King of Pancrase tournament

It took place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on December 16 and 17, 1994.

The tournament was one of the biggest events in mixed martial arts history to that date and featured some of the best fighters in the world at the time, including future Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, and Maurice Smith, and top Japanese fighters Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki and Manabu Yamada.

The tournament #1 seeds were Minoru Suzuki, Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock and Masakatsu Funaki.

The opening round saw a large upset as Frank Shamrock, who was making his MMA debut, knocked off #1 seed Bas Rutten via Majority Decision.

In addition to the semifinals and finals of the tournament, the day 2 card also included two alternate bouts matching Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit and Scott Bessac vs. Larry Papadopoulos.

The King of Pancrase Tournament drew 11,000 fans each night at Tokyo 's Ryōgoku Kokugikan (also known as Sumo Hall ).
11,000 fans packed Tokyo's Ryōgoku Kokugikan (also known as Sumo Hall) to witness the final round of the King of Pancrase tournament.