Subscribe to download
Yoshiaki Yatsu

I've commented a few times on the tendency of Pride's matchmakers to put nationally prominent figures into meat grinder situations--taking people who were too old, too injured or simply too unprepared for the reality of combat sports and placing them against competition that would be difficult even for experienced mixed martial artists. Yoshiaki Yatsu's turn in the meat grinder, while brief, is one of the most uncomfortable.

Yatsu started his career as an amateur wrestler for the Japanese Olympic team, taking first place at the '76 Olympic trials only to be knocked out of the tournament by eventual silver medalist Ben Peterson. He never made it to the Olympics again; the 1980 games were out thanks to the mass boycott, and in a small national scandal, the IOC banned him from future competition purportedly for winning prize money at other wrestling events, but in reality because he had begun taking part in professional wrestling in Japan and they didn't want the Olympics associated with it. The controversy helped make Yatsu a prominent name, leading eventually to his forming the tag team of The Olympians with Jumbo Tsuruta (himself a one-time Olympic wrestler), winning a number of championships, and wrestling Hulk Hogan for the WWF championship at a 1991 cross-promotion, because professional wrestling is weird. Yatsu had been quietly retired for more than half a decade when Pride came knocking on his door, and thus at Pride 11 he made his MMA debut, at the age of 44, with no training in striking, against Gary Goodridge, an MMA champion who had put people in the hospital with his bare hands.

Yeah.

It's deeply uncomfortable to watch. Yatsu barely attacks, primarily taking double-leg shots that have no chance of landing, and spends the fight with one arm extended in front of him trying to hold Goodridge at bay--because every time Goodridge closes in he cracks Yatsu on the chin, over and over, with big, booming punches that Yatsu is too damned tough to go down from, ultimately forcing the referee to call a standing TKO. Even more inexplicably, Pride booked a rematch the next year that was somehow worse, culminating in Yatsu's corner throwing in the towel to stop him from getting choked out. Yatsu also made an appearance at that year's ADCC, but couldn't get past Ricco Rodriguez. He'd never show up in combat sports again.

Some matchmaking is inexplicable. Other matchmaking is inexcusable.

Moveset, stats, logic and four attires (Pride 11 vs Goodridge / Pride 16 vs Goodridge / ADCC 2001 vs Rodriguez / 1976 Olympics vs Peterson). Stats are low aside from very good wrestling and the Guts trait; moveset has just a touch of his pro-wrestling in it, primarily in a few german suplexes. This reality was not kind enough to let him german suplex Gary Goodridge, let Fire Pro's reality be his revenge.