a new rivalry with Minoru Suzuki, while also forming a partnership with Toru Yano, who was also involved in his own rivalry with Suzuki's Suzuki-gun stable. The partnership led to Sakuraba becoming an associate of Yano and Nakamura's Chaos stable, eventually becoming a full-time member. The rivalry between Sakuraba and Suzuki culminated in a match on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where Sakuraba was defeated. On April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015, Sakuraba submitted Katsuyori Shibata in a tag team match, where he and Yano defeated Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi, igniting a rivalry between the former Laughter7 partners. The two faced off on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall in a match, where Shibata was victorious. Pro Wrestling Noah (2019–present) After wrestling sporadically for independent promotions for a few years, Sakuraba returned to wrestling full-time for Pro Wrestling Noah, aligning himself with the Sugiura-gun faction headed by Takashi Sugiura. On 30 August 2020 Sakuraba and Sugiura defeated AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima) for the vacant GHC Tag Team Championship, Sakuraba's first ever pro-wrestling title. In September Sakuraba entered the annual N1-Victory tournament as a singles competitor, finishing on 4 points with 2 wins and 3 losses. As of 22 November Sakuraba and Sugiura have successfully defended the GHC tag titles on two occasions. Mixed martial arts Early career Though sources often cite Sakuraba's match with Kimo Leopoldo on July 14, 1996, as his first experience with mixed martial arts, there is debate about whether it was a shoot or a worked match. Sakuraba himself has stated that he doesn't remember it. However, his first contact with MMA can be traced to his different style fight at 26 June 1996 against Dutch kickboxer Rene Rooze, which was won by Sakuraba via ankle hold. Ultimate Fighting Championship In an attempt to gain attention for the embattled Kingdom Pro Wrestling league, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Yoji Anjoh signed on to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Ultimate Japan tournament. Kanehara was injured in his training for the tournament, and Sakuraba wound up as his late-hour substitute. The tournament was intended for heavyweights, but Sakuraba who weighed 183 pounds (middleweight by modern standards), was nearly twenty pounds beneath the UFC's 200 pound designation for the weight class. Having reported himself as 203 pounds (Light heavyweight by modern standards) in order to gain entry, Sakuraba was paired off