History Wrestling / MasakatsuFunaki

* DisappearingDad: His father left when he was young, leaving him to be raised by his mother alone.

* AchillesHeel: Funaki's chin was less than impressive, so striking to the face, (especially ground and pound,) used to be his personal kryptonite. Grapplers with a strong top game could give him trouble as well.

* BrokenAce: He was athletic, charismatic, a great grappler and a better than average striker. His only flaws were arguably psychologic: he wanted to become to MMA what classic "aces" were to Japanese pro wrestling, so he pushed himself too hard, fighting through injuries and never backing up from a fight, and it broke him down before the culmen of his career.
* BullyingADragon: One of Funaki's earliest opponents in Pancrase, Cees Bezems, showed his disregard for the norms by throwing illegal closed-fisted punches and elbow strikes during their fight. Funaki retaliated by holding his americana a bit more after he tapped, and even tried to re-lock it after the tap out, having to be restrained by the the referee.
** In his second fight with Creator/BasRutten, Funaki tried to kick Bas when Bas was kneeling, breaking the Pancrase gentleman’s rule of no ground-n-pound and other strikes to a grounded opponent, Bas ditched the niceness and went berserker. He got Funaki lying on his back and broke his nose with a palm strike, and later finished him off with a series of knees.

* CombatPragmatist: During his first match with Creator/BasRutten, he capitalized on Rutten apologizing for a closed fisted punch to seize him and slap a leglock, which finished the match and injured Rutten's leg.

* CoolVsAwesome: The reason behind his fight with Wrestling/KazushiSakuraba is that Saku thought they could give an awesome fight and Masa agreed.

* FishOutOfWater: His performance suffered considerably when he was forced to adapt to full MMA from the relatively comfortable Pancrase rules in 1998, having to meet things like closed-fisted punches and ground and pound. His diminishing draw against Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and especially his crushing defeat to Rickson Gracie, marked the point in which Funaki was not a top fighter.

* GlassCannon: Excellent in catching joint locks and landing palms and kicks, but not so much in resisting strong grapplers or receiving any kind of strikes to the face. His takedown defense didn't live up, neither.

** Another one with Wrestling/JushinThunderLiger as they bonded as sparring partners in the New Japan Dojo and was rumored to have learned Koppo together.

* TheLegionsOfHell: On AKIRA's 30th Anniversary Show, Funaki played the role of a demon sent by the King of Hell (played by Masahiro Chono) to bring down AKIRA.

* SignatureMove: Particularly liked to use the Victor Roll (also called rolling leglock, a Sambo move which utilized a somersault to catch the opponent's leg from standing) in his MMA matches.

* UnrelatedBrothers: A non-tag team example. Some sites, (even official ones,) erroneously claim that fellow PWFG trainee and former WWE wrestler Shoichi Funaki, (now known as FUNAKI,) is Masakatsu's real life brother. Not only they aren't related at all, they had never worked together until a special match 2015.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Unlike the well conditioned Rickson, Funaki had endured years of career in a form of competition highly destructive to the body, and resented from leg injuries and general worn out. Some well timed up-kicks [[AttackItsWeakPoint to his most injured knee]] were enough to make him fall and render him unable to fend the Gracie off. Moreover, an interview with Funaki had him stating that he was actually scared going into his fight with Rickson, and that he believed his lack of confidence was a big factor in his loss.

* RedBaron: "Yomigaetta Samurai" ("The Revived Samurai"), "The Hybrid Wrestler", "Pancrase no Shōchō" ("The Symbol of Pancrase").

* AchillesHeel: Funaki's chin was less than impressive, so striking to the face (especially ground and pound) used to be his personal kryptonite. Grapplers with a strong top game could have him in trouble as well.

* BrattyHalfPint: Entered in the New Japan Dojo at 15 (in Japanese pro wrestling history, only Katsuhiko Nakajima started his career at a younger age). Only three years later, he was suspended for punching a cab driver.
* BrokenAce: He was athletic, charismatic, a great grappler and a better than average striker. His only flaws were arguably psychologic: he wanted to become to MMA what classic "aces" were to puroresu, so he pushed himself too hard, fighting through injuries and never backing up from a fight, and it broke him down before the culmen of his career.
* BullyingADragon: One of Funaki's earliest opponents in Pancrase, Cees Bezems, showed his disregard for the norms by throwing illegal closed-fisted and elbow strikes during their fight. Funaki retaliated by holding his americana a bit more after he tapped, and even tried to relock it after the tap out, having to be restrained by the the referee.
* CaptainErsatz: Jumping over from pro wrestling to mixed martial arts didn't stop ''Videogame/FireProWrestling'' from including as close to his likeness as it could.

* FishOutOfWater: His performance suffered considerably when he was forced to adapt to full MMA from the relatively confortable Pancrase rules in 1998, having to meet things like close-fisted punches and ground and pound. His diminishing draw against Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and especially his crushing defeat to Rickson Gracie, marked the point in which Funaki was not a top fighter.

* GradualGrinder: Funaki was never a striker, and prefered to end his matches fastly, but was skilled with leg kicks whenever he needed to soft up his opponents.

* JustToyingWithThem: Back in his Pancrase days, he used to toy with his opponents by allowing them submission attemps to make the fight more interesting, someting called "carrying". This, as said above, backfired on occassion.
* KavorkaMan: Though not classically attractive like Maeda or specially Takada, Funaki had a significative female fanbase as well.

* MurderousThighs: Late in his career, Funaki developed an active game from his guard, mixing triangles chokes with armlocks in a style similar to contemporaneous Rumina Sato. It may sound exotic to the style, as fighting from the back used to be strongly discouraged in catch wrestling, but certain historical wrestlers like Clarence Eklund were famous for prefering the bottom position as well, something they called "leg wrestling".

* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Minoru Suzuki's blue. It might be shocking because of Suzuki's famous jerkass tendencies, but he was actually quite cold and collected, while Funaki was more passionate and fiery. Their fighting styles were also the opposite, as while Suzuki was a freestyle wrestler who favoured top control, Funaki often disregarded position and prefered wild entries into submissions.
* SignatureMove: Particularly liked to use the Victor Roll (also called rolling leglock, a sambo move which utilized a somersault to catch the opponent's leg from standing) in his MMA matches.

* UnrelatedBrothers: A non-tag team example. Some sites (even official ones) erroneously claim that fellow PWFG trainee and ex-WWE wrestler Shoichi Funaki (now known as FUNAKI) is Masakatsu's real life brother. Not only they aren't related at all, they had never worked together until a special match 2015.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Unlike the well conditioned Rickson, Funaki had endured years of career in a form of competition highly destructive to the body, and resented from leg injuries and general wornout. Some well timed upkicks [[AttackItsWeakPoint to his most injured knee]] were enough to make him fall and render him unable to fend the Gracie off. Moreover, an interview with Funaki had him stating that he was actually scared going into his fight with Rickson, and that he believed his lack of confidence was a big factor in his loss.
** On the other hand, his fights against Sakuraba and Tamura subvert this, as they were so battle worn as him or even more.
* WorkedShoot: For entertaining and the company profit's sake, popular knowledge is that Funaki has done predetermined fights, or at least are inside suspects of such things. As it's Pancrase what we are talking about, we will probably never know it.

** Conversely, his win against Wrestling/KenShamrock would have been destined to rebuild his image after Ken's defeat to Royce Gracie in UFC and his own defeat to Ken at the first Pancrase event, and also to preserve Ken before his next UFC fight, which was some days after.

* RedBaron: "Yomigaetta Samurai" ("The Revived Samurai"), "The Hybrid Wrestler".

* {{Badass}}

--->--'''KenShamrock''', about his first [[TrainingFromHell sparring]] with Funaki

* CombatPragmatist: During his first match with Bas Rutten, he capitalized on Rutten apologizing for a closed fisted punch to seize him and slap a leglock, which finished the match and injured Rutten's leg.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: A technician, interestingly close to the trope article's description, especially when compared with somebody like Kazushi Sakuraba.

** Conversely, his win against Ken Shamrock would have been destined to rebuild his image after Ken's defeat to Royce Gracie in UFC and his own defeat to Ken at the first Pancrase event, and also to preserve Ken before his next UFC fight, which was some days after.

* AchillesHeel: Funaki's chin was less than impressive, so striking to the face (especially ground and pound) used to be his personal kryptonite.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Though his role as the Pancrase ace typically drew comparisons to UWF-i's Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada or RINGS's Wrestling/AkiraMaeda, Funaki himself was often compared in technical terms to the relatively unknown Shooto fighter Rumina Sato. They both were awesome grapplers with a similar catch wrestling style, were plagued by the same irregular performances in the ring, and interestingly enough, were the two first fighters in winning a match by calf and biceps slicer.

* ArchEnemy: Arguably Creator/BasRutten, though he also had a little enmity with Wrestling/AkiraMaeda.
* [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Arrogant Shoot Wrestling Guy]]: According to some, he was always motivated to prove himself as the best at any price and wasn't willing to listen to people say otherwise. These same voices cite this as one of the reasons of his downfall at the end of his MMA career.

* BrokenAce: He was athletic, charismatic, a great grappler and a better than average striker. His only flaws were arguably psychologic: he wanted to become to MMA what classic "aces" were to puroresu and pushed himself too hard, fighting through injuries and never backing up from a fight, and it broke him down before the culmen of his career.
* BullyingADragon: One of Funaki’s earliest opponents in Pancrase, Cees Bezems, showed his disregard for the norms by throwing illegal closed-fisted and elbow strikes during their fight. Funaki retaliated by holding his americana a bit more after he tapped, and even tried to relock it after the tap out, having to be restrained by the the referee.

* CoolTeacher[=/=]SadistTeacher: Zig-Zagged. On one hand, both Ken and Frank Shamrock describe Funaki as a very gentle and kind teacher, quite different from Suzuki or your typical Japanese wrestling trainer. On the other hand, Genki Sudo recalls Funaki as violent and abusive, and other Japanese wrestlers have described him as a gym bully as well. Who you believe is your pick.

* FiveMovesOfDoom: Inverted - he has the second highest count of different submission finishes in Japanese MMA, having twelve of them on his record (he is only beaten by Shinya Aoki with fifteen and immediately followed by Rumina Sato with ten).
* GlassCannon: Excellent in submitting people and landing palms and kicks, but not so much in resisting strong grapplers or receiving any kind of strikes to the face. His takedown defense didn't live up, neither.
* GradualGrinder: Funaki was never a striker, and prefered to end his matches fastly, but he was skilled with leg kicks whenever he needed to soft up his opponents.

** There is a theory about how his loss against Rickson Gracie was another backfired carrying. While having a standing guillotine choke secured in the corner, you can clearly see Funaki looking at his cornermen and nodding before releasing the hold and allowing Rickson going to the ground. Many a Japanese insider noted that it looked fishy, and even Hidehiko Yoshida, who was in the announcer table during the match, sounded puzzled about what was Funaki doing.

* IKnowKungFu: Was a fan of martial arts films, and learned Jing Wu kung fu later on his life.

--->--'''KenShamrock''', about his first [[TrainingFromHell training]] with Funaki

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Though his role as the Pancrase ace typically drew comparisons to UWF-i's Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada or RINGS's Wrestling/AkiraMaeda, Funaki himself was often compared in technical terms to the relatively unknown Shooto fighter Rumina Sato. They both were awesome grapplers with a similar catch wrestling style, were plagued by the same irregular performances in the ring and, interestingly enough, were the two first fighters in winning a match by calf and biceps slicer.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Was the head of Pancrase (along Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki) and considered as the strongest hybrid wrestler.

* BadassTeacher: Trained Ikuhisa Minowa, Yuki Kondo, Wrestling/KenShamrock and other names.
* BrattyHalfPint: Entered in the New Japan Dojo at 15. In Japanese pro wrestling history, only Katsuhiko Nakajima started his career at a younger age. Only three years later, he was suspended for punching a cab driver.
* BrokenAce: He was athletic, charismatic, a great grappler and a better than average striker. His only flaws were arguably psychologic: he wanted to become to MMA what classic "aces" were to puroresu and pushed himself too hard during his career, fighting through injuries and never backing up from a fight, and it finally broke him.
* BullyingADragon: One of Funaki’s earliest opponents in Pancrase, Cees Bezems, showed his disregard for the norms by throwing illegal closed-fisted and elbow strikes to Masa during their fight. Funaki retaliated by holding his americana a bit more after he tapped, and even tried to relock it after the tap out and had to be restrained by the the referee.

* CoolVsAwesome: The reason behind his fight with Wrestling/KazushiSakuraba is that Saku thought they could give an awesome fight.

** He refused to tap out in Rickson Gracie's rear naked choke, which rendered him unconscious. He actually believed that he was going to do in the hold, and [[SeriousBusiness still he was absolutely not willing to tap out]].

* FishOutOfWater: His performance suffered considerably when he was forced to adapt to full MMA from the relatively comfortable Pancrase rules in 1998, having to meet things like close-fisted punches and ground and pound. His diminishing draw against Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and especially his crushing defeat to Rickson Gracie, marked the point in which Funaki was not a top fighter.
* FiveMovesOfDoom: Inverted - he has the second highest count of different submission finishes in Japanese MMA, having twelve of them on his record (he is only beaten by Shinya Aoki with fifteen and just followed by Rumina Sato with ten).
* GlassCannon: Excellent in submitting people and landing palms and kicks, but not so much in resisting strong grapplers or receiving any kind of strikes to the face. His takedown defense didn't live up, too.

* IKnowKungFu: Was a fan of martial arts films, and learned kung fu later on his life.

* KickTheDog: He incurred in illegal kicks to downed opponents during his fights with Takahashi and Rutten, and in the first bout with the latter, at least according to him, he capitalized on Rutten apologizing for a closed fisted punch to seize him and slap a leglock.
* JustToyingWithThem: Back in his Pancrase days, he used to toy with his opponents by allowing them submission attemps to make the fight more interesting, someting called "carrying". This, as said above, backfired on occassion.

* RedBaron: "Yomigaetta Samurai" ("The Revived Samurai").
* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Minoru Suzuki's blue. It can be shocking because of Suzuki's famous jerkass tendencies, but he was actually quite cold and collected, while Funaki was more passionate and fiery. Their fighting styles were also the opposite, as while Suzuki was a freestyle wrestling influenced top player, Funaki often disregarded position and prefered wild entries.
* SadistTeacher: Harsh training methods are common in the shoot-style circuit, and Funaki was supposedly not an exception (though not as much as Suzuki and other wrestlers). There are stories of Funaki beating down a young Genki Sudo in the dojo for unclarified reasons.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: A technician, interestingly close to the trope article's description, especially when compared with Sakuraba.

* UnrelatedBrothers: A non-tag team example. Some sites (even official ones) erroneously claim that ex-WWE wrestler Shoichi Funaki is Masakatsu's real life brother. Actually not only they are not related at all, they have never worked together despite both being PWFG trainees.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Unlike the well conditioned Rickson, Funaki had endured years of career in a competition highly destructive to the body, and resented from leg injuries and general wornout. Some well timed upkicks [[AttackItsWeakPoint to his most injured knee]] were enough to make him fall and render him unable to fend the Gracie off. Moreover, an interview with Funaki had him stating that he was actually scared going into his fight with Rickson, and that he believed his lack of confidence was a big factor in his loss.

** It is believed that his losses against Frank Shamrock and Yuki Kondo were fixed by Funaki to give them credibility as top wrestlers.

'''Masakatsu Funaki''' (b. 1969 as '''Masaharu Funaki''') is a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts fighter, founder of the proto-MMA company Pancrase. He debuted in 1985 for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, being a Wrestling/YoshiakiFujiwara trainee along with Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki. When Fujiwara left for the shoot-style promotion [[Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation UWF Newborn]], Funaki and Suzuki got a permission to follow him, and they became part of the UWF roster. The promotion fell afterwards and his faction, led by Fujiwara, formed Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, but it was short-lived as well. Funaki and his colleagues realized that Japanese crowds really would pay for see "real" matches with non-worked outcomes and launched Pancrase, the second MMA promotion in history. Using the catch wrestling roots they had learned from Fujiwara, which they called "hybrid wrestling", Funaki and Suzuki became the aces of Pancrase and had legendary fights with names like Wrestling/KenShamrock, Bas Rutten and Guy Mezger, with Masakatsu gaining the King of Pancrase title twice. During this time, Funaki was worshiped as one of the three shoot-style aces, along with former mentors Wrestling/AkiraMaeda and Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada. Towards the end of his career, severe injuries took his toll on his body and he was forced to retire after a defeat to Rickson Gracie, passing the torch to his trainee Yuki Kondo. He then returned to professional wrestling for Keiji Muto's Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling, later following him to the new WRESTLE-1.

* ArchEnemy: Arguably Bas Rutten, though he also had a little enmity with Akira Maeda.

* FishOutOfWater: His performance suffered considerably when he was forced to adapt to full MMA from the relatively comfortable Pancrase rules in 1998, having to meet things like close-fisted punches and ground and pound. His diminishing draw against Ebenezer Fontes Braga, and especially his crushing defeat to Rickson Gracie, marked the point in which Funaki was not a top

** With Minoru Suzuki. According to Suzuki, however, their friendship is somewhat distant nowadays.

* [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Arrogant Shoot Wrestling Guy]]: According to some, he was one in real life, always motivated to prove himself as the best at any price. These same voices cite this as one of the reasons of his downfall at the end of his MMA career.

* BrokenAce: He was athletic, charismatic, a great grappler and a significantly good striker. His only flaws was arguably psychologic. He wanted to become to MMA what classic "aces" were to puroresu and pushed himself too hard during his career, fighting through injuries and never backing up from a fight, and it made him sometimes waver in his self-confidence.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Downplayed, as Funaki was comparatively better rounded than some of his Pancrase colleagues, but while he excelled in offensive grappling, his takedown game was lacking, and he often found himself having to pull guard and grapple from his back. Masakatsu worked to compensate this weakness (see Murder Thighs below), but opponents able to outwork him from top remained his bane for most of his career.

* FinishingMove: Cross armbar, heel hook, kick to the head and the Hybrid Blaster. He also used the triangle choke and the backdrop suplex as finishers for a time upon his return to wrestling.
* FishOutOfWater: His performance suffered considerably when he had to adapt to full MMA from the relatively comfortable Pancrase rules in 1998, including a diminishing draw against Ebenezer Fontes Braga and a crushing defeat to Rickson Gracie.

* GlassCannon: Excellent in submitting people and landing palms and kicks, but not so much in resisting a strong top game or receiving any kind of strikes to the face. His takedown and submission defense didn't live up to his offensive abilities, too.

** There is a theory about how his loss against Rickson Gracie was another backfired carrying. While having a standing guillotine choke secured in the corner, you can clearly see Funaki looking at his cornermen and nodding before releasing the hold and allowing Rickson going to the ground. Many a Japanese insider noted that it looked fishy, and even Hidehiko Yoshida, who was in the commentarist table during the match, sounded puzzled and wondering what was Funaki doing.

* KavorkaMan: Though not classically attractive, Funaki had a significative female fanbase.

* MurderThighs: Late in his career, Funaki developed an active game from his guard, mixing triangles chokes with armlocks, in a style similar to contemporaneous Rumina Sato. It may sound exotic, as fighting from the back used to be strongly discouraged in catch wrestling, but certain historical wrestlers like Clarence Eklund were famous for prefering the bottom position as well, something they called "leg wrestling".

** It is believed that his losses against Frank Shamrock and Yuki Kondo were fixed by Funaki to elevate them as stars.

** During his second fight against Creator/BasRutten, Funaki endured an impressive amount of damage. Rutten himself was astonished for Funaki getting up after every strike regardless how hard they were. Even after eating a hard knee to the face which ended the fight, Masa could be seen talking to the referee as if nothing, showing he was still conscious and trying to keep the fight going.
** He refused to tap out in Rickson Gracie's rear naked choke, which rendered him unconscious. He actually prefered to [[SeriousBusiness die rather giving up]].

* FishOutOfWater: His lack of success in non-Pancrase competition, including a diminishing draw against Ebenezer Fontes Braga and a crushing defeat to Rickson Gracie, was caused by his original adaptation to the ruleset of Pancrase: no closed fist punches, no ground and pound, rope escapes, and more entertaining than pragmatism in the ring. Naturally, he faced a challenge when he had to adapt to punches to the face and limited activity on the mat.

* GlassCannon: His grappling was high level, his palms and kicks were strong and he was good in finding ways to win. However, his takedown defense was weak, his striking was amateurish and he had no chin. These reasons obligued him to be a very offensive-oriented fighter.
* GradualGrinder: Funaki prefered to end his matches fastly, but he was skilled with damaging leg kicks and really knew how to soften his opponents up to submit them more easily.

* HoistedByHisOwnPetard:

* KickTheDog: He incurred in illegal kicks to downed opponentes during his fights with Takahashi and Rutten, and in the first bout with the latter, at least according to him, he capitalized on Rutten apologizing for a closed fisted punch to seize him and slap a leglock.

* MadArtist: Described as such in the art of grappling.

* RedOniBlueOni: Funai may look like the blue to Minoru Suzuki's red, but reality is another - despite his cooler persona, Funaki was much more passionate and wild than him.
* SignatureMove: Particularly liked to use the Victor Roll or forward somersault into a leglock in his MMA matches.

** The fight between Funaki and Suzuki in 1994, which saw flying kicks, light striking and lucha libre-esque, absurdely fluid grappling. Given that the finish was a theatrical crossface, it really looked more like pro wrestling.
** A similar case was Manabu Yamada, Pancrase's third top native. The match was short and surprising, and Funaki's lack of defense or reactions during the finishing leglock (aside from the fact it seems that he "fed" his leg to Yamada before the hold) made many people think it was a work.
** It's also believed that his losses against Frank Shamrock and Yuki Kondo were fixed by Funaki's part to elevate them as stars.
** Conversely, his win against Ken Shamrock would have been destined to rebuild his image after Ken's defeat to Royce Gracie in UFC and his own defeat to Ken at the first Pancrase event. Considering that the fight was days before Ken went to fight his desired rematch with Royce, a work would have been safer for him.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Unlike the well conditioned Rickson, Funaki had endured years of career in a competition highly destructive to the body, and resented from leg injuries and general wornout. Some well timed upkicks [[AttackItsWeakPoint to his most injured knee]] were enough to make him fall and render him unable to fend the Gracie off.
** Moreover, an interview with Funaki had him stating that he was actually scared going into his fight with Rickson, and that he believed his lack of confidence was a big factor in his loss.

** Refused to tap out in Rickson Gracie's rear naked choke, which rendered him unconscious. He actually preferred to [[SeriousBusiness die rather giving up]].

* JustToyingWithThem: Back in his Pancrase days, he used to toy with his opponents by allowing them submission attemps to make the fight more interesting, someting called "carrying". This once backfired when he allowed Jason Delucia to leglock him and he discovered he couldn't escape the hold, which made him tap out to Jason.
** It could be an enforced trope during his fight with Rickson Gracie. While having a standing guillotine choke secured in the corner, you can clearly see Funaki looking at his cornermen and nodding before allowing Rickson going to the ground. There are EpilepticTrees about whether this was another backfired carrying to let the fight go a little more.

** Conversely, his win against Ken Shamrock would have been destined to rebuild his image after Ken's defeat to Royce Gracie in UFC and his own defeat to Ken at the first Pancrase event. Considering that the fight was days before Ken went to fight his desired rematch with Royce, a work would have been more safe for him.

** During his second fight against Bas Rutten, Funaki endured an impressive amount of damage. Rutten himself was astonished for Funaki getting up after every strike regardless how hard they were. Even after eating a hard knee to the face which ended the fight, Masa could be seen talking to the referee as if nothing, showing he was still conscious and trying to keep the fight going.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Unlike the well conditioned Rickson, Funaki had endured years of career in a competition highly destructive to the body, and resented from leg injuries and general wornout. Some well timed upkicks [[AttackItsWeakPoint to his most injuried knee]] were enough to make him fall and render him unable to fend the Gracie off.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Though his role as the Pancrase ace typically drew comparisons to UWF-i's Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada or RINGS's Wrestling/AkiraMaeda, Funaki himself was often compared in technical terms to the relatively unknown Shooto fighter Rumina Sato. They both were awesome grapplers with a similar catch wrestling style, were plagued by the same irregular performances in the ring and, interestingly enough, were the two first fighters in winning a match by calf slicer.

* BrokenAce: He always sought to become to MMA what classic "aces" were to puroresu and pushed himself too hard during his Pancrase career, breaking down his body fight after fight and never backing up.
* BullyingADragon: One of Funaki’s earliest opponents in Pancrase, Cees Bezems, showed his disregard for the norms by throwing illegal closed-fisted and elbow strikes to Masa during their fight. Funaki retaliated by holding his americana a bit more after he tapped, and he even tried to relock it after the tap out and had to be restrained by the the referee.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Always wore lime green or black tights.

** During his second fight against Bas Rutten, Funaki endured an impressive amount of damage. Rutten himself was astonished Funaki got up after every strike regardless how hard they were. Even after eating a hard knee to the face which ended the fight, Masa could be seen talking to the referee as if nothing, showing he was still conscious and trying to keep the fight going.

* FishOutOfWater: One of the reasons Funaki was not succesful in MMA outside of Pancrase was that, while he was indeed a great fighter, his fighting style was developed entirely under Pancrase's environment (no closed fist punches, no ground and pound, rope escapes, and more entertaining than pragmatism in the ring) and never was meant to be used in full vale tudo.

* GlassCannon: His grappling was fine, his punches and kicks were strong and he was good in finding a way to win. However, his takedown defense was weak, his striking was not very technical and he had no chin. These reasons obligued him to be a very offensive-oriented fighter.
* GradualGrinder: Funaki prefered to end his matches fastly, but he was skilled with damaging leg kicks, and really knew how to soften his opponents up to submit them if he couldn't submit them in the first place.

* RedBaron: "Yomigaetta Samurai" ("Revived Samurai").

* WorfHadTheFlu: Before facing the well conditioned Rickson, Funaki had endured a years long career in a highly body-destructive style, and resented from leg injuries. Some well timed upkicks and a standing knee strike [[AttackItsWeakPoint to his most injuried knee]] were enough to make him fall and render him unable to fend the Gracie off. Moreover, an interview with Funaki had him stating that he was actually scared going into his fight with Rickson, and that he believed his lack of confidence was a big factor in his loss.
** His fights against Sakuraba and Tamura subvert this, as they were so battle worn as him, or even more.

** A similar case was Manabu Yamada, Pancrase's third top native. The match was short and surprising, and Funaki's lack of defense or reactions during the finishing leglock (aside from the fact it seems that he "fed" his leg to Yamada before the hold) made many people think it was a work to help Manabu to gain popularity.

** Conversely, his win against Ken Shamrock would have been destined to rebuild his image after Ken's defeat to Royce Gracie in UFC and his own defeat to Ken at the first Pancrase event.

** BadassTeacher: Trained Ikuhisa Minowa, Yuki Kondo, Wrestling/KenShamrock and other names.
* BrattyHalfPint: Entered in the New Japan Dojo at 15. In Japanese pro wrestling history, only Katsuhiko Nakajima started his career at a younger age.

* FinishingMove: Cross Armbar, Heel Hook, Kick to the Head and the Hybrid Blaster. He also used the Triangle Choke and the Backdrop Suplex as finishers upon his return to wrestling.

** Also with Masahito Kakihara, who he met in UWF Newborn. In fact, after the promotion folded and the two went to different companies, Funaki and him still sparred together in a park near Masahito's house, as they could not use their respective company dojos.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Minoru Suzuki. According to Suzuki, however, their friendship is somewhat distant nowadays.

* MadArtist: Described as such in the art of grappling. In fact, he has the second highest count of different kinds of submission finishes in Japanese MMA, having twelve of them on his record (he is only beaten by Shinya Aoki with fifteen and just followed by Rumina Sato with ten).

* MadArtist: Described as such in the art of grappling. In fact, he has the highest count of different kinds of submission finishes in MMA, having twelve of them on his record (he shares the place with Oleksiy Oliynyk, with twelve, and they are followed by Rumina Sato, with ten).