Saku Openweight: No Weight Limit


From March 1998 through December of 2000, Kazushi Sakuraba establishes himself as the number-one-ranked fighter in Japanese MMA, in addition to being widely recognized as one of the ten best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists in the world.  Despite this, the organization in which Sakuraba competes – Pride Fighting Championships – has no formal weight class champions.  As a result, Kazushi Sakuraba manufactures his own belt, wearing it as the “unofficial” champion of Pride.

Kazushi Sakuraba debuts as the Saku openweight champion on December 23, 2000 at Pride 12.

Kazushi Sakuraba and Ryan Gracie compete for the Saku openweight championship.

Since the Saku openweight championship is not recognized as an official organizational title, the championship history presented below is that of a lineal concept covering all bouts taking place within Pride Fighting Championships.

1
Kazushi Sakuraba
N/A
N/A
Debuts as Undisputed Saku OW Champion
Pride 12: Cold Fury
12.23.00


def.
Ryan Gracie
Decision (unanimous) @ 10:00 of R1
Pride 12: Cold Fury
12.23.00

2
Wanderlei Silva
def.
Kazushi Sakuraba
TKO (knees & soccer kicks) @ 1:38 of R1
Pride 13: Collision Course
03.25.01


def.
Shungo Oyama
TKO (punches) @ 0:30 of R1
Pride 14: Clash Of The Titans
05.27.01
def.
Kazushi Sakuraba
TKO (doctor stoppage) @ 10:00 of R1
Pride 17: Championship Chaos
11.03.01
def.
Alexander Otsuka
TKO (doctor stoppage) @ 2:22 of R3
Pride 18: Cold Fury 2
12.23.01
def.
Kiyoshi Tamura
Knockout (punch) @ 2:28 of R1
Pride 19: Bad Blood
02.24.02
drw.
Mirko Filipovic
Draw (time expired) @ 3:00 of R5
Pride 20: Armed And Ready
04.28.02
def.
Tatsuya Iwasaki
Knockout (head kick & punches) @ 1:16 R1
Pride: Shockwave 2002
08.28.02
def.
Hiromitsu Kanehara
TKO (corner stoppage) @ 3:40 of R1
Pride 23: Championship Chaos 2
11.24.02
def.
Kazushi Sakuraba
Knockout (punch) @ 5:01 of R1
Pride: Total Elimination 2003
08.10.03
def.
Hidehiko Yoshida
Decision (unanimous) @ 5:00 of R2
Pride: Final Conflict 2003
11.09.03
def.
Quinton Jackson
TKO (knees) @ 6:28 of R1
Pride: Final Conflict 2003
11.09.03
def.
Ikuhisa Minowa
Knockout (punches) @ 1:09 of R1
Pride: Bushido 2
02.15.04
def.
Yuki Kondo
Knockout (stomps) @ 2:46 of R1
Pride: Final Conflict 2004
08.15.04
def.
Quinton Jackson
Knockout (knees) @ 3:26 of R2
Pride 28: High Octane
10.31.04

2
Mark Hunt
def.
Wanderlei Silva
Decision (split) @ 5:00 of R3
Pride: Shockwave 2004
12.31.04


def.
Mirko Filipovic
Decision (split) @ 5:00 of R3
Pride: Shockwave 2005
12.31.05
def.
Nosuke Nishijima
Knockout (punch) @ 1:18 of R3
Pride 31: Unbreakable
02.26.06
def.
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
TKO (punches) @ 4:15 of R2
Pride: Total Elimination Absolute
05.05.06

3
Josh Barnett
def.
Mark Hunt
Submission (kimura) @ 2:02 of R1
Pride: Total Elimination Absolute
05.05.06


def.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Decision (split) @ 5:00 of R2
Pride: Final Conflict Absolute
09.10.06

4
Mirko Filipovic
def.
Josh Barnett
Submission (punches) @ 7:32 of R1
Pride: Final Conflict Absolute
09.10.06

Pride Fighting Championships ceases operations and folds on October 4, 2007 after being purchased by UFC parent company Zuffa and ultimately merged with the UFC.