Royce Gracie immediately established himself as MMA’s best fighter when the sport launched in 1993.
The Brazilian submission specialist famously used the gentle art of jiu-jitsu to subdue much bigger men to win three fights in one night and be crowned the UFC 1 champion.
Royce Gracie’s reign at the top saw him do the same thing at UFC 2 and UFC 4 during a legendary 12-0-1 run in MMA.
Ultimately, Kazushi Sakuraba destroyed his perfect record by picking up a TKO win in the longest MMA fight of all time. Royce Gracie broke his femur and the towel went in after 90 minutes to begin the next stage of his Hall of Fame career.
Royce Gracie beat 490lb sumo wrestler
Gracie failed to immediately bounce back from his first loss when he fought Hidehiko Yoshida.
Their December 2003 modified rules matchup ended in a draw after they reached a time limit.
After that, the 58-year-old fight icon made the bold decision to face a 6ft 8in, 490lb sumo wrestler.
‘David vs Goliath’ matchups had become popular in Japan in the noughties. Boxing legend Butterbean famously took part in one and suffered an embarrassing loss despite carrying 245lb weight advantage into his MMA debut against Genki Sudo.
It was a similar story when Gracie, who was 180lbs, fought Akebono Tarō at K-1 PREMIUM 2004 Dynamite!!.
Gracie opened with a leg kick before circling away from his massive rival. Akebono immediately closed the gap by charging his colossal frame at Gracie, who pulled guard and got to work with the submission skills that made him a superstar.
After a stalemate on the ground, Gracie tried to take the back of his opponent, but he stood up and they squared off on the feet once again.
Another lame kick attempt proceeded the fight returning to the mat where Gracie clearly wanted to be.
The former UFC champion cracked Akebono with punches to the head to distract him from the submission he was setting up. Before long, the sumo’s arm was wrapped up and Gracie was trying to submit him out with the rarely seen omoplata.
It took all his strength and a lot of cranking, but Gracie forced the tap after just over two minutes.
Royce Gracie recalls Akebono Taro fight
In March 2024, Gracie discussed his legendary MMA career on Rampage Jackson‘s popular podcast.
The 20-fight veteran recalled being written off ahead of his fight with Tarō – but after the fight, the same people dismissed his victory by pointing to the sumo’s size as a negative when they previously viewed it as an asset.
Gracie said: “6ft 8in, 490lbs. Before the fight, everybody was like, ‘Man, are you out of your mind? How are you gonna take the guy down? The guy’s huge’.
“Before the fight, everybody was like, ‘Oh my god, that guy’s huge. He gets paid not to go to the ground. How are you going to take him down? You cannot punch him. We’ve seen you punch, you cannot punch him’.
“After the fight, ‘Of course, you beat him, he’s big and slow’. Walk up to a 6ft 8in, 490lbs [man], slap him on the face and you see how slow he moves. He’ll run through you like a train.”