Champion Maurice Smith, Gracie achieved the same result, taking him down before submitting him with a judo-style yoko-sankaku-jime/ude-gatame combination. The Brazilian reached the quarterfinals, where he encountered another Rings shoot wrestler, Kiyoshi Tamura. Gracie started the fight with takedowns and guillotine choke attempts, but Tamura took over with defense and positional control, ending the first round inflicting ground and pound on Renzo. At the second, the wrestler started passing Gracie's guard and capturing his back, to the extent of locking a facedown crucifix and searching for a rear naked choke. Although Gracie managed to escape without being submitted, the unanimous decision was given to Tamura, thus eliminating the Brazilian. Return to Pride Gracie returned to Pride to fight Kazushi Sakuraba, who had been nicknamed "The Gracie Hunter" for his victories against Renzo's relatives Royler and Royce. During the first round, they fought evenly, mainly exchanging strikes and takedown attempts. At the second, the Japanese wrestler took Gracie down, but he was unable to pass his guard despite his many techniques and tricks. The match finally came to its peak when Renzo executed a De la Riva reversal and captured Sakuraba's back against the corner. At that moment, the Japanese got hold of Gracie's arm and spun around with a Kimura lock, dislocating his arm before hitting the mat and prompting the referee to stop the fight. Uncharacteristically for the Gracie side during their rivalry with Sakuraba, Renzo took the mic after the match and declared Sakuraba was the better man. Similarly, years later Gracie called Sakuraba "his hero" and remembered their match as "one of the biggest lessons he learned in his life". Gracie next fought American wrestler Dan Henderson at Pride 13, now under new rules that allowed knees and kicks to the head of a downed opponent. The resultant match was short, as Henderson used his wrestling superiority to keep the fight on their feet and land punches and knees as per the new ruleset. After one minute, Gracie tried a takedown, but Henderson landed two heavy punches and knocked him out. The American became the first fighter ever to knock out a Gracie. Renzo bounced back with a victory over professional wrestler Michiyoshi Ohara, who resorted to clinch defensively for most of the match. In 2002, Gracie fought against Shungo Oyama in Pride 21. Oyama taunted Renzo incessantly through the match and imitated Sakuraba's offensive moves, getting