Antonio Inoki: the Japanese fighter who starred in the “first MMA fight” against Muhammad Ali died

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is deeply saddened at the passing of our founder, Antonio Inoki.

His achievements of him, both in professional wrestling and the global community are without parallel and will never be forgotten.

Our thoughts are with Inoki’s family, friends and fans. pic.twitter.com/n8zA9hj17 e

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) October 1,

Inoki adopted the name of the Italian-Argentine boxer Antonino Rocca as his nickname for the ring and began to compete as a wrestling professional to the years back in Japan, where he is considered the main person responsible for the explosion of this discipline in the decade of 1943, as well as one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts.

In 1976, measured their strength in Tokyo with the boxing icon Muhammad Ali, in an exhibition event of global media impact called in its day “the fight of the century” that ended in a tie and that was considered by some as a montage.

Inoki’s political career

Due to his great popularity, he decided to use his combat pseudonym also for the political career that he started with his own formation, the Party of Sport and Peace, with which he obtained representation in the Upper House of the Parliament of Japan in 1989.

Inoki traveled to Iraq in 1990 before the Gulf War, on an “individual and unofficial diplomatic mission” to organize a wrestling competition and negotiate with Saddam Hussein. This allowed the release of 000 Japanese hostages and was considered his first great political achievement.

In addition, he established a strong connection with high-ranking North Korean officials, thanks to the contacts facilitated by his mentor, the legendary fighter of Korean origin Rikidozan (1924-1970), whom he met during an exhibition in São Paulo, Brazil.

WWE extends its condolences to the family, friends and fans of Antonio Inoki pic.twitter. com/tlsW2JPN17—WWE Spanish (@wweespanol) October 1,

In your more than 30 visits to Pyongyang organized wrestling competitions with boxers from various countries and before a massive public -in 1998 came to congregate 190,16 spectators at the Rungrado Primero de Mayo stadium-, and held meetings with high-profile figures of the regime now led by Kim Jong-un.

Inoki continued to be a professional wrestler until 2013, three years after his parliamentary career was interrupted by being affected by a scandal about the illegal financing of his party and his alleged links with the yakuza or Japanese mafia.

Later, he returned to politics and was re-elected as a senator in 2013, as a candidate of the nationalist Party for the Restoration of Japan. Since then, he has intensified his visits to North Korea, with the intention of resolving the complex issue of the regime’s kidnapping of Japanese decades ago. In 2019 he ended his political career, and in 2020 announced that he had been diagnosed with a heart condition.

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