a lot of notes from that art to promote himself. Getting everybody riled up, you either wanted to see him win or lose. Love him or hate him, he sold tickets.
The other great thing about the way he talked was that he made opponents really angry. And, when competing, anger is not something that belongs in the martial arts world because it clouds your mind.
I really liked Ali’s nonchalant way of approaching a bout, so I did it as well when I was fighting. Training and competing would be the serious part, so why not have fun in between? Plus this way fans could also connect with me and see a “person” not just a “fighter,” because let’s face it, many people still perceive fighters as being angry all the time. I didn’t want to be as outspoken as Ali was, though. Just being colorful was enough for me.
During my time competing in Japan, the name “Antonio Inoki” was mentioned in a conversation on many occasions. Everybody I talked to told me that he was not only a great pro wrestler but had real fighting skills as well. And, of course, the match between him and Ali would always come up.
Pro wrestling in Japan is called puroresu—that’s just the way they say “pro wrestling”—and it’s considered a “strong style,” meaning they use real submission holds and prefer to connect with hard strikes or not at all.
Many great wrestlers like Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Karl Gotch, Masakatsu Funaki, and Minoru Suzuki are considered strong-style wrestlers. And all these guys tie into Inoki. Inoki was Fujiwara’s shisho (teacher). Fujiwara and Gotch were Funaki and Suzuki’s teachers.
I competed in Japan for the Pancrase organization from 1993 until 1998, and that organization was founded by Suzuki and Funaki. There were different rules than the ones we have in modern MMA. Open-hand strikes to the head, closed fist to the body; you wore shoes and shin protection— it looked like pro wrestling, only it’s real. Unfortunately, we didn’t use foreign objects like chairs to hit each other.
I was a striker. Growing up I studied karate, taekwondo, and Thai boxing. I always thought that “strikers” were the baddest dudes on the planet until I had my first submission class. For people who don’t know how submissions work, let’s just say that it’s about manipulating pretty much any limb in the direction it’s not supposed to go.
I was a good “striker,” but that submission class showed me that I wasn’t a badass in “fighting.” They tore me up and I had no chance whatsoever. I got choked. Leg locked, armbarred. Neck cranked. You name it. I realized I needed to learn this art because if I were to miss a strike to an opponent and he was able take me to the ground, I would be in major trouble.
Chris Dolman was my first “submission coach,” but since his gym in Amsterdam was a two-hour drive from my home in Eindhoven, I didn’t spend a lot of time there. When I was competing in Japan I would train at the official Pancrase Dojo. I would come in a few days earlier for the fight so I could hone my submission skills. It took me three losses by way of submission to finally make the decision that I needed steady training partners in Holland; otherwise this “losing” would keep happening. And that was it—after I found a training partner I never lost again and ended my career with an unbeaten streak of twenty-two.
I’ll give you one story so you can understand why there were some rules changes just before the Ali and Inoki fight.
I was walking in Tokyo with a group of fighters the day before a match in 1994. We heard this big loud voice saying, “Hybrid wrestling, Pancrase.” We looked to the side and saw the biggest TV screen we had ever seen. When I say at least forty feet wide, I am not exaggerating. We were looking at the promo for our fight the next day; it was a compilation of KO’s and submissions from previous events.
In that promo I saw a fighter sitting in a certain position and he went for an inverted heel hook on his opponent. An inverted heel hook is a move that enables you to twist the lower leg from your opponent while his upper leg stays in the same position. You can actually twist it about 180 degrees. Needless to say, that’s not good for your knee since you can twist it out of the socket. Anyway, I was still “green,” only had four fights over there, so when I saw that technique I thought, “Hey, that’s a cool move, I should remember that.”
The next day I am fighting and what do you know? I am in that position! So I figured, “Let’s try that thing I saw yesterday.” Now since I had never trained for this, I had no clue what would happen; I just did what I had seen the day before on the big screen.
It resulted in me snapping my opponent’s shinbone in half—apparently his knee was stronger than his shinbone. It freaked me out. That was the moment when I realized that “submission fighting” might be even worse than “striking.” I mean, you can break or dislocate pretty much anything in the human body when you are wellversed at submissions.
Back to Inoki! So I had heard about “Inoki-san” many times and apparently he had heard about me as well, because in 2000 I was asked if I wanted to join his company, New Japan Pro Wrestling. To talk about this new deal I was asked to come and meet the great Inoki at his gym in Santa Monica.
When I walked in the first thing I noticed was somebody stretching on the wrestling mat, doing full splits as his upper body and face were flat on the ground. When he sat up I saw it was Inoki, then fifty-eight years old and still in great shape. He immediately stood and came over to shake my hand, a very friendly and charismatic person. You knew instantly why people are drawn to him.
It was an easy conversation, like I knew him already. We talked, shook hands, and the deal was done.
When Inoki left I talked a little bit more to his son-in-law, Simon Inoki. We talked about the company and what other things his father-in-law had done, and almost immediately the fight with Ali came up. Now I was always under the impression that the fight he was talking about was a “worked” fight, just like in pro wrestling, but Simon assured me that it was a real fight and he went over all the details.
Talking later to Don Frye, a superstar at New Japan and an early killer in the UFC, he assured me as well that it was indeed a real fight. All the other pro wrestlers that I came in contact with told me the same.
I was also working for the Pride Fighting Championships (PrideFC) as a commentator and in 2002 we had the biggest show ever, called Pride “Shockwave.” Over 91,000 people were in the attendance. It was an outdoor event and when the show started Mr. Inoki came parachuting in to ringside. It was crazy, because first of all it was dark, but there was also a very strong wind coming into the arena. No problem for him. The sixty-year-old adrenaline junkie wanted to make an entrance, which he did.
Oh, and just so that you know, apparently Inoki was known for the ability to drink a beer superfast. It was funny, they told me that they heard I could drink a beer really fast as well, and that Inoki was the “champion.” So would I like to compete against him? I said: “No thank you, I don’t want to beat the great Inoki-san,” and laughed. And yes, of course the supercompetitive Inoki now had to have the contest. End result? He lost that title when he challenged me at an after-party for PrideFC! Haha!
I am telling this story because on New Year’s Eve Mr. Inoki had a tradition where people would get up in the ring and he would slap them across the face with a “good luck slap” that was meant to transfer some of his energy to you. It was amazing how many people would line up. Stupid me, I was one of them, and man did he slap me—hard! That’s why I am telling this “beer story”—it’s my payback!
So this book is about a striker versus a submission artist, both at the top level of their respective fields. Ali connects with a punch, the fight is over; when he doesn’t connect and Inoki gets ahold of him, the fight is over—no room for mistakes on either side.
