fight in YAMMA's Masters Division, a division for fighters over the age of 39. However, he had to withdraw due to an injury and was replaced by UFC 1 entree Patrick Smith. Following his tenure with the IFL and a one-off fight with Texas-based promotion NoLimit Fighting, Don Frye competed in his inaugural fight with the DEEP organization, fighting Japanese fan favorite Ikuhisa Minowa. Minowa won via kneebar at the 3:56 mark of round one, dropping Frye's record in Japan to 8-6. From there, he signed with Shark Fights stateside the following year. His submitted Ritch Moss at Shark Fights 4 in May 2009 but suffered a quick TKO loss at the hands of Dave Herman at Shark Fights 6: Stars & Stripes four months later. After a two-year absence and at forty-six years of age, Frye was scheduled to face Mike Gonzalez for the Gladiator Challenge Light Heavyweight title. However, Gonzalez was injured, so Frye instead faced Ruben Villareal in a rematch at Heavyweight. Frye lost via knock-out. Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1997–2002, 2004) After leaving the UFC, Frye went into professional wrestling and was trained by Brad Rheingans and Curt Hennig. He debuted for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in August 1997, defeating Kazuyuki Fujita in his first match. By 1998, Frye began to rise in the ranks as he quickly became one of the company's lead heels. On April 4, 1998, Frye won the Antonio Final Opponent tournament and earned the right to wrestle NJPW founder and wrestling legend Antonio Inoki in his retirement match, which took place later that night. Frye lost that fight. After a brief feud with Kensuke Sasaki at the end of that year, Frye joined Masahiro Chono's new stable, Team 2000, in early 1999. After joining, Frye would spend most of 1999 and early 2000 feuding with Scott Norton over the unofficial title of Gaijin Ace, took part in the G1 Tag League in 1999 with Chono, and make two challenges for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was unsuccessful in each attempt. He lost out to Keiji Mutoh in his first title shot in April 1999 and was defeated by Kensuke Sasaki in his second in February 2000. After being in Team 2000 for two years, Frye left the group and joined Keiji Mutoh's new stable, BATT, where he made a third attempt at the IWGP title in July 2001 but