Pride 4: Three Generations of Legends on One Historic Card

A week before the first edition of the Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Brazil, UFC 17.5 in Sao Paulo, I went to Japan to cover Pride 4, an event filled with combat sports icons from three different generations. From 80s legends such as Marco Ruas, Rickson Gracie and Hugo Duarte, passing through highlights of the 90s generation like Allan Goes and Wallid Ismail, to the rising stars of the new generation including Mark Kerr, Igor Vovchanchyn and one Kazushi Sakuraba, who after beating Conan Silveira at UFC 15.5 would have his sixth MMA fight, this time against Goes, another Carlson Gracie black belt.

Rickson and the Birth of Pride

After the six consecutive victories—four over Japanese fighters—that earned Gracie the titles of the two editions of Vale-Tudo Japan (VTJ) in 1994 and 1995, Japanese promoters decided to create an event especially to salvage their country’s honor, pitting the biggest national fighting idol, pro wrestling star Nobuhiko Takada, against the top representative of the Gracie family. As at this time the Japanese fan base still had trouble discerning fake fights from real ones, given the enormous popularity of pro wrestling events, where Takada was the great idol, there was firm belief in the land of the rising sun in Takada's victory over Rickson, hence the event name: PRIDE.

At the first Pride event in October 1997, Gracie only needed 4 minutes and 47 seconds to submit Takada with an armbar. The Japanese were not satisfied with the defeat and invited Rickson to a rematch in the fourth edition of the event, held a year later at the same Tokyo Dome. But this time, in addition to Gracie, some of the biggest names in the sport were present on the card.

Despite not being at its maximum capacity of around 60,000, the Tokyo Dome was very full on Oct. 11, 1998. As usual, KRS, the company responsible for organizing the event, did not skimp on production. In addition to setting up a huge stage connected to the ring by a catwalk to present the fighters, the company built two life-size dinosaurs, which moved their necks and emitted characteristic sounds.

Ruas and Ismail Surprised by Underdogs

In the opening of the event, Ukraine’s Vochanchyn needed less than six minutes to trap Gary Goodridge on the ropes and demolish the Canadian with a series of punches from the mount. The night didn't start well for Brazil, either, as Ruas and Ismail entered as massive favorites, but ended up being upset by Japanese fighters.

When his fight started, the founder of Ruas Vale Tudo tried to take Alexander Otsuka's back, but “The Diet Butcher” escaped and let the Brazilian fall to the bottom. At the end of the round Ruas managed a sweep, landing on mount and ending the round with a locked-on rear naked choke. In the second round, however, Ruas returned looking like a completely different fighter and was easily taken down. Noticing the Brazilian's fatigue, Otsuka reached half guard from where he spent almost the entire round punishing the Ruas, even opening a cut on his eyebrow. At the end of the round Ruas could barely get up and said he couldn't continue, forcing his training partner Bas Rutten and Roberto Leitao to throw in the towel. “I don't know what happened, but at the end of the second round I couldn't even lift my arm”, Ruas told me after the fight. Upon returning to Brazil, Ruas’ physician discovered a change in his blood uric acid levels.

Ismail also showed complete calm before his fight against Japanese judoka Akira Shoji. “I’ve never been in better physical shape,” Carlson’s disciple told me at the press conference. Like Ruas, Wallid dominated the first round, taking Shoji down a few times and getting to mount on two occasions, but Shoji managed to escape. After 10 minutes of trying to finish the fight on the ground, Ismail got tired and was forced to accept the standup, where the Japanese showed clear superiority. And this is how the fight was defined. Unable to take down his foe, Ismail got the worst of it. With a sequence of punches, Shoji led the judge to declare a technical knockout.

Hugo Duarte: “It’s 4x4, I’ve never seen a guy so strong”

Of all the Brazilians on the Pride 4 card, no one had the slightest doubt that Hugo Duarte was the one with the most difficult task. With nine consecutive victories, Kerr was already by far the most feared heavyweight in the world. To make matters worse for the Brazilian, the wrestler had been training for almost a year with Bas Rutten and Duarte’s former teammate Ruas at Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club.

It is worth remembering that Hugo became respected in Brazil from 1988 onwards, since the episode in which Rickson, moving to the USA, went to the luta livre headquarters to challenge Ruas and all the great icons of the style. “I came here to make it clear before leaving who is No. 1, but if anyone has any doubts, just line up,” Gracie was quoted as saying alongside his father Helio. Hugo would have been the only one to answer saying that he accepted but wanted a few weeks to train. The following month the two would face each other in the famous fight on Pepe beach. As he felt disadvantaged by being on the “jiu-jitsu beach,” Hugo decided to invade the Gracie academy with a luta livre squad and do a one-on-one rematch. Even though he lost on both occasions, Hugo became respected for having played fair, and became recognized as luta livre's greatest leader.

That may be the reason Carlson Gracie chose to help Duarte at that adverse moment, when his former enemy only had his physical trainer and a student in his corner. But facing “The Smashing Machine,” Carlson knew that the Brazilian's chances were remote. For much of the first round Hugo managed to keep Kerr in his guard with his arms locked. When the American managed to get ready to hit Hugo, he responded from below and once again controlled his arms.

At the beginning of the second round, Kerr managed to land a punch that opened Duarte’s eyebrow. Due to heavy bleeding, the fight was interrupted. When the doctors authorized the Brazilian's return, Kerr seemed to lose patience with Hugo's tie-up tactics from the bottom and decided not to enter the Brazilian's guard anymore. Instead Kerr, stood over Duarte and used stomps and kicks, one of which sent the fight towards its conclusion by breaking the Brazilian's left foot at the end of the second round.

Hugo, motivated by Carlson, returned for the third round, but without being able to walk or guard, he ended up becoming easy prey for Kerr, who reached mount. Hugo escaped by jumping out of the ring and the judges interrupted at 2:32 of the 3rd round. “It’s 4x4, I’ve never seen a guy so strong,” recognized Hugo.

Duarte Criticizes Ruas, Makes Peace with the Gracies

The next day, I interviewed Duarte in the hotel lobby. With his leg in a cast, he accused former training partner Ruas of passing his game on to Kerr, once they were training together in Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club with Bas Rutten and Oleg Taktarov. “All the movements he made in previous fights, which would have given me room to attack knees and with the americana, he didn't repeat fighting me. Ruas passed my entire game to him.” The luta-livre general also made a point of thanking Carlson Gracie for his support. “The people at luta livre called me crazy when I accepted this fight. But from the first day I arrived in Japan, Carlson made me believe that I could toughen up this fight and gave me enormous support at the edge of the ring. After Carlson's attitude, it's high time to end this war between jiu-jitsu and luta livre.”

Goes Gives Sakuraba a Jiu-Jitsu Seminar

Allan Goes, on the other hand, gave a real ground lesson to Sakuraba, who was beginning to appear with victories over Conan, Vernon White and Carlos Newton. Sakuraba spent the three rounds completely lost in the Brazilian's guard. When he stood up he was hit with foot stomps; when he entered the guard he was punched and when he tried to move away he was knocked off balance and swept. On two occasions Allan reached the Sakuraba’s back. Once he managed to apply a rear-naked choke, but Sakuraba was saved by the bell. As the rules stipulated that the fight would only be decided by knockout or submission, it ended in a draw. Goes certainly made Sakuraba correct holes in his game and greatly increase his training load. The biggest proof of this is that, after this fight, the “Gracie Hunter” would defeat his next six Brazilian opponents in a row (Vitor Belfort, Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and Royler, Royce , Renzo and Ryan Gracie) until he was knocked out by Wanderlei Silva at Pride 13 in 2001.

Rickson by Armbar (Again) and Denies Retirement Rumor

In the main event, Rickson once again submitted Takada with an armbar. The Japanese wrestler was more prepared in this second confrontation, creating more difficulties for the Brazilian, but at no point did he leave him in a dangerous situation.

The two remained clinched for almost the entire first round. When were just over two minutes left, the Japanese managed to take down Gracie, but when he tried to place his heel in his armpit, he was swept. Rickson soon arrived in mount, going for the armbar that forced the Japanese to give up with 30 seconds left in the round. At the end of the fight, Rickson gave his traditional speech thanking the Japanese fans and dismissing rumors of retirement, even asking for a tougher opponent. Gracie would return to the Japanese ring in two years to fight his last fight in May 2000. After beating Masakatsu Funaki, Helio Gracie's son began negotiations to face “Gracie Hunter” Sakuraba, but the tragic death of his son Rockson in December of that year would end up leading to the premature end of Gracie's career.