promotion. One of the founders was pro wrestler turned shoot fighter Minoru Suzuki, who is currently a star in New Japan Pro Wrestling. There were other famous names on the card including MMA legends Bas Rutten and Ken Shamrock.

Suzuki was successful in his MMA debut, as he submitted Katsuomi Inagaki with a rear-naked choke. Other fights included Bas Rutten knocking out Ryushi Yanagisawa, Takaku Fuke submitting Vernon White, Kazuo Takahasji delivering a head kick KO to George Weingeroff, and Ken Shamrock locking up an arm triangle choke against Masakatsu Funaki.

Suzuki reflected upon the anniversary on his Twitter account:

Roughly translated, the post says the following:

On September 21, 1993, a few young professional wrestlers in Tokyo Bay NK Hall founded a new MMA group without any backing. The words born on this day are killing seconds. They dominated the mass and built the cornerstone of modern MMA. It was born in the same year K-1, and UFC. There are still three of them… What happened 25 years ago…

It’s incredible that Suzuki is still going strong in his combat sports career so many years later!

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