*anese professional wrestler

Takayuki Okada *anese: ジャイアント落合 (May 8, 1973 – August 8, 2003), more widely known as Giant Ochiai, was a *anese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Okada's MMA record was 3-3-2 (win–loss–draw).

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 Death
• 3 Mixed martial arts record
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Career

As a student, Okada won the All *an Industrial High School Judo League Championship four times. After graduating from college, he went to train at the Seidokaikan Tokyo Bom-Ba-Ye dojo with Naoyuki Taira. He also joined the amateur division of Shooto, placing second in its All *an Amateur Shooto Championship in 1998 and 1999.

In 2000, after Seidokaikan mainstay Masaaki Satake tried his luck in PRIDE Fighting Championships, Okada followed him in order to do his own debut. He gained the ring name of "Giant Ochiai", sporting shades and a large afro 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 mother's maiden name, Ochiai.

Ochiai trained with former Shooto founder Satoru Sayama and got to participate in his Ultimate Boxing event, a month later he debuted in PRIDE, fighting Ricco Rodriguez 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 exponent Kim Jong Wang. He would also fight in King of the Cage.

Also in 2000, Ochiai debuted in professional wrestling, working sporadically in the stiff style Battlarts organizations. He joined Riki Choshu's World *an promotion for proper training.

Death

After an August 2003 training accident while training with Kenzo Suzuki at World *an's dojo, Okada suffered an acute subdural hematoma 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, Kazushi Sakuraba and World *an Management Director Katsuji Nagashima. A moment of silence was held in PRIDE Grand Prix 2003 in his honor.

Mixed martial arts record

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Takayuki "Giant Ochiai" Okada from Sherdog
• PrideFC Page