the first takedown, but he almost caught Pederneiras with a persistent armbar. The two exchanged minor strikes in Sato's guard before the Brazilian grappler decided to stand-up, and the match seemed to go stall from their respective positions. However, suddenly Pederneiras sidestepped Sato and landed a soccer kick to the head, following with heavy punches to the face for the doctor stoppage. On May 29, 1999, he would fight former trainee Caol Uno for the vacated Shooto Welterweight Championship. Sato captured Uno's back mere two minutes into the match and pursued the rear naked choke, but despite threatening to lock the hold at several points, Uno managed to escape free. Going into the second round, Sato controlled the stand-up, opening a cut on the right side of his opponent's face and scoring a takedown, but he found himself having to defend from his guard while Uno capitalized to land ground and pound. At the third round, Uno started controlling the wrestling game and solidifying his assault to Sato's guard, and ultimately, when a clearly tired Rumina attempted a takedown, Caol took his back and locked a rear naked choke for the tap out. Sato returned to Vale Tudo Japan in 1999 fighting Rafael Cordeiro, founder and instructor for the famed Chute Boxe team. The match was short, as Rumina scored a belly to belly suplex and right after locked a kneebar, making Cordeiro tap out. Rumina rematched Uno in December 2000 for the title. In a cautious and tentative affair, Sato captured the back of his opponent while standing and attempted to lock a choke while Uno defended with a Kimura lock threat, but none was successful. However, when Sato finally released him, Uno capitalized on his bad position and landed a knee strike to the face and a right punch to the temple, knocking Sato out. After his second defeat to Uno, Sato faced Marcio Ramos Barbosa of Barbosa Jiu-Jitsu, who had submitted Caol before the rematch. Sato won the fight by unanimous decision. In December 2001, Sato faced rising star Takanori Gomi for the vacated Shooto World Lightweight Championship. Playing clinch to avoid his foe's dangerous striking, Rumina led the fight to the mat and besieged Gomi with submissions attempts, including armbars both from and against the guard, toeholds from inverted positions and an omoplata that almost finished the fight, but Takanori was consistently able of getting out