Yuki Nakai

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Yuki Nakai
Statistics
Height
Weight	154 lb (70 kg)
Born
Fighting out of	Tokyo, Japan
Town of birth	Hokaido, Japan
Fighting style	Shooto
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	8
Losses	2
Draws	0

Yuki Nakai (中井祐樹, Nakai Yūki^?) is a retired Japanese Shooto practitioner and mixed martial artist, who currently practises and teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He competed in the Vale Tudo Japan 1995, where he was greatly outweighed by every opponent in the tournament. Despite the weight differences and despite the suffering a severe eye injury in the first bout, Nakai managed to make it to the finals where he lost to Rickson Gracie. Nakai is considered to be legend of Shooto by many fighters and fans.

[edit] Vale Tudo Japan 1995

In 1995, as the current Shooto welterweight champion, Nakai was selected by the Shooto Commission to represent Shooto in the Vale Tudo tournament Vale Tudo Japan 1995. His first opponent was the Gerard Gordeau, a Dutch Savate fighter. Gordeau illegally eye-gouged Nakai during their fight, causing Nakai to lose his vision on the right eye. Despite the eye injury, Nakai proceeded to defeat Gordeau by heel hook in the fourth round. In his second bout, Nakai defeated the American fighter Craig Pittman by armbar, and in the third and final bout, he lost to the Brazilian jiu-jitsuka Rickson Gracie by rear naked choke at 6:22 of the first round.

Yuki Nakai became permanently blind on his right eye due to Gerard Gordeau's illegal tactics. For years he kept his blindness a secret to protect the reputation of Vale Tudo. The injury forced Nakai to retire from mixed martial arts competition, but impressed with Rickson Gracie's technique, he took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where he currently holds a black belt and is the president of the Japanese Confederation of Jiu-Jitsu.