Former pro wrestler Nobuhiko Takada announced on Instagram on September 13 that he had been awarded a black belt in jiu-jitsu by Hickson Gracie. Takada and Gracie faced off at PRIDE.1 in 1997 and PRIDE.4 in 1998, with Takada losing by armbar submission both times, but the two have kept up a teacher-student relationship through jiu-jitsu ever since. The thread ranged widely, with some pointing out that it’s ‘an honorary belt, not one earned through skill,’ and others lamenting the state of Japan’s fighting scene given how much bigger overseas promotions like the UFC and WWE have become in asset value.
9/13/2026
Former pro wrestler and TV personality Nobuhiko Takada updated his Instagram on the 13th, announcing that he had been awarded a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt by Hickson Gracie.
Takada and Gracie faced off at the mixed martial arts event ‘PRIDE.1,’ held in October 1997. In that bout, Takada suffered a submission loss to Gracie’s armbar. The two met again the following October at ‘PRIDE.4,’ where Takada once more lost by submission to Gracie’s armbar. Having fought two fierce battles, the pair still appear to keep in touch through jiu-jitsu — as recently as last December, Takada posted on Instagram that he was taking jiu-jitsu lessons from Gracie.
Source: crank-in.net / Original article here
Even though Hickson trashed him afterward,
calling him basically the weakest opponent he ever faced.
#1: ¥1.7459 trillion — UFC
#2: ¥1.0506 trillion — WWE
#3: ¥309 billion — AEW
#4: ¥200.9 billion — ONE
#5: ¥131.3 billion — Matchroom Boxing (boxing)
#6: ¥106.6 billion — PFL
#7: ¥97.3 billion — Top Rank Boxing (boxing)
#8: ¥92.7 billion — Premier Boxing (boxing)
#9: ¥69.5 billion — Golden Boy Promotions (boxing)
#10: ¥18.5 billion — Combate Global
The UFC alone is worth ¥1.7459 trillion,
yet boxing's four biggest global promotions — Matchroom Boxing, Top Rank Boxing, Premier Boxing, and Golden Boy Promotions — combined only add up to a mere ¥390.8 billion
That's way too big a gap next to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's ¥3.6 billion.
These days the top two, WWE and UFC, are under the same parent company (Endeavor).
No wonder Japan's become a hunting ground for pro wrestlers and MMA fighters.
and there's a lot of history there,
but at least he actually stepped into a real fight.
That's more than a lot of the other UWF guys can say.
You listening, Maeda? (Akira Maeda, fellow UWF wrestler)
It's not just Takada, though —
Funaki stepped up too.
Nah, if you're gonna fight like that, better off not fighting at all.
Probably yakuza stuff, right? ("893" is slang for yakuza, a pun on the numbers 8-9-3) His involvement with RIZIN was probably just Takada honoring an obligation.
To an amateur's eye, Aoki looked like an idiot for releasing his own figure-four leglock,
but then his nickname is 'Aho-ki' (a pun on 'aho,' meaning idiot), so I guess he lived up to it.
If that fight hadn't happened, MMA would've stayed a niche thing
and never blossomed into a real business.
He and Sakakibara went way back, after all.
Kind of funny that he called RIZIN 'the organization in question,' though.
There wasn't much point in him sticking around, honestly.
Sakakibara seems to want him back, but Takada himself probably just didn't want to.
and Takada, working as an attendant back then, looked so young and skinny
that there wasn't a hint of the guy who'd later do his 'Generalissimo' cosplay gimmick. Made me kind of nostalgic.
Takada said Fujinami is normally an incredibly gentle guy,
but that was the one time he got hit by him.
Furious that Fujiwara's attack on Chōshū had wrecked the WWF International Heavyweight title match,
Fujinami reportedly said 'I quit this company,' punched his attendant Takada,
then walked back to the hotel stark naked without even taking his room key.
Never heard this name in my life. Stop making threads to promote some comedian's name.
Japan isn't such a small place that your ignorance gets to be the standard.
Funaki did fine,
but Takada gets called basically the weak link.
Feels like it always wraps up with 'and Takada was the scrub.'
That's exactly the kind of situation Tsurube (comedian known for needling guests) would love most.
Funaki actually gave Hickson an orbital floor fracture, after all.
Hickson reportedly found that scary enough that he stopped doing that move…
But yeah, New Japan's 'Strong Style,'
all those Gotch-style techniques,
Kotetsu Yamamoto's brutal training regimen —
none of it worked in a real fight.
Sure, you could say it's a different discipline,
but apparently even Chuck Wilson, who did amateur wrestling,
said it didn't hold up in real combat, so he switched to judo.
Strong Style's only real talent is being like a female stag beetle (all show, no horns to actually fight with),
that's about all it's good for.
Inoki, at least, would just pull a foul if things got dicey.
It's basically training built around taking moves, after all —
in some ways, the exact opposite of a real fighting discipline.
but he's stuck with jiu-jitsu for a long time.
He saw way too much of the dark side back in the PRIDE days,
so he probably just doesn't want to get tangled up in that world again.
It's an honorary belt, not one earned through skill.
Satoru Sayama just made that catchphrase up on his own.
If Inoki were still alive, he probably would've slapped him and yelled, 'Are you an idiot?!'
It's fine — the verdict on him was already 'of all people, the weakest one,' so there's nothing left to lose.
Background and Talking Points on This Topic
Nobuhiko Takada and Hickson Gracie fought twice — at PRIDE.1 in 1997 and PRIDE.4 the following year, 1998 — with Takada losing by armbar submission both times. Some in the thread view this result as the catalyst that brought mixed martial arts wide recognition in Japan. Opinion split over how to regard the black belt: some pointed out that it’s ‘an honorary belt, not one earned through competitive skill,’ while others cited the case of Enson Inoue to question whether it carries official recognition from the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation). Jiu-jitsu black belts can be awarded either based on competitive achievement or as an honorary gesture recognizing a mentor-student relationship or other contributions — the latter doesn’t necessarily come with certification from an international body. It’s also worth noting, as a side topic not found in the original article, that Forbes’ figures showing the UFC and WWE’s combined value exceeding that of boxing’s four major promotions prompted comments about their shared parent company, Endeavor, and concerns about Japanese fighters increasingly heading overseas.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread ‘Nobuhiko Takada: “I Never Imagined a Day Like This Would Come…” — Awarded Black Belt by Hickson Gracie.’
