King of Pancrase tournament
The King of Pancrase tournament was a mixed martial arts event held by Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. It took place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on December 16 and 17, 1994. The event was a 16-man tournament to crown the first ever champion of Pancrase. It featured the opening round and quarterfinals of the tournament on the first day, and the semifinals and finals on the second day.
| King of Pancrase tournament | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Promotion | Pancrase |
| Date | December 16 and 17, 1994[1][2] |
| Venue | Sumo Hall[1][2] |
| City | Tokyo, Japan[1][2] |
| Attendance | 11,000 each day[3] |
The tournament was one of the biggest events in mixed martial arts history to that date and featured some of the best fighters in the world at the time, including future Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, and Maurice Smith, and top Japanese fighters Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki and Manabu Yamada.
Background
The King of Pancrase tournament was a two-day openweight tournament on December 16 and 17, 1994. The opening round and quarterfinals took place on day 1 and the semifinals and finals took place on day 2. The winner of the tournament would become the first ever "King of Pancrase".
Results
The tournament was seeded based on skill, matching #1 seeds with #4 seeds and #2 seeds with #3 seeds in the opening round. The tournament #1 seeds were Minoru Suzuki, Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock and Masakatsu Funaki. The opening round saw a large upset as Frank Shamrock, who was making his MMA debut, knocked off #1 seed Bas Rutten via Majority Decision.
Masakatsu Funaki, Ken Shamrock, Manabu Yamada and Minoru Suzuki survived day 1 and advanced to day 2. Funaki and Shamrock had fought twice previously, with Shamrock winning once and Funaki winning once. It was also an example of student vs. teacher as Funaki was Shamrock's trainer and mentor and cornered Shamrock for his UFC fights in America.
In addition to the semifinals and finals of the tournament, the day 2 card also included two alternate bouts matching Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit and Scott Bessac vs. Larry Papadopoulos. Results are tabulated,[1][2]
Day 1
| King of Pancrase tournament opening round | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Masakatsu Funaki | def. | Todd Bjornethun | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 2:20 | ||
| Vernon White | def. | Leon van Dijk | Submission (heel hook) | 1 | 3:45 | ||
| Maurice Smith | def. | Takaku Fuke | KO (knee) | 1 | 2:48 | ||
| Ken Shamrock | def. | Alex Cook | Submission (heel hook) | 1 | 1:31 | ||
| Frank Shamrock | def. | Bas Rutten | Decision (majority) | 1 | 10:00 | ||
| Manabu Yamada | def. | Christopher DeWeaver | Submission (heel hook) | 1 | 2:44 | ||
| Jason DeLucia | def. | Thomas Puckett | KO (head kick) | 1 | 0:48 | ||
| Minoru Suzuki | def. | Matt Hume | Decision (lost points) | 1 | 10:00 | ||
| King of Pancrase tournament quarterfinals | |||||||
| Masakatsu Funaki | def. | Vernon White | Submission (armlock) | 1 | 5:37 | ||
| Ken Shamrock | def. | Maurice Smith | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 4:23 | ||
| Manabu Yamada | def. | Frank Shamrock | Submission (ankle lock) | 1 | 8:38 | ||
| Minoru Suzuki | def. | Jason DeLucia | Submission (heel hook) | 1 | 2:04 | ||
Day 2
| King of Pancrase tournament alternate bouts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Scott Bessac | def. | Larry Papadopoulos | KO (punch to the body) | 1 | 13:49 | ||
| Katsuomi Inagaki | def. | Gregory Smit | Submission (heel hook) | 1 | 5:18 | ||
| King of Pancrase tournament semifinals | |||||||
| Ken Shamrock | def. | Masakatsu Funaki | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 5:50 | ||
| Manabu Yamada | def. | Minoru Suzuki | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 14:46 | ||
| King of Pancrase tournament final | |||||||
| Ken Shamrock | def. | Manabu Yamada | Decision (unanimous) | 1 | 30:00 | [lower-alpha 1] | |
- Shamrock became the inaugural Openweight King of Pancrase
Tournament bracket
| Opening round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||||||
| Minoru Suzuki | DEC | |||||||||||||||||
| Matt Hume | 10:00 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Minoru Suzuki | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Jason DeLucia | 2:04 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Jason DeLucia | KO | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Thomas Puckett | 0:48 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Minoru Suzuki | 14:46 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Manabu Yamada | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Manabu Yamada | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
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| Christopher DeWeaver | 2:44 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Manabu Yamada | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Frank Shamrock | 8:38 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Frank Shamrock | DEC | |||||||||||||||||
| Bas Rutten | 10:00 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Manabu Yamada | 30:00 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Ken Shamrock | DEC | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Ken Shamrock | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Alex Cook | 1:31 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Ken Shamrock | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
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| Maurice Smith | 4:23 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Maurice Smith | KO | |||||||||||||||||
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| Takaku Fuke | 2:48 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Ken Shamrock | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
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| Masakatsu Funaki | 5:50 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Vernon White | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
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| Leon Dijk | 3:45 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Vernon White | 5:37 | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Masakatsu Funaki | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
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| Masakatsu Funaki | SUB | |||||||||||||||||
|
| Todd Bjornethun | 2:20 | |||||||||||||||||