Kazushi Sakuraba, a man that is known as being the most popular MMA fighter and Pro wrestler in Japan has left the Pride organization to compete for the K-1 Heroes event. It comes as a shock to many as Sakuraba and Pride have gone hand in hand since Pride 2, and his MMA career has spanned over 30 Pride events! He has spent all but 2 of his 27 fight career in Pride FC with his 2 other fights on the same event against the same opponent at UFC Japan in 1997. Sakuraba may infact be better off in K-1 and finally fight people his own size, something that has not happened often in his storied career. He is well known as being a fighter that has fought much bigger competition over the years including fighters such as Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Vanderlei Silva, Ricardo Arona, and Antonio Nogueira, all which ended up as losses. He has defeated the likes of Royce Gracie, Vitor Belfort, Kevin Randleman, Quinton Jackson, Vernon White and Carlos Newton.