Rickson Gracie is one of the biggest legends in BJJ history and Yuki Nakai is the first Japanese BJJ black belt, but these two men actually met in competition at Vale Tudo Japan on April 20th, 1995. They are both among the best grapplers to ever walk the face of the earth and they’ve both gone on to teach hundreds of students since their retirement. Back in 1995 they were both still in their competitive career though, and that happened to coincide with the rise of MMA as a popular sport. They were both fearsome competitors and it’s no surprise that they managed to make it through a tough 16-man tournament in order to meet one another in the final of that event.
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Rickson Gracie vs Yuki Nakai
Rickson Gracie and Yuki Nakai both had MMA experience prior to competing in Vale Tudo Japan 1995, although their careers had been significantly different up until then. Rickson was often regarded as the best grappler in the Gracie family and he had shown his skills to the public just a handful of times. He famously beat Rei Zulu in two fights in the 1980s but other than that he had stuck to grappling competition primarily. He still achieved a lot there too of course, and throughout the 80s he had beaten the best that BJJ had to offer and had even defeated Sambo competitors at their own game.
Although his claims of going hundreds of matches undefeated are dubious at best, Rickson Gracie was undoubtedly a fantastic competitor. He was actually the reigning champion at Vale Tudo Japan, as he won their inaugural 1994 tournament by finishing all three of his opponents. Yuki Nakai on the other hand was a Judo black belt with fantastic wrestling, and he got his start in MMA under the Shooto banner. Nakai went 7-1-1 and became the Shooto welterweight champion, which is why they invited him to compete in the second ever Vale Tudo Japan tournament on April 20th, 1995.
Vale Tudo Japan 1995
Rickson Gracie and Yuki Nakai started out on opposite sides of the bracket at Vale Tudo Japan 1995 and they had vastly different experiences in the tournament too. Gracie had a tough opening round matchup against Yoshihisa Yamamoto and had trouble implementing his gameplan to begin with. Although it took him almost three whole rounds to do it, he did finally manage to submit his opponent with a rear-naked choke. He then faced Koichiro Kimura in the semi-final and had a much easier experience in this fight, as it took him just a little over two minutes to find the rear-naked choke this time around.
Nakai was actually the lightest competitor in the tournament and he was drawn against UFC 1 finalist Gerard Gordeau in the opening round. Gordeau was able to keep the fight standing and employed some brutal eye gouges, an illegal technique in the tournament, to keep Nakai at bay. It took over half an hour and he lost much of his vision, but Nakai did eventually submit Gordeau with a heel hook. He fought wrestler Craig Pittman in the semi-final and despite being at a 100lb weight disadvantage, Nakai submitted him with an armbar from the bottom after sustaining a lot of damage from ground and pound.
The Final
The stage was set for the final match of Vale Tudo Japan 1995, as Rickson Gracie and Yuki Nakai made their walk down to the ring. Gracie hadn’t had the easiest matches of his career, but Nakai had gone through the worst anyone could go through in MMA all in the same night. They started out by wrestling in the center and Gracie was able to pick up a single-leg after a little while, dropping Nakai to the mat. Nakai recovered to butterfly guard but it wasn’t long before Gracie was able to secure the pass and get to side control. Nakai did briefly scramble back to butterfly guard again but Gracie kept up the pressure and passed to kesa gatame this time around.
Rickson Gracie was controlling Yuki Nakai from the top for a while and he used an underhook on the far-side leg to stop him from recovering guard again. Nakai kept trying to re-guard but Gracie took advantage of the smallest space to step over into mount, using heavy shoulder-pressure to try to set up an arm-triangle choke. Gracie postured up to land strikes when that didn’t work and as Nakai turned to protect himself, he transitioned to the bank and quickly shot his arm under Nakai’s neck. Nakai was handfighting to defend and was able to make things difficult, but Gracie maintained back control and switched arms in order to finish the choke.
This was fight with Rickson Gracie was actually the final time that Yuki Nakai competed in professional MMA, as he had to retire from the sport. He suffered severe damage to his eye from the opening round fight with Gordeau and had chosen to continue in the tournament instead of seeking medical attention, resulting in him being permanently blind in one eye. Nakai continued competing in grappling though, and Gracie had several more fights for PRIDE and C2K before eventually retiring from combat sports altogether.
The full fight footage of Rickson Gracie vs Yuki Nakai in the final of Vale Tudo Japan 1995 was uploaded to YouTube:
