Description

Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He founded Pancrase with Minoru Suzuki in 1993 and was its chief trainer, teaching Ken Shamrock and Bas Rutten.

Teachers (2)

• 
  Yoshiaki Fujiwara

  swordsCatch Wrestling Probable

  Probable

  Single source.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source expand_more

  fact_check

  Single source.

  “Trained by Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Karl Gotch, Funaki was the best and most technically proficient of the Pancrase fighters.”

  — Snowden, Jonathan; Shields, Kendall. (2010). The MMA Encyclopedialink info
• 
  Karl Gotch

  swordsCatch Wrestling Probable

  Probable

  Single source.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source expand_more

  fact_check

  Single source.

  “Trained by Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Karl Gotch, Funaki was the best and most technically proficient of the Pancrase fighters.”

  — Snowden, Jonathan; Shields, Kendall. (2010). The MMA Encyclopedialink info

Lineage

• Catch WrestlingKarl Gotch ← Billy Riley ← Willie Charnock · 3 generations

Students (2)

• 
  Ken Shamrock

  swordsCatch Wrestling Probable

  Probable

  Single source.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  2 sources expand_more

  fact_check

  Single source.

  “He won the main event at the very first Pancrase card in Japan, beating his mentor Masakatsu Funaki with an arm triangle”

  — Snowden, Jonathan; Shields, Kendall. (2010). The MMA Encyclopedialink info

  “Funaki was the chief trainer in Japan for both Shamrock and Rutten, two fighters who both beat him in the ring.”

  — Snowden, Jonathan; Shields, Kendall. (2010). The MMA Encyclopedialink info
• 
  Bas Rutten

  swordsCatch Wrestling Probable

  Probable

  Single source.

  The evidence favours the claim and nothing credible contradicts it, but it falls short of establishing it.

  fact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  1 source expand_more

  fact_check

  Single source.

  “Funaki was the chief trainer in Japan for both Shamrock and Rutten, two fighters who both beat him in the ring.”

  — Snowden, Jonathan; Shields, Kendall. (2010). The MMA Encyclopedialink info

Sources

Identifiers