While googling for Sakuraba images from his recent wrestling bout, I came across these old videos of Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura.

Tamura is one of the most underrated Japanese fighters out there, in my opinion. He was incredibly strong and a very mean grappler. I don’t believe he ever had any interest in pursuing a career outside of Japan which is why he doesn’t have much international recognition, but you can see from these fights (and others on YouTube) that he is a legitimate “hard man”.

These are professional wrestling bouts from the nineties but give them a watch – to me, they look unscripted. The level of grappling on display is just incredible.

Sakuraba vs. Tamura Part 1

Sakuraba vs. Tamura Part 2

Sakuraba vs. Tamura Part 3