win was one of the happiest moments of his life. Just 20 days later, Rutten faced another steep test, fighting future UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, who was then one of the best Pancrase fighters. This time the Dutch had Masakatsu Funaki himself in his corner, as he had got the Japanese to formally teach him shoot wrestling. Rutten turned in a hard effort, being taken down by Shamrock and held under dominant position for most of the match. The more experienced Shamrock made Rutten spend rope escapes by submitting him with a pair of heel hooks and a rear naked choke, and although Rutten still tried on, he was ultimately choked out. After this, Rutten decided to omit strikes from his training and focus only on grappling, and he bounced back from the loss with a submission win over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Jason DeLucia, trading submission attempts with him before ending the match with a guillotine choke. In December 1994, Rutten then participated in one of the greatest events in mixed martial arts history to the point, the King of Pancrase Tournament. The winner of this tournament would be crowned the first champion of Pancrase. Rutten was one of the four #1 seeds in the tournament, and his first fight was against MMA newcomer and future UFC champion Frank Shamrock. The fight was a controversial one, as Rutten locked an earlier rear naked choke under the ropes, only to have the referee to break it up without deducting a lost point from Frank. After that point, the two nullified each other until the end of the match, which saw an upset decision win for Shamrock. Frank also left the match with a broken nose by a high kick. 1995 Rutten found a measure of redemption after the upset loss by choking out expert grappler and King of Pancrase Tournament Finalist Manabu Yamada in his next fight, on 26 January 1995. Rutten was taken to the ground, but he clamped an arm triangle choke from half guard and exerted such a pressure that Yamada, refusing to tap out, was choked out and remained unconscious with his eyes wide open after the hold. Thanks to this performance against the tournament finalist, Rutten received a rematch and a title shot against tournament winner and then-current King of Pancrase Ken Shamrock for the King of Pancrase title on 10 March. The