Despite only fighting twice for the UFC, the promotion will honor a legend in the sport at the 2017 UFC Hall of Fame ceremony, as Kazushi Sakuraba has been announced as the latest edition.
Sakuraba joins Joe Silva, Maurice Smith and Urijah Faber in the elite class, which will be enshrined during UFC International Fight Week in Las Vegas this July.
The 47-year-old Sakuraba will be part of the Pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame. He posted an overall record of 26-17-1 in his career, most of which took place for PRIDE.
Sakuraba did fight twice for the UFC in 1997, defeating Marcus Silveira via first round submission in Japan to win the UFC Ultimate Japan Heavyweight Tournament. The two had fought to a no-contest earlier in the night in a bout that was stopped by referee John McCarthy.
He returned to action in 2016 and battled Wanderlei Silva and Kiyoshi Tamura to a 15-minute draw at Rizin FF 1 with partner Hideo Tokoro in a submission grappling match.
