Kazushi Sakuraba vs Gilles Arsene Pride 23 Championship Chaos 2
Year : 2002

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Name: Gilles Arsene
Weight Class: Light Heavyweight
Height: 5'11" (181cm)
Weight: 190 lbs (86.18 kg)
Born: October 23, 1970 in France
Pro MMA Record: 1-1-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
Last Fight: November 24, 2002 in PFC ( vs Kazushi Sakuraba)
First Fight : March 24, 2001 in BVT - Bercy Vale Tudo ( vs Kenji Arai)

Gilles Arsene was a French fighter with a very short MMA career. A grappler by trade, Arsene was a legitimately talented jiu-jitsu artist--he was part of the famous French jiu-jitsu team that competed in the first-ever Mundials competition, one of the stiffest in all of grappling, and he earned one of the first-ever European BJJ black belts. MMA took longer to get off the ground in France, but kickboxing had better fortunes--and with the advent of Pride, Arsene found his talents in demand training those kickboxers to better prepare for grappling in mixed martial arts. When Pride and K-1 began co-promoting, Arsene was introduced to Pride's management through Jerome Le Banner--and a seed was planted.

Kazushi Sakuraba, Pride's meal ticket, was in a difficult position. He had lost back-to-back for the first time in his career, and in crushing fashion at that--TKOed violently by Wanderlei Silva, then brutalized by Mirko Cro Cop to the point of a broken eyesocket, and all of this on top of recurring issues with a torn quadriceps muscle. Realistically, Sakuraba needed a vacation--but this was Pride. Their vacation plan was a fight against a believable foreigner. Gilles Arsene was a very competitive 1-0 in mixed martial arts, having notched a tentative but definitive submission victory over fellow rookie Kenji Arai at a French vale tudo event the year prior. Pride put the two together as the latest in their time-tested formula--a vaguely acceptable-sounding foreign competitor to get squashed by a national hero. And that is, in fairness, what happened. It just didn't happen in a way that made anyone look good.

It was clear within seconds of the opening bell that Arsene had no place in the ring. He seemed to have no idea how to throw a punch or shoot a takedown, he was visibly terrified anytime Sakuraba struck at him, and when Sakuraba closed and began to actually hit him, Arsene defended himself--by bending forward, putting his arms over his face and tucking his head between his legs before eventually flopping to his back and refusing to get up. On the ground, Arsene's grappling failed him--he would hang onto half-guard for dear life and fail to move, let alone attack. He regularly left his arms and neck wide open, as if begging Sakuraba to end the fight quickly.

But Sakuraba was injured, and tired, and seemingly outright angry--not with Arsene, but with the fight itself. Instead of his punches or his vicious leg kicks, most of his offense came in the form of flailing, open-handed slaps to the sides of Arsene's head. Instead of throwing Arsene or pulling a kimura as he'd done so often before, Sakuraba would merely push him to the ground and hold position. It was a debacle: One fighter who didn't know how to fight, one fighter who knew but steadfastly refused to do so. By the end of the fight the commentators were openly shaming the match, and Sakuraba for not ending it despite having dozens of opportunities--and when after two and a half rounds Sakuraba finally began applying the world's slowest armbar, Arsene tapped before he even locked it in, and the commentators seemed not so much happy as simply relieved it was over.

By all accounts, Arsene is a talented grappler. He still does very successful jiu-jitsu classes in Paris, and while he's by no means elite, he's not at all poorly regarded as a teacher. But not every grappler is a fighter, and Gilles Arsene might well be one of the least natural fighters in mixed martial arts history.

Some say that Gilles Arsene might be the worst main-event fighter in MMA history. :)

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