, more widely known as , was a Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

. Okada's MMA record was 3-3-2 (win–loss–draw).

Career

As a student, Okada won the All Japan Industrial High School Judo League Championship four times. After graduating from college, he went to train at the

Seidokaikan is a traditional full contact karate derived from Kyokushin by Kazuyoshi Ishii. Seidokaikan organized the first professional full contact karate tournament named the Karate World Cup. The Karate World Cup had special extension rounds; if the ju ...

Tokyo Bom-Ba-Ye dojo with Naoyuki Taira. He also joined the amateur division of

Shooto is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission (ISC). Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 1989 as a ...

, placing second in its All Japan Amateur Shooto Championship in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, after Seidokaikan mainstay Masaaki Satake tried his luck in

Pride Fighting Championships PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

, Okada followed him in order to do his own debut. He gained the ring name of "Giant Ochiai", sporting shades and a large

afro The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" '' Ebo ...

wig over his actual afro hair during his entrances, which drew popularity among the fans. The origin of the name would be found in his large height and weight and his real-life uncle, NPB announcer Hiromitsu Ochiai. Ochiai trained with former Shooto founder

Satoru Sayama (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, writer, and mixed martial arts (MMA) and wrestling promoter, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He has wrestled under his real name as well as the names ...

and got to participate in his Ultimate Boxing event, a month later he debuted in Pride, fighting

Ricco Rodriguez Ricco Rodriguez (born August 19, 1977) is an American former mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight (MMA), heavyweight division. A professional competitor from 1999 to 2019, he competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, ...

in a losing effort. His performance, however, was remarkable, defending multiple submission attempts and only being taken down for a failed judo throw, until he was submitted by smother choke. He continued fighting for Pride, defeating karate stylist Soichi Nishida and professional wrestler Tomohiko Hashimoto, as well as

Pancrase is a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Tokyo. It was founded in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the An ...

exponent Kim Jong Wang. He would also fight in

King of the Cage King of the Cage (KOTC) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in Southern California, United States. History KOTC was founded in 1998 by Terry Trebilcock Jr. KOTC features mostly amateur as well as up and coming MMA stars and former mainstre ...

. Also in 2000, Ochiai debuted in

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

, working sporadically in the stiff style

Battlarts , more commonly referred to as simply Battlarts (also stylized as BattlARTS) was a professional wrestling promotion founded in 1996 by Yuki Ishikawa following the mass exodus he led from Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) amidst the financial st ...

organizations. He joined

Riki Choshu , better known by his ring name , is a South Korean-Japanese retirement, retired Puroresu, professional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and a Booker (professional wrestling), bo ...

's World Japan promotion for proper training.

Death

After an August 2003 training accident while training with Kenzo Suzuki at World Japan's dojo, Okada suffered an acute

subdural hematoma A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a type of bleeding in which a collection of blood—usually but not always associated with a traumatic brain injury—gathers between the inner layer of the dura mater and the arachnoid mater of the meninges surrou ...

and entered a coma from which he never recovered. Okada died on August 8, 2003. Okada's August 13 wake was attended by Masaaki Satake,

Nobuhiko Takada Nobuhiko Takada (, ring name: ) (born April 12, 1962) is a Japanese former mixed martial artist, retired professional wrestler, actor, and writer. He competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and the Uni ...

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, submission wrestling, submission wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently signed to Pro Wrestling NOAH, Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Championship, G ...

and World Japan Management Director Katsuji Nagashima. A

moment of silence A moment of silence (also referred to as a minute's silence or a one-minute silence) is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture o ...

was held in Pride Grand Prix 2003 in his honor.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Draw , align=center, 3–3–2 , Memo Diaz , Draw , Deep - 9th Impact , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 3–3–1 , Kim Jong Wang , Submission (broken hand) , Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:24 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 2–3–1 , Tomohiko Hashimoto , KO (strikes) ,

Pride The Best Vol.2 The year 2002 was the 6th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2002 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride FC: The Best, Vol. 1''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters T ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:10 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 1–3–1 , Soichi Nishida , TKO (punches) , Pride The Best Vol.1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:00 , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–3–1 , Zane Frazier , Decision (unanimous) , KOTC 10 - Critical Mass , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 7:00 , San Jacinto, California, USA , , - , Draw , align=center, 0–2–1 , Yoshinori Nishi , Draw , S - Samurai 2000 , , align=center, N/A , , Tokyo, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–2 ,

, Submission (smother choke) , Pride 10 - Return of the Warriors , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 6:04 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–1 , Igor Borisov , TKO (punches) , Ultimate Boxing - Pride vs Seikendo , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 7:07 , Yokohama, Japan ,

References

External links

*
PrideFC Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochiai, Giant 1973 births 2003 deaths People from Oga, Akita Japanese male professional wrestlers Japanese male mixed martial artists Super heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Seidokaikan Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Japanese male judoka