Nostalgia: Hayato Sakurai vs Frank Trigg
At one point, Hayato Sakurai could have been considered a top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He was 16-0-2 and the Shooto 168 pound champion. In late 2000, he took on Frank Trigg, who was 7-0. Trigg of course would go on to challenge Matt Hughes twice, leading to one of the most memorable moments in UFC history.
This fight took place in Japan in 2000 and was a back and forth affair that saw great counterstrikes, ground reversals, and Sakurai getting beaten while hanging out of the ring. Eventually, Sakurai’s knees made the difference.
Sakurai’s 1st loss was to Anderson Silva. At that point, he went down to lightweight division and went on to have a strong career as a contender. Trigg may have lost this fight, but he also went on to have a pretty good run at welterweight, even if he did get RNC’d a lot.
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