I remember Sakuraba’s last fight as clear as day. I was playing GTA IV with some of the other guys from Middleeasy on Xbox Live while while DREAM 17 played in the background. Staying up until 7:00 am, the entire ordeal was ridiculous. During the Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Gerald Harris fight, I laughed so hard that drool dripped from my mouth and I didn’t care that my cat saw me at my lowest moment.
After what seemed like hours, it was finally time for Sakuraba vs. Yan Cabral. I was entirely too excited to see a 42-year-old man fight. Once I heard Lenne Hardt introduce Sakuraba, I got goosebumps. I was ready to physically harm anything that wasn’t on the ‘War Sakuraba’ bandwagon. My blood was pumping, my heart was racing, I was on Xbox having the best time while the card was streaming on my laptop — then the fight happened. I’m not going into any more detail because those wounds are still fresh. It’s not fair, that’s not how it was suppose to end.
If there is a glimmer of hope, it’s that you can now purchase Sakuraba’s infamous “ICS” mask. I’m going to have to ask Zeus if I can change my payment from Nuka Cola bottle caps to Yen.
